Where is the Academic Outrage?

The silence surrounding the bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza is deafening. The double standard of the international academic community is highlighted in the following article by Neve Gordon and Jeff Halper in Counterpunch. As a result of the article, a group of 100 California academics issued a statement opposing the actions of the occupying power and calling for a halt on the attacks against institutions of higher learning and their students. Following the article is a statement by California Scholars for Academic Freedom.
Marilyn.


Where's the Academic Outrage Over the Bombing of a University in Gaza?

By NEVE GORDON and JEFF HALPER

Not one of the nearly 450 presidents of American colleges and universities who prominently denounced an effort by British academics to boycott Israeli universities in September 2007 have raised their voice in opposition to Israel’s bombardment of the Islamic University of Gaza earlier this week. Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, who organized the petition, has been silent, as have his co-signatories from Princeton, Northwestern, and Cornell Universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Most others who signed similar petitions, like the 11,000 professors from nearly 1,000 universities around the world, have also refrained from expressing their outrage at Israel’s attack on the leading university in Gaza. The artfully named Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, which organized the latter appeal, has said nothing about the assault.

While the extent of the damage to the Islamic University, which was hit in six separate airstrikes, is still unknown, recent reports indicate that at least two major buildings were targeted, a science laboratory and the Ladies’ Building, where female students attended classes. There were no casualties, as the university was evacuated when the Israeli assault began on Saturday.

Virtually all the commentators agree that the Islamic University was attacked, in part, because it is a cultural symbol of Hamas, the ruling party in the elected Palestinian government, which Israel has targeted in its continuing attacks in Gaza. Mysteriously, hardly any of the news coverage has emphasized the educational significance of the university, which far exceeds its cultural or political symbolism.

Established in 1978 by the founder of Hamas — with the approval of Israeli authorities — the Islamic University is the first and most important institution of higher education in Gaza, serving more than 20,000 students, 60 percent of whom are women. It comprises 10 faculties — education, religion, art, commerce, Shariah law, science, engineering, information technology, medicine, and nursing — and awards a variety of bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Taking into account that Palestinian universities have been regionalized because Palestinian students from Gaza are barred by Israel from studying either in the West Bank or abroad, the educational significance of the Islamic University becomes even more apparent.

Those restrictions became international news last summer when Israel refused to grant exit permits to seven carefully vetted students from Gaza who had been awarded Fulbright fellowships by the State Department to study in the United States. After top State Department officials intervened, the students’ scholarships were restored — though Israel allowed only four of the seven to leave, even after appeals by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “It is a welcome victory — for the students,” opined The New York Times, and “for Israel, which should want to see more of Gaza’s young people follow a path of hope and education rather than hopelessness and martyrdom; and for the United States, whose image in the Middle East badly needs burnishing.”

Notwithstanding the importance of the Islamic University, Israel has tried to justify the bombing. An army spokeswoman told The Chronicle that the targeted buildings were used as “a research and development center for Hamas weapons, including Qassam rockets. … One of the structures struck housed explosives laboratories that were an inseparable part of Hamas’s research-and-development program, as well as places that served as storage facilities for the organization. The development of these weapons took place under the auspices of senior lecturers who are activists in Hamas.”

Islamic University officials deny the Israeli allegations. Yet even if there is some merit in them, it is common knowledge that practically all major American and Israeli universities are engaged in research and development of military applications and receive money from the Pentagon and defense corporations. Weapon development and even manufacturing have, unfortunately, become major projects at universities worldwide — a fact that does not justify bombing them.

By launching an attack on Gaza, the Israeli government has once again chosen to adopt strategies of violence that are tragically akin to the ones deployed by Hamas — only the Israeli tactics are much more lethal. How should academics respond to this assault on an institution of higher education? Regardless of one’s stand on the proposed boycott of Israeli universities, anyone so concerned about academic freedom as to put one’s name on a petition should be no less outraged when Israel bombs a Palestinian university. The question, then, is whether the university presidents and professors who signed the various petitions denouncing efforts to boycott Israel will speak out against the destruction of the Islamic University.

Neve Gordon is chair of the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and author of Israel’s Occupation (University of California Press, 2008).

Jeff Halper Jeff Halper is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and author of An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel (Pluto Press, 2008). He can be reached at jeff@icahd.org.

