Disturbing murder in the new democracy of Iraq

From Feministing.com:

Doaa Khalil Aswad was a member of northern Iraq's Yazidi religious sect but, according to local officials, was murdered on April 7 by her brothers and uncles after she allegedly converted to Islam.

In the video - on the Kurdish website Jebar.Info and rapidly spreading on the internet - Aswad is shown lying in the road as men kick her and throw a large lump of rock or concrete at her head.

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I don't want to write about this, because writing about it feels like an act of violence, but I don't really feel like I have a choice. As I discussed with my good friend Neela earlier, how do I engage in talk of 'honor killings' (which are really just displays of woman hate and have nothing to do with culture) without it turning into a "how can we bring democracy to such a backwards place" conversation. That said, I am going to have to agree with Twisty that this is just vile and Amanda about victim-blaming and the rhetoric used to support that. I couldn't watch the video and I am not going to post it here for a variety of reasons. Violence of this kind is a production of male ego and woman-hate and this truth is pitifully disguised when justified through religious or cultural circumstances. There is no cultural defense when it comes to mob mentality, woman-hate and violent murder. Unless, you want to talk about the global culture of patriarchy.

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