News

The acts of stripping women naked in public have received strong condemnations from different organizations such as human and women's rights groups, Lawyers and politicians. The perpetrators of those acts which were both committed in Nairobi along Accra Road and Embakasi were arrested. The incidents which are not only termed as barbaric and heinous but also as cruelty against women continue dominating talks in televisions, radio and social media.

A major public campaign ‘My Dress My Choice' has been launched. On its part, the Government as a measure to protect personal freedom as well as preventing violence against women has formed a special police force to hunt down men who are stripping women in public.

Comment

It is crystal clear the habit of women walking into the streets semi-naked is totally against the African norms. The action of men taking action in their own hands stripping women wearing indecently in public clearly indicates that this moral decadence is an unacceptable among many Africans. This is a general public opinion of which the Government seems to differ with it strongly and thus uses media platform to forcefully change it.

While a woman who is dressed indecently is deemed as exercising and enjoining the personal freedom whilst a massive campaign against Hijab is gaining momentum. In schools as well as workplaces, Hijab seems to cause anger and outrage. If the so called personal freedom is supreme and bears any truth in it, why then it comes to Muslims girls wearing head scarves it is turned into controversial issue forcing them to put it aside? And where was personal freedom when we see police preventing Muslims from worshiping?

The western regimes through a vicious campaign under the guise of personal freedom have launched war against Islam. This fallacy has misled many women leading them to believe they are free to do whatever they want like publically dressing semi-naked, being unduly intimate with men. In creating more problems to the woman, the capitalists infiltrated into her mind the fallacy that her success heavily depends on herself, pride and exposing her body to men tantamount to sold commodities at the market! All these attempts degrading her to the status of a beast. It's absolutely wrong to regard either the capitalist ideology or its governments as the savior and advocate of the women's rights whilst being inundated with injustice and oppressions against her and failing to guarantee even her healthcare and well being. Actually, women even in the so-called developed countries undergo unbearable and cruel treatment not only at home but also in their working places. These sheer slogans of women's right add nothing but hurling her from one catastrophe to heinous one. This being the norm of the capitalist regimes, always solving a problem by creating new ones.

Thus it's crystal clear that the so called personal freedom its nothing but an insidious western campaign to proliferate social vices and intellectual war fare aimed at consolidating their capitalists concepts while combating any attempts aimed at protecting the honor of the woman that's especially Islam that chose her decent attire of HIJAB protecting her from men's harassment.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Shabani Mwalimu
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in East Africa