California Scholars for Academic Freedom

Condemn Bombing of Gaza Educational Institutions

Contacts:

Sondra Hale, 310-836-5121 (UCLA) [sonhale@ucla.edu]

Rabab Abdulhadi, 914-882-3180 (AMED-SFSU) [amed@sfsu.edu]

Sherna Berger Gluck, 310-455-1028 (CSULB) [sbgluck@csulb.edu]

Jess Ghannam, 415-726-3951 (UCSF) [jess.ghannam@ucsf.edu]

CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM (CS4AF), a group of 100 scholars at 20 California institutions of higher learning, condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip that have targeted the Islamic University and other educational sites.

While we decry Israeli war crimes and violations of human rights, and condemn the massive Israeli bombardment of Gaza which has caused hundreds of deaths, as educators in California institutions of higher learning, we are especially appalled at the destruction of educational institutions and student casualties.

On December 27th, Human Rights Watch reported that an Israeli air-to-ground missile struck a group of students leaving the Gaza Training College, adjacent to the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in downtown Gaza City, killing eight students and wounding 19 others. Two days later, on 29 December 2008, Israel bombed the Islamic University of Gaza, destroying the science laboratory block and destroying or damaging other blocks of buildings, including the library. Although Israel has claimed that the science laboratory facilities were used as “a research and development center for Hamas weapons,” this claim has been denied by officials of Gaza Islamic University, and according to the NY Times of 01/01/09 Israel has not produced any evidence for its claim.

These direct assaults on Palestinian students and educational institutions are only the latest chapter in Israel’s ongoing denial of the right to education guaranteed in international conventions. Since the first uprising in 1987, Israel has systematically frustrated or denied Palestinian students their right to study, not just in the Occupied Territories, but at universities abroad, as most recently demonstrated by the Israeli government's refusal to allow students awarded prestigious Fulbright fellowships to leave for the United States. University students living in Gaza have not been able to leave in order to attend universities throughout the world, let alone Birzeit University, and students in the West Bank itself have to negotiate roadblocks and checkpoints to get to their classes – often never making it.

The background to the current crisis is too complicated to detail in a press release. It is, however, important to note, first, that under international law, Israel is still an occupying power, maintaining control of Gaza’s borders, air and water space. It has completely isolated Gaza and wrought a humanitarian catastrophe, as noted by UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. Second, the current bombing campaign by Israel constitutes collective punishment, which is a violation of international law. Third, HAMAS won the majority of seats to the Palestinian Legislative Council in the internationally acknowledged fair election of January, 2006.

As CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM, we will continue to play our mandated role to educate the international public about the right to education and the egregious violation of that right by the Israeli government. We will participate in campaigns aimed at exerting pressure on international authorities and the governments of Israel and the U.S. to implement an immediate cease-fire and begin preparations for an end to the blockade and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

We insist that Israel has the responsibility to ensure the right to education as mandated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Israel ratified in 1991. The undermining and disruption of Palestinian education as a result of the deliberate destruction of academic facilities constitutes a violation of a basic human right that will have long-term negative political, economic, and humanitarian ramifications for all people involved.

CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM is a one-year-old group of 100 academics who teach in 20 California institutions. The group formed as a response to various violations of academic freedom that were arising from both the post-9/11/2001 climate of civil rights violations and the increasing attacks on progressive educators by neo-conservatives. Many attacks were aimed at scholars of Arab, Muslim or Middle Eastern descent or at scholars researching and teaching about the Middle East, Arab and Muslim communities. Our goal of protecting California Scholars based mainly in institutions of higher education has grown broader in scope. We recognize that violations of academic freedom anywhere are threats to academic freedom everywhere.

For statements by other academicians see Neve Gordon and Jeff Halper’s “Targeting Islamic University: Where’s the Academic Outrage Over the Bombing of a University in Gaza?”

http://www.counterpunch.org/gordon12312008.html

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Try Not to Cry

OUTLANDISH AND SAMI YUSUF FOR ALL OPPRESSED CHILDREN

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and was celebrated on the Third Tuesday in September. In September 2001, and after the efforts of Jeremy Gilley and the Peace One Day organization, the United Nations, with the leadership of Great Britain and Costa Rica, passed another resolution identifying September 21st as the official day of global peace and as Ceasefire Day. The resolution took effect September 21st 2002 amidst a world embroiled in constant war and turmoil. The first anniversary of the new peace day passed without anyone observing a ceasefire. Since then, however, more governments, countries, groups, businesses, and individuals are celebrating the day in their cities and homes.

