Reply #48: Especially if the concept of the modern welfare state is extended to them [View All]

[happyslug]

Remember in most of the third world (and I Include Turkey in that list, even through it is a member of NATO) your primary safety net is your extended family. Furthermore what we would call "Banking" is also a product of that extended family, Thus if you want money to buy a new house you have to go to your relatives to borrow the money, and you are expected to do the same i.e. loan or give out money to other members of your extended family. We are running across this in Iraq, where it is more important to keep you extended family happy then anything else. Thus In the middle east what is your extended family is more important then even your citizenship (i.e. your tribe is more important then whatever country you happen to be a citizen of). In fact to most Arabs, it is more important to identify they tribe then even being Arab (and Arab is more important then being a citizen of one country of another, thus the outrage throughout the Middle East as to what is happening in Gaza). This is a different Concept then we in the west are use to. We rarely identify with our family group over the nation as a hole, we rarely identify with distant relatives over our friends (this may be the impact of the ban on cousin marrying which the Catholic Church imposed on Western Europe in the Dark Ages and survives to this day in Western Culture even as it is removed from the Statutes).

Thus to "dishonor" one's family is not only to harm oneself, but also to harm one's family economically (Both in regards to safety net issues but also when it comes to the need to borrow money). Remember in Moslem communities it is illegal to charge interest, and the only people who will loan money is such situation is relatives who either expect to be paid back OR expect you to help other family members later on (And often both). Thus if you are born into such a family you have rights within the family (i.e. help to buy a home when you get married and when you have children) and obligations (to help young people to buy their home and to help them when their have children, in addition to taking care of the elderly).

Now I have NOT heard of Honor Killings among the Christians of Middle East (most of which are Christian do to the fact their tribe and extended family are Christian and have been for Centuries). Part of this is doctrine (Christian Doctrine is NOT as severe when it comes to Women within the Family as are Moslems, through this reflex the fact the Christians tend to be the business, Trade and some farming communities of the Middle east while the Moslems the Herding and most Farming groups, and it is the herding groups that put the greatest emphasis on "Honor").

My point is simple, most of the Honor Killings reflect fears of the immediate family that the extended family will NOT support them do to the fact the daughter is no longer "Pure". Furthermore given that most people in the extended family marry each other cousins (To keep the money within the family) this makes the girl less marketable to the rest of the extended family. I hate to reduce things to economics, but most of these Honor Killings are best explained by the Economics of the family the women in a member of. Religion is often used as an excuse, but it is the economics of the family situation that explains why such killings occur. Given the decline in family income throughout the Middle east since the 1980s (tied in with the Oil Glut of the 1980s and then the ruling elites of the Middle East demanding a greater share of what remains of the profits from oil). Thus in the 1960s and 1970s you did NOT hear of such attacks, some occurred but this was a time period of expanding family income so such acts could be afforded by the extended family. Now the recent run up of price should have trickled down to the families of the middle east, but there is strong evidence that it did not, thus the economic pressure on families throughout the Middle East has actually increased during the last eight years. This increase economic pressure on the families of the Mid East have lead to the increase is such honor killings. This will continue till the economics are changed and no one is proposing any Welfare state for the Middle East (You do NOT hear of such attacks in Arabia, probably do to the fact that Arabia has one of the best Medical coverage in the World, thus not a problem in Arabia except when it comes to buying a new home and other non-medical need).