Murder in the name of Honor by Rana Husseini

Murder in the Name of Honor deals with the controversial subject of honor killings which are common throughout the Muslim world and are becoming increasingly common in the West.

Rana Husseini, an investigative journalist, has devoted her professional life to the eradication of this evil practice and to the promotion of women's rights in the Middle East. Her main focus has been on the abuse of women in Middle Eastern Muslim cultures, specifically the crime of honor killings. Husseini, who is an Arab Muslim, looks in depth, at the culture and practice of honor killings in Jordan as well as in numerous other Middle East countries. 

In Murder in the Name of Honor, she tells the horrific stories of women from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Israel. Husseini discusses how honor killing has moved into Western society as Middle Eastern Muslims have immigrated and taken this practice with them and how Western law enforcement does not understand this crime and how to deal with it. The recent case of Rifqa Bary in the United States, is one such situation.

Husseini includes "as many human examples as possible in this book, to show that this is a very real tragedy, that every day, all across the world, bright young women are being slaughtered for no good reason."   Many of the stories are terribly heartrending. Women killed for talking to men, falling in love with men their families don't approve of, or of dressing differently. Many of these women are not just simply killed. Many are tortured and raped - by family members BEFORE being murdered. Husseini's stories show that their suffering is unspeakable; their terror, palatable.

Some of the most heartbreaking stories are those of women who have survived attempted honor killings only to languish for years in prison. Rana Husseini visited Jweideh Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre for Women, one such prison in Jordan. Victims of honor killings are imprisoned to protect them from being killed by their families. For many of these women, their only hope to get out of prison, is to marry - usually a much older man who comes seeking the companionship of a younger woman. The other option available is to have a male relative post a guarantee worth $7000, that no harm will come to the woman. Many women have such guarantees posted only to learn this has been a ruse used to get them out of prison, to be killed.

What became very apparent in reading this book, is that many of the families are very conflicted about this crime. Family members feel compelled to kill sisters, wives, daughters to cleanse their "honor". Often all traces of the victim are expunged from the family. The murderers, who are brothers, fathers, husbands, uncles and grandfathers, sometimes feel intense conflict over having killed a beloved sister, wife or daughter. Other times there is no remorse at all, simply deep hatred towards the woman for "dishonoring" the family and placing the men in the position of having to reclaim their honour.

Husseini points out that laws do little to protect women. Often laws are passed with loopholes that still allow men to kill. Most Muslim governments simply will not pass laws protecting women. Pressure from extremist Muslims is often enough to change the minds of those in power who might be otherwise predisposed to change. And the women themselves often have no where to run - no safe place to go.

The problem is so large that it remains to be seen whether these societies will ever change. Views about women must change and the distorted notion of honor much be changed. This book is a start in helping publicize the plight of our sisters in the Middle East. We must be their voices. Husseini is one such voice. The forward in the book was written by Jane Fonda who penned these words:
"As I write this foreword, CNN is broadcasting the footage of a young woman being publicly stoned to death by a lynch mob, while the police just stand by watching. It pains me deeply to live in a world where a Kurdish woman has been killed for falling in love with a man from a different faith. Murders like this, which happen around the world, destroy the honour they are intended to restore. Honour is respect for life. Honour is respect for love. There is no honour in murder."

And from Rana herself these fine words:
"...Beliefs relating to women as the bearers of family honour are still embedded in many people's minds, making so-called crimes of honour acceptable. But these beliefs are about control, not honour. Women are placed in fear, knowing that one false move or one malicious piece of gossip could end their lives in a moment. A killing made in the name of honour is a murder, plain and simple, and must be punished as such."

This is heart wrenching, well-written book dealing with a very sensitive topic. A must read for all who care about women.

Book Details:
Murder in the Name of Honor
The true story of one woman's heroic fight against an unbelievable crime.
by Rana Husseini
250pp

Chenxi and the Foreigner by Sally Rippin

Since I'm a huge fan of books, both fiction and nonfiction, dealing with China it seemed only right to pick up this book.
The story revolves around Anna White, the daughter of a wealthy American business man who is in China to make his fortune in the late 1980's. Anna's parents have separated and she has come from San Francisco, to spend four weeks with her father in Shanghai. While Anna's father would like her to study business law and become an entrepreneur, her heart lies in being an artist. So it seems like a good idea to study traditional Chinese painting, at the local art college.

Her father hires Chenxi, a local Chinese art student and painter, to help his daughter around Shanghai. Almost immediately, Anna becomes infatuated with her young Chinese host but is put off by his seemingly cool, distant attitude towards her. She cannot understand the mindset of the Chinese as she gets mostly mixed signals from Chenxi.

Chenxi, in turn, is frustrated by Anna's naivete and her lack of understanding of how repressed Chinese society is. However, Chenxi realises that despite this, Anna understands his art which is modern and very different than traditional Chinese art. Chenxi is impressed with Anna's fearlessness in using art to express herself but knows she doesn't understand what it is like to live in a society where freedom to express oneself does not exist.

To make matters more complicated Anna's father does not like Chenxi but favours Laurent, a French national studying mandarin in Shanghai. In an attempt to get Anna to mix more with the foreigners living in Shanghai her father takes Anna to cocktail parties and encourages her to meet with Laurent more often. However, Anna dislikes Laurent who deals in drugs on the side.

Anna continues to be attracted to only Chenxi with drastic consequences for all involved. She tries to convince Chenxi to leave China but he rebukes her telling her that he does not want to go to America and be a Chinese man living in America. He wants to live in China and be Chinese.

It isn't long before Anna soon learns that Chenxi is involved in much more than just art, working with other artists and students who are seeking democratic reform in communist China. While students are demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Chenxi and local artists stage their own demonstration at an art gallery in Shanghai. When Chenxi disappears, Anna tries everything to find and see him again but to no avail. It is at this time she learns she is carrying his child. When she tells her father and finally makes a decision for herself about her life, Anna's father refuses to help or support her and Anna leaves China.

Several years later, Anna learns through mysterious circumstances that Chenxi is safe and free again. She hopes through one last act she might reconnect with him again.

Chenxi and the Foreigner was authentic and believable. It's obvious that author Rippin knows her subject well. Although the characters were realistic, I personally found most of them unlikeable. Anna came across as spoiled and self-centred. Laurent was a dislikable drug head who seemed out of character in helping Anna navigate the Chinese health system when she suspects she's pregnant. Even Anna's father seemed shallow and self-absorbed. What father sends his daughter home, cutting her out of his life, when he learns she is pregnant in a foreign country? He seemed to have little time for his 19 year old daughter. I also found Chenxi to be a somewhat one-dimensional character - getting into his head came in bits and pieces that were hard to put together. He seemed to want to be like the foreigners, trying to get into their nightclub and yet despising them. Perhaps this was an accurate portrayal of how Chinese view westerners. It seemed like Anna and Chenxi only really connected during the one time she critiqued his painting.

Nevertheless, Chenxi and the Foreigner is a good, engaging read about a time in recent China that hasn't been much written about. The story is based somewhat on author, Rippin's experiences as a teenager living in China during her teen years. She studied painting in China for three years, first at the Shanghai Institute of Fine Arts and the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art. Some swearing and a short description of sexual intercourse in this book.

For more information on the author, Sally Rippin see:
Sally Rippin

Book Details:
Chenxi and the Foreigner by Sally Rippin
Annick Press Ltd 2009
212pp