The vast majority of war victims are women and children and there are currently at least 45 conflicts in progress around the world.

It is thanks to the efforts of Jeremy Gilley and his volunteers, efforts that spanned years and countless hours of travel, work, filming, and meetings with heads of state and United Nations officials that the day is being observed on a designated date.

According to Ahmad Fawzi, the UN Director of News and Media at the time, people should be patient and not feel discouraged that there were no ceasefire observances on the first anniversary of Ceasefire Day. The seed has been planted and it grows slowly through interviews, lectures, books, peace rallies, informational meetings, press releases, and one person and group at a time. Per Fawzi's words, we have to change our global culture from a culture of war to one of peace and that begins with every one of us.

Gilley captures his journey, the challenges, the hopes, and the process in a movie called PEACE ONE DAY. The world today seems more violent since September 11th, 2001, ironically the day that Ceasefire Day was to be announced by Kofi Annan when the two airplanes struck the World Trade Center.

The Plight of A Grieving Mother and An Advocate for Life

Cindy Sheehan's decision to take a hiatus and her subsequent letter explaining her decision to resign as the "face of the peace movement" have brought attention to the question of the need for a new political direction within the United States. Sheehan, the symbol of grieving motherhood who transcended ideological and party lines to advocate for what is right versus what is Republican or Democrat, or what is Right or Left, has become the newest victim of a movement that has not fully grasped the meaning of activism. Justice and right to life are not values that we can ignore for politically strategic posturing and campaigning. Sheehan's famous statment: "I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of 'left or right,' but 'right and wrong" continues to be misunderstood and ignored.

Partisanship is a very destructive form of activism because it can place party and ideology, no matter how contradictory or illogical, above human dignity, freedom, and the right to life. The Democrats' inability to take a firm stand on the war and their quick willingness to abuse the woman who carried the peace movement on her grieving shoulders despite ailing health and destroyed marriage, point to the complicity of such a movement in the continuation of this war and the killing. Be it in their support of an ongoing occupation, or their inability to form cohesive policies that encourage human dignity in a corporate/military controlled world, they have shown that they cannot handle criticism nor do they have the ability to reflect upon where the movement has come and ways to strengthen it.

Sheehan represented to many the symbol of conciliation and was a major driving force within different groups in the "peace movement." She was able to do it because she succeeded in transcending the partisan hatred and speaking to the mother within all of us.

Occupation, Walls of Segregation, and Fuelling Sectarian Conflict: the Crimes of the Powerful Psychopaths

The talk of "escalating" sectarian conflict in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East has become the arguing point between the two criminally minded parties in the U.S., Republicans and Democrats. The newly discovered and extensively exploited phrase is laying the burden of responsibility for the disastrous outcome of the war on the Iraqis instead of at the feet of those who started the war, mainly the criminal Neo-Conservatives and their military-corporate-government complexes, the spineless Democrats, the mainstream media, the religious establishment, and all the enlightened citizens of the strongest and supposedly wealthiest democracy in the world who supported and continue to support this genocide.

In the midst of the obscenity that continues to be the occupation of Iraq, Military Channel, and other reality style entertainment, we have become accustomed to actual violence. We are desensitized to the humiliation that is inflicted on the Iraqi people on a daily basis.

The people of Iraq are struggling on more the one level. The refugee problem of 4 million Iraqis has reached crisis proportions and those fleeing the economic, physical, and psychological effects of this war are trapped with little help in the present and no hope for the future.

Now, a new "Wall of Segregation" is being built to protect a Sunni sector of Baghdad. What may be forgotten here is: that which prevents you from going in also prevents you from coming out. The unfolding Orwellian surrealism of the situation in Palestine and, now, Iraq, reminds me of a movie I saw a few months ago, CHILDREN OF MEN.

Riverbend is an Iraqi blogger who has been on the blogsphere since the beginning of the war. She has articulated what many Iraqis have felt for years and, in this piece, she shares what many who are caught in prolonged war go through and the dilemmas they face.

Maybe, one day, we can all meet that courageous girl around the bend where "hearts can heal and souls can mend."

A Peculiar Outrage

The treatment of Faye Turney is wrong - but not in the same league as British and US abuses

Ronan Bennett
Friday March 30, 2007

It's right that the government and media should be concerned about the treatment the 15 captured marines and sailors are receiving in Iran. Faye Turney's letters bear the marks of coercion, while parading the prisoners in front of TV cameras was demeaning. But the outrage expressed by ministers and leader writers is curious given the recent record of the "coalition of the willing" on the way it deals with prisoners.

