Nicholas Kristof wrote this very strong condemnation of Bush’s policies towards Third World Women. I am very happy to see this, but I wish Kristof would understand that even more important than trying to protect top-down aid programs is the need to provide bottom-up empowerment. His continued support of sweatshops stands in stark contrast to his aims in this letter. Third world women are not just mothers, they are also workers, and their rights in the workplace mustn’t be disregarded.
“The central moral struggle of the 19th century concerned slavery, and that of the 20th pitted democracy against Nazism, Communism and other despotic isms. Our own pre-eminent moral challenge will be to ease the brutality that kills and maims girls and women across much of Africa and Asia.
Alas, this summer President Bush is putting the U.S. on the wrong side of the battle lines.”
