By no means “left-green-dirty”
Make feminist foreign policy, Mr. Merz!
A comment by Philipp Sandmann
03/27/2022, 09:14 am
Friedrich Merz doesn’t have much time for feminist foreign policy. It is possible that he has not yet outlined the core of the problem. Hopefully the CDU leader is capable of learning.
A few days ago, CDU leader Friedrich Merz complained in the Bundestag that the planned 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr could possibly also be invested in a “feminist foreign policy”.
Merz’ gestures and facial expressions were unmistakable. As the word “feminist” slipped from his lips, he waved his arm as if to crumple the subject up and dump it in the nearest parliamentary dumpster. In the direction of the traffic light, the 66-year-old said: “You can do feminist foreign policy, feminist development aid policy, you can do everything, but not with this budget for the Bundeswehr.”
“It’s not nonsense”
Friedrich Merz would say at this point: So far, so good. However, the Union faction leader did not seem to be prepared for the reply from Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. “It breaks my heart. Do you know why?” Baerbock began.
Merz ironically put his hand on his heart. However, Baerbock continued and reported on conversations with women in Srebrenica who had been victims of rape during the Bosnian war.
Baerbock reported what the women had told her: “Back then, nothing was done, in the early 1990s, when, when her daughters and girlfriends were raped and rape was not recognized as a weapon of war, she was not prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. That’s why one belongs to a Security policy of the 21st century also has a feminist perspective. It’s not gibberish, it’s up to date.”
That sat.
And Baerbock is right. This war of annihilation – and the war that Putin is waging against the Ukrainian people is now a war of annihilation – is always about the humiliation and ultimately the annihilation of women.
“Systematic Rape as a Weapon”
War reporter, author and filmmaker Julia Leeb explains it in a phone call on Friday: “During my ten years of work in war zones, I had to realize that, despite the different nature of the individual conflicts, there is a recurring pattern: and that is the systematic violence against Women I’ve come across in all sorts of guises. Rape as a strategic weapon is one of them.”
Leeb, who has visited many crisis regions around the world, says that the patriarchal structures still serve primarily to stigmatize the victims and not the perpetrators: “Especially in rural areas, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there is destroys the maltreated woman’s body, not just the individual woman. In the long term, marriage, the family and the community break up. That is the goal. Systematic rape is therefore an extremely cheap weapon of war.”
Rape of women is also taking place in Ukraine. The Russian President will know that. Of course he won’t do anything about it.
Perhaps “feminist foreign policy” sounds like male discrimination to some men. For some men (and of course also women) it may sound like a “left-green-filthy” and highly ideological policy that shouldn’t be taken seriously. But if you want to negotiate with the Taliban, you have to make women’s rights a top priority. If countries want money from us, then we have to look at what these societies are doing for women.
And finally, feminist foreign policy also finds the right words for the pain of mothers over their so young fallen sons. The Ukrainian and Russian mothers will tell us soon. And, like after the Srebrenica genocide, they will ask: Where were you when that happened? And what did you do about it?
Feminist foreign policy is no fuss, says Baerbock. Correct. And the recommendation to the CDU: Anyone who wants to give this party a modern orientation must understand that there is no way around feminist foreign policy.