Turney may have been "forced to wear the hijab", as the Daily Mail noted with fury, but so far as we know she has not been forced into an orange jumpsuit. Her comrades have not been shackled, blindfolded, forced into excruciating physical contortions for long periods, or denied liquids and food. As far as we know they have not had the Bible spat on, torn up or urinated on in front of their faces. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs.......Continued from "The Guardian."

Kiss Israel's Ass! Or AIPAC Says You Support Genocide

As the American public becomes weary with the stunts of the Zionist lobby and this Neo-Con administration, Israeli apologists are going full steam in insisting that the existence of Israel hinges on a deadly strike against Iran. With the emerging public awareness regarding the deceit that went into the Iraq war, the Zionists and their bullies in Washington are desperate; nothing is too obscene for them in this push for a war on another country that, one more time (here we go again) has done us no harm and has no intention to do so in the foreseeable future (that can change if we decide to attack with a possibility of using nuclear weapons as some are anticipating).

There are efforts to counteract this vengeful and malicious hatred of a country and its citizens as Gary Leupp exposes the shenanigans of the Zionist lobby and their sense of entitlement. It is all about them and to hell with the rest of the world.

Child Trafficking

Trafficking in children and women has prompted the establishment of international laws against such practices. Sex trafficking in girls and women is a global problem and it is found in most countries. Some countries provide a transit route for the victims. International law through the efforts of the United Nations, the United States and other organizations, has sought to eradicate this problem.

Women can be trafficked for the sex trade. Children are trafficked as domestic servants and also for the sex industry. Many remain locked up in basements and warehouses while they are being abused. War is one of the biggest contributers to the exploitation of women and children and to their trafficking across borders. Poverty drives many into the claws of traffickers.

Children are the most vulnerable group in all cultures. They are unable to protect themselves when abused by relatives or strangers, in peacetime and in war. I am profiling a few organizations that deal with this problem on an ongoing basis.

Marilyn.

Terre des Hommes A Swiss global child advocacy organization: http://www.childtrafficking.com/Content/aboutus.php


Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons US Department of State
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/


http://www.humantrafficking.org/content/about_us The purpose of this Web site is to bring Government and NGOs in the East Asia and Pacific together to cooperate and learn from each other’s experiences in their efforts to combat human trafficking. This Web site has country-specific information such as national laws and action plans and contact information on useful governmental agencies. It also has a description of NGO activities in different countries and their contact information.

United Stated Department of Justice (DOJ) Trafficking in persons — also known as "human trafficking" — is a form of modern-day slavery. Traffickers often prey on individuals who are poor, frequently unemployed or underemployed, and who may lack access to social safety nets, predominantly women and children in certain countries. Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives, and then forced to work under brutal and inhuman conditions.

It is a high priority of the Department of Justice to pursue and prosecute human traffickers. Human trafficking frequently involves the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation, a brutal crime the Department is committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting. Trafficking also often involves exploitation of agricultural and sweat shop workers, as well as individuals working as domestic servants.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA) supplements existing laws and establishes new tools and resources to combat trafficking in persons and to provide services and protections for victims.

http://www.usdoj.gov/whatwedo/whatwedo_ctip.html

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is creating real and lasting changes in countries around the world by launching and supporting anti-trafficking projects in areas that few programs address: the links between prostitution and trafficking; challenging the demand for prostitution that promotes sex trafficking; and protecting the women and children who are its victims by working to curb legal acceptance and tolerance of the sex industry.

Please join CATW in putting a donation to work in our various campaigns and projects (See CATW’s campaign page). Your gift will support projects that prevent the sexual exploitation of women and children in 15 different countries.

The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is a non-governmental organization that promotes women's human rights. It works internationally to combat sexual exploitation in all its forms, especially prostitution and trafficking in women and children, in particular girls.

CATW is composed of regional networks and of affiliated individuals and groups. It serves as an umbrella that coordinates and takes direction from its regional organizations and networks in its work against sexual exploitation and in support of women's human rights.

CATW brings international attention to all forms of sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and mail order bride selling. Working with national and international policy makers, women's rights and human rights advocates, and the United Nations, it promotes the fundamental human right of women and children, in particular, girls, to be free from sexual exploitation.

CATW prevents trafficking by educating boys and girls in schools and communities in different parts of the world and by training teachers, professionals, police, governmental authorities and the public about the harm of sexual exploitation and ways to resist and combat it.

