I mention this bit of quotidian trivia to underscore a point. To many people--obviously, Haifa's one of them--"fundamentalist Islamic feminism" is not an oxymoron. By the same token, fundamentalist Islam and modern technology are also not mutually exclusive. This is a error people make when they claim that Salafists want to "drag us back to the Medieval age." Not quite. Rather, they want to "medievalize" modernity (or perhaps vice versa), keeping their mobiles and satellite dishes and computers and Internet, while frog-marching social relations (especially those dealing with women) back a millenium or so. One fascinating aspect of Basra is that by virtue of its relative stability, you can see the tug and pull of this process at work--debit cards and feminist unions on one hand, veils and alcohol-banning Islamists on the other.
Can they co-exist? That's the next chapter of the Basran saga. Most people I know (none of them fans of fundamentalism) think the religious parties are a passing phase, that Basra's fabled liberal-mindedness and port-city sensuality will reassert itself--in other words, the values implicit in a bar-code reader (not to mention the Internet and sat-TV) will eventually sweep away the shrouds and veils, and reduce the turbanned thugs to Friday rants before dwindling congregations. I'm not sure, but I certainly know where my hopes lie. With their charm and confidence and dedication, may women like Haifa grace the Basra political scene for years to come--make-up, high-heels, fancy dresses and all.
Read the whole thing.
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