My blood ran cold this morning as I read Raped, Kidnapped and Silenced and Musharraf = Coward (courtesy J.D. Lasica). When my blood runs cold, though, I do not become paralyzed - and I encourage others to speak up for Mukhtaran Bibi. The ice quickly yielded to action.
Strangely, last night I wrote 'China makes bloggers register. Who's next?', and this morning I read about Mukhtaran Bibi - a woman who has persevered and rose above many personal atrocities to help others. And now, it seems, she is being persecuted by the government of Pakistan.
Freedom of the Press belongs to those who maintain one. Tom Watson has made the call to support Mukhtaran Bibi, and while individuals may feel powerless - combined we can help maintain our last Free Press, the weblogs, by extending it to another level. We can exert pressure.
Many are taking this into the realm of international politics. I don't know that I expect the international politics that allows such things to change the way it does things because we're talking about it, and it's questionable that our discussions will help Mukhtaran Bibi. She can't read what we're writing. Alone in a cell, with no contact even with her lawyer, she's powerless. This isn't about international politics to me. This is about a woman in a cell for being, in my book, ethically right. I will not argue any law of Islam or Pakistan, I will follow my heart and speak my mind aloud and I will say, quietly and even respectfully, that I believe she should be released.
She's one of us. She's a person who took a bad situation and grew flowers from it. And I hope, in the future, that she is able to grow flowers from this situation as well.
If you have a weblog, and if you value your freedom of speech - consider using it now, to protect the freedom of another, even another you have never met. Each freedom one of us loses is a freedom lost to our global society.
To do this, read Tom's entry. He even has email addresses you can use.
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