CATW testifies before national congresses, parliaments, law reform commissions, regional and UN committees and commissions, and holds Category II Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Members serve as consultants to governmental commissions drafting new legislation on prostitution and sex trafficking, and against the sex industry.

CATW researches and documents the situation of women who have been trafficked and are in prostitution; educates the public about the extent of harm sustained by women and girls in prostitution; and galvanizes change through legislation and working with governments and international agencies to create/change/amend policy and legislation that support the right of every woman and girls to be free of sexual exploitation; and helps create and support alternatives for women and girls who have been sexually exploited.

http://www.catwinternational.org/about/index.php


United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Virtually no country immune from human trafficking, UNODC report shows
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2006_04_24.html

Women in Black

Women in Black (WIB) in San Luis Obispo county saw their beginning in April of 2002 with the first vigil in downtown San Luis Obispo. Since then, a number of local cities have organized their own WIB vigils. After San Luis Obispo came Lompoc, then Cambria and Atascadero.

WIB is an international movement of women which began in 1988 as a collaborative effort between Israeli Arab and Jewish women who were opposed to violence and occupation with silent vigils taking place weekly in Jerusalem and other cities in Israel. Since then, the movement has spread around the world and expanded to include other wars.

The core belief of the movement centers around the idea that deliberate violence should never be a strategy in conflict resolution, neither at home or community, nor among groups and nations. Nations that encourage or tolerate violence in the home seem to exhibit that tendency in society at large and in international relations.

Around one hundred women, men and children stood in Atascadero on the 20th of January 2007 in silent protest of the war in Iraq and in silent vigil to remember the over 3000 U.S. soldiers killed in the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Individuals of all ages came to express their grief and abhorrence of the violence that is the hallmark of this occupation in the Middle East. Prayer flags with the names of every single soldier killed were held in memoriam to remind those of us left behind of the wastefulness of war and the disregard it generates towards human beings.

Women in Black is a movement of women, by women, for everyone, which is gaining momentum across the globe.

We are our children's caretakers. We should never be their killers and executioners.

Marilyn

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a worldwide problem that cuts across cultural, religious, socio-economic and gender boundaries. It remains a far underreported problem and a culturally acceptable or ignored aspect of family and community life. The following statistics portray the national problem and give some helpful information. It impacts children as well who may end up becoming abusers or abused themselves. All information is obtained from the website of the Women's Shelter SLO

http://www.womensshelterslo.org/index.htm

Marilyn.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, more than muggings, stranger rape, and car accidents combined.

• The United Way ranks domestic violence as the leading cause of birth defects.

• 3-4 million women are beaten by their husbands or boyfriends every year.

• A man beats his partner every 13 seconds.

• 1 out of every 2 women will be physically abused by their partner at least once.

• 4000 women and children are beaten to death every year .

• At least 25% of domestic violence victims are beaten while pregnant.

• 50% of all homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence situations.

• 79% of spousal abuse is committed by men after the woman leaves.

• An intimate male partner murdered 42% of all female homicide victims.

• More than three million children witness acts of domestic violence every year.

• 95% of boys and 72 % of girls witnessing domestic violence will carry abuse into their own relationships.

• 1 out of 3 high school relationships includes domestic violence or rape.

• On average, a women is beaten 9 times before she placed the first call to police for help; only 7% of spousal assaults are reported to the police.

• 57% of women who are physically abused by their partners never tell anyone.

• 40% of assaults committed by a male partner on women begin during the first pregnancy; pregnant women are at twice the risk of battery.

Department of Justice Stats

Myths and Realities of Domestic Violence

Myth: The problem of domestic violence is greatly exaggerated.

Reality: National statistics reveal that every year three to four million women are beaten by their husbands or boyfriends, and every day, four die. Battery is the single most common cause of injury to women, more than auto accidents, rapes or muggings combined. Physical abuse is cited as the cause of one fourth of all suicide attempts by women. Twenty percent of visits by women to emergency rooms are the result of battering by their husbands or boyfriends.

Myth: In terms of domestic violence and spouse abuse, men and women are equally violent.

Reality: National crime survey data show that men commit 95 percent of all assaults on female spouses or girlfriends. Forty percent of all female homicide victims are killed by their husbands or boyfriends; only10 percent of male homicide victims are killed by their wives or girlfriends, and of these 7 percent were killed in self defense.

