Lal Bibi, a dead person seeking life
July 4, 2012 § 4 Comments
Sometimes we humans sacrifice young women as atonement for crimes they have nothing to do with — not just on stage, but in real life.
The New York Times labels an almost identical photograph as Lal Bibi and her mother. The men in the background are unidentified. Is this more of her family? This young woman seems to be surrounded by family and concerned other people. We don’t seem able to consider her without considering her entire family and community (image source).
According to her family, 18 year old Lal Bibi was abducted from her home in northern Afghanistan by five local police officers and then raped and beaten for five days before being dumped back at her family’s home. Her suffering seems to have been meant as payback for the actions of her cousin, which seem to have involved the daughter of one of the policemen’s brother. Some reports claim that this other young woman was also raped; some reports claim that Lal Bibi’s cousin fell in love with and attempted to elope with this policeman’s niece. In any case, the cousin absconded and thus the girl’s family could not punish him directly, as their anger at his relationship with their daughter might have demanded.
In Afghan tribal custom families sometimes agree to settle disputes with payment of livestock, money, or a bride. Such a settlement is known as badal. The policeman’s family seems to have extracted its payment of badal by force, and Lal Bibi’s family has responded with the rare step of seeking justice through governmental channels and going public with their story. In many instances her family would simply have killed her as a now tainted blot on their family honor that would endure for generations. Lal Bibi has reportedly said that she will kill herself if the government does not restore her honor by punishing her abductors: “They took me by force… If I receive justice, that’s good, otherwise I’m going to burn and kill myself.” Her own mother has also threatened to sacrifice her daughter if justice is not served: “Either you deliver us justice, or the blood of my daughter will be on your hands,” she said. “Either you burn my daughter yourself, or I will throw petrol over her and burn her to get justice.”
Death by fire is an powerful statement of sacrifice. It is a dramatic gesture that does not simply end a life, but ends it with excruciating pain that endures over time. If victims do not succumb to smoke inhalation, death can take as long as 2 hours.
It seems that according to tribal custom, Lal Bibi’s life ended when she was forcibly married and raped. But that other events might restore that life. Her life has already been sacrificed to atone for that of another young woman. None of the reports I have found mention the welfare of this other young woman, although the most recent report indicates that the amorous cousin is currently in custody along with four of Lal Bibi’s alleged kidnappers.
This shocking story is stimulating an overwhelming international demand for justice. Certainly notions of justice here are complex and perhaps inscrutable to outsiders. The Afghan government is working to mollify an overwhelming sense that local police forces are lawless and out of control. On the level of national politics this event is a public relations problem, which points to major defects in local governance and civil rights. A young woman is ready to take her own life because she has been raped. A young man sensed danger and fled, leaving his family to suffer the revenge of an angry father for whatever transpired between him and another young woman.
What seems to be unique here is not that an innocent young woman is sacrificed in payment for the sins of another, but that she and her family are seeking an outcome other than her inevitable death. And as a result her plight has become international news. Cases of young women offered as badal are common — how common is unclear. The righteous indignation of outsiders at this inscrutable practice is common. How can we understand the logic that demands the death of an innocent for the death of another innocent? How can we understand our insatiable hunger for such stories? Do we not consume these stories with an obscene voraciousness that rehearses and perpetuates their violence (Time magazine cover story, August 2010)? Can our righteous signing of international petitions actually restore life for a young woman who considers herself dead (“I am already a dead person“)? Does external condemnation of a system of justice not serve to strengthen that system — particularly when that condemnation comes from an untrusted occupying force? What is the nature of a self that considers itself dead when it has been offended? What is the nature of agency in a system where families rather than individuals seek justice on behalf of family representatives, and where family representatives can atone for sins of other family members? How do conflicting systems of justice coexist and influence one another?
Read more:
- http://www.rferl.org/content/rape-case-tests-afghan-justice/24604549.html
- http://alaiwah.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/18-year-old-lal-bibi-raped-in-afghanistan-by-the-police/
- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/asia/afghan-rape-case-turns-focus-on-local-police.html?pagewanted=all
[Note to self:
Consider this story in light of social theorists writing about sacrifice (scapegoat, ending cycle of violence etc)].
The Rites Of Spring 
What does it mean to sign an international petition in support of justice for Lal Bibi or women in Afghanistan? What would she consider just? What would her family consider just? Would I agree?
And if I contribute to Avaaz in conjunction with this petition, how will local women’s rights groups use my funds to support this young woman and prevent such horror being unleashed on other young people? Did the cousin really rape that other girl? Or was he a thwarted young Romeo whose misunderstood and ill received advances touched off a firestorm of violence and international intrigue?
From Avaaz.com:
Donate to help Lal Bibi and the women of Afghanistan
Chip in to empower Lal Bibi’s cry for justice. We will grant these donations to women’s rights groups in Lal Bibi’s home province in Afghanistan — providing direct assistance for Lal Bibi as well as support for women like her.
Group-think, Extra-human self hood, shared selfhood.
“In a letter to Achebe, the US writer John Updike expressed his surprised admiration for the sudden downfall of Arrow of God’s protagonist. He praised the author’s courage to write “an ending few Western novelists would have contrived”.[84] Achebe responded by suggesting that the individualistic hero was rare in African literature, given its roots in communal living and the degree to which characters are “subject to non-human forces in the universe”.[85]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe
A quick google search reveals only one source still following this story. Toward the light is a blog chronicling activism on behalf of women in Afghanistan. As of August 12, Lal Bibi was alive, at least physically, and in the care of a women’s shelter, “angry, silent and broken.”
http://wazhmafrogh.blogspot.com/2012/08/lal-bibis-journey-for-justice.html
What is the nature of a self that considers itself dead when it has been offended?
Perhaps an interesting answer may be found in the system of Transactional Analysis theorized by Dr. Alvin Freed in his TA for Everyone series. Is the “frozzie” feeling he describes a light version of feeling “dead”?