Social Justice Challenge - Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

I'm participating in the Social Justice Challenge this year.

Click here to find out more.

The topic for March is Domestic Violence and Child Abuse.

The book that I read for this month is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.

I have already had this to say about it. 

From the back of the book: "At a suburban barbeque, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, friends and relatives, who are all directly or indirectly influenced by the slap...What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting loyalties - that family can arouse..."

This book is not, by any means, an easy read. In fact, I found it incredibly disturbing, and the slap itself was the least of it. There is a lot of anger expressed in this book; a great deal of foul language, violent sex and drug-taking. The characters are well drawn, and realistic, but are like nobody I know in my world.

Despite the difficulty of reading this, I did feel it was a valuable catalyst for thinking about child abuse, particularly opening up the issue of the fine line between discipline using corporal punishment, and abuse.

I also found the dissection of family relationships and loyalties fascinating.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel that this book came to a satisfying conclusion. I didn't feel a sense of hope at the end of it. However, if you're stout of heart, and it interests you, then I think you find it provides plenty of food for thought.

Social Justice Challenge - Water

The topic for February in the Social Justice Challenge is Water.

Access to fresh drinking water is a huge issue in third world countries, but even rich, developed countries suffer from inadequate water supplies due to climate change.

The book that I decided to read for this month is Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water by Maude Barlow.

I borrowed this from my local public library. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get through it. It's too heavy going for me.

I did read through the first chapter, "Where has all the water gone?", in which I learnt a lot.

We all learn about the water cycle in school, and I guess we get the impression that because nature recycles water so effectively, it is impossible for us to run out of water. However, we're not factoring in the human potential for waste, pollution, and greed.

I don't think I can adequately explain the issues to you here; I just don't understand them well enough. If you are interested in water sustainability, and can settle in for an intellectually demanding read, I highly recommend this book.



Hopefully I'll do better with March's theme: Domestic Violence and Child Abuse.  

Social Justice Challenge - Religious Freedom

January's topic for the Social Justice Challenge is Religious Freedom. What is religious freedom?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares:

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Violations of religious freedom can take many forms:
Switzerland votes to ban the construction of minarets.
China mistreats the citizens that follow banned religions.
These are just two examples from Amnesty International.

For this challenge, I read Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks.

I chose this particular book for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Brooks is an Australian author, I am Australian, and I want to make a point of reading more books written and published in Australia. Secondly, I don't know a lot about the Islamic religion and I want to learn more.

What this book is not. This book is not about freedom of belief or the freedom to manifest religion.

This book is a memoir of the time that the author spent living with women in various predominantly Islamic countries, with the express intention of finding out the real story of these women's lives.

I did, however, learn a lot about freedom of belief and the freedom to manifest religion. Though it is easy to believe that The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is "immutable international currency, independent of cultural mores and political circumstances" (Brooks, 2008, p.237), that is not the case. Not all people in all countries agree.

Also, the practice of religion is affected in complex ways by the political climate and cultural norms of a country. Not all Muslims practice their religion the same way or believe the same things.

I highly recommend this fascinating insight into the lives of Muslim women.

Get Involved in the Social Justice Challenge

I'd like to introduce you to the Social Justice Challenge, unless you have found it already! This challenge is running all year, and each month is devoted to a different social justice issue.

The monthly issues are:

January - religious freedom

February - water

March - domestic violence and child abuse

April - hunger

May - AIDS crisis

June - genocide

July - poverty

August - illiteracy and education

September - modern day slavery

October - homelessness and refugees

November - women's rights

December - child soldiers and children in war

Now I'm guessing that at least one of these issues strikes a chord with you.

The aim of the challenge is for participants to educate themselves about these areas of social injustice. I'm really looking forward to learning more, and gaining the information and tools that I need to change the world for the better.

For each monthly theme, the hosts of the challenge have put together book lists and recommendations, along with links to websites. For January (click here to view the recommendations), I have chosen to read Geraldine Brooks' Nine Parts of Desire. Stay tuned for my comments...