Myth: Men and women have always fought; it is natural.

Reality: There is occasional conflict in every family and relationship, but there is no need for violence. Wife beating is a crime of rage, power, and control. The batterer often thinks he has the right to control his partner through any means, even beating. Violence is never an acceptable way to solve problems.

Myth: Domestic violence only happens in the lower economic classes and minority populations.

Reality: Domestic violence occurs in families from all social racial, economic, educational, and religious backgrounds. In occurs in towns, suburbs, rural areas, and neighborhoods. Battered women with few economic resources are more visible because they seek help from public agencies and are counted in statistics. Women from middle and upper economic groups are more likely to seek help from private agencies.

Myth: Battering usually only happens once. It should be a private family matter, not a crime.

Reality: A battering incident is rarely an isolated occurrence; beatings escalate in frequency and intensity. Assault is a crime whether it is committed within or outside the family.

Myth: Battered women are masochistic and crazy; they provoke and enjoy their abuse.

Reality: Women do not provoke or deserve battering. They deserve a violence-free life. As does happen with rape, the attempt is made to blame the victim for the behavior of the attacker. Abusers commonly blame minor frustrations, alcohol and drug abuse, and the words or behavior or their partner for their battering. Their violence, however, is their choice. There are non-violent ways to deal with their anger.

A battered woman's reactions to the violence are normal, given the circumstances, and the reactions are often necessary for survival. She is not crazy. She still hopes her partner will change, and indeed, he may show remorse and there may be some good times; however, the good times and remorse happen less and less over time.

Myth: Men who abuse women are mentally ill and not responsible for their actions.

Reality: Battering is a learned behavior from childhood experiences and from social messages condoning violence against women. Psychological tests have repeatedly shown that men who abuse women do not differ from the "normal" male. Lenore Walker's study showed that batterers had learned as children that violence was an appropriate response to anger. Abusers are not out of control, but are trying to get control over their partner with demands, threats, and physical abuse. They deny and minimize the violence, and blame their partners for their violence. Their violent behavior will continue as long as society continues to refuse to threat their violence as the serious crime that it is and impose serious consequences.

Myth: Alcohol and drug abuse cause domestic violence.

Reality: Alcohol and drug abuse do not cause domestic violence. The violence may be more severe, however, when alcohol or drugs are involved. Alcohol and drugs may also intensify existing violent behavior. Rates of simultaneously occurring domestic violence and alcohol abuse vary from as low as 25 percent in some studies, to as high as 80 percent in other studies.

Many batterers do not abuse alcohol or drugs and many alcohol or drug abusers do not batter. Chemical dependency treatment will not cure battering; the two problems need to be dealt with separately. The alcohol abuse rate for abused women is the same as that of the general female population, 7 to 14 percent. Their alcohol abuse does not justify their being battered.

Myth: Batterers cannot change.

Reality: The criminal justice system can hold batterers accountable for their actions and court order the choice of jail or counseling. Men who batter can learn to take responsibility for their own behavior and can learn non-violent ways to act and communicate. The programs for men who batter, however, are only as effective as the willingness of the batterer to change.

Myth: Once the battering stops, everything will be okay.

Reality: There is also psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse which often continues even when the battering has stopped. These behaviors must also stop before the healing can start.

Women who are abused feel fear, depression, anxiety, helplessness, anger and embarrassment. A lowered self-esteem can develop from constant insults and put downs by her abuser. She is often isolated by her partner and has lost touch with friends and family. She may be afraid that she will be blamed by them for the violence. The support of friends, family, and the community is necessary for her to recognize her strengths and to believe that she is a good person who deserves a violence-free life. Recovery from abuse is a process and can take a long time.

Myth: Domestic violence is only a family problem.

Reality: Domestic violence is still viewed by many as just a family problem, even though the effects are serious. It is a crime that can result in serious injury or death. Social problems such as alcoholism, drug addiction, juvenile delinquency, suicide, and runaway children are increased by violence in the home. Businesses lose $3 to 5 billion dollars each year because of absenteeism resulting from abuse, and $100 million in medical costs. Communities spend millions of dollars every year on intervention. Society suffers when individuals and families are destroyed by domestic violence.

Referenced from: Annotated Bibliogrpahy on "Spouse Abuse. Wife Abuse The Facts. Response to Violence in the Family and Sexual Assault." National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Report. April 1985 National Woman Abuse Prevention Project. 1989. Washington DC.