[R-P] (Fwd) [A-List] Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in S

[Nestor Gorojovsky]

Un par de frases introductorias, para que no ingresemos en 
discusiones inaceptables:

La prostitución sexual (hay otras, especialmente en un régimen social 
cuyo núcleo fundante es el tráfico de dinero) hasta puede parecer 
simpática para cierto decadentismo posmoderno, que hasta se presenta 
como tanguero y popular. No lo viven así quienes tienen que 
ejercerla.
 
Es un fenómeno degradante y criminal. Y acompaña siempre las 
intervenciones de la soldadesca imperialista.

El paraíso tailandés de la trata de niños nació con la guerra de 
Vietnam y el rol "privilegiado" que le tocó al Uruguay de Indochina 
en todo ese asunto: el de "santuario" de las tropas estadounidenses. 
La remonta y veterinaria de putas centroeuropeas -que alguna vez se 
derramó generosa sobre las ciudades argentinas llenas de hombres 
solos y produjo varios hijos de puta (literalmente), alguno de los 
cuales ejerció su condición desde los medios- recrudeció y se volvió 
todavía más sórdida con la caída de los regímenes del socialismo real 
en 1989: ése fue el verdadero rostro del capitalismo real para miles 
y miles de habitantes de esos países. Ahora, Iraq,

El lugar que otorga a las mujeres determina el lugar que corresponde, 
en la escala zoo-sociológica, a un régimen social. No hace falta ser 
un positivista del siglo XIX para enunciar esto.

Gentileza de la lista "A-List". Artículo completo, al pie.

MARABA, Siria — Cuando estaba en casa, en Iraq, la hija de Em-Jiba 
era una estudiante devota, modestamente vestida, que estudiaba 
seriamente. Jiba, que ahora tiene 16 años, usaba el jiyab (el pañuelo 
musulmán para la cabeza), se levantaba temprano y rezaba su plegaria 
matutina antes de ir a clase.

Después, los milicianos empezaron a amenazar su barrio de Bagdad, y 
Em-Jiba huyó con su hija a Siria. Eso fue la primavera (boreal) 
pasada. No había empleos, y el padre de Em-Jiba, muy mayor, empezó a 
tener complicaciones en su diabetes.

Em-Jiba, desesperada, le hizo caso a una conocida iraquí y llevó a su 
hija a trabajar a un night club, en una avenida conocida por su 
vínculo con la prostitución. "Los iraquíes éramos un pueblo 
orgulloso", dijo superando el rugido frenético de los parlantes del 
salón. Señaló a su hija, que bailaba entre algo así como un par de 
docenas de otras chicas, en el escenario, llevando un vestido de seda 
rosada con cintas spagueti y con sus frágiles hombros bañados en 
luces de colores.

Mientras Em-Jiba miraba, un hombre de mediana edad trepó al escenario 
y comenzó a bailar a los sacudones, agitando los brazos, entre las 
chicas.

"Durante la guerra lo perdimos todo", dijo. "Hasta nuestro honor". 
Insistió en que solo la identificáramos con parte de su nombre: Em-
Jiba significa "madre de Jiba" en árabe.

Es difícil que alguien que resida en Damasco en estos tiempos ignore 
el hecho de que certas refugiadas iraquíes están vendiendo sexo o 
trabajando en clubes sexuales.

[Versión completa en inglés]

------- Forwarded message follows -------

Date sent:      	Tue, 29 May 2007 07:00:17 -0400
From:           	Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages en gmail.com>
Subject:        	[A-List] Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria
To:             	A-List <a-list en lists.econ.utah.edu>
Send reply to:  	The A-List <a-list en lists.econ.utah.edu>

[ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] 

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/world/middleeast/29syria.html> May
29, 2007 Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria By
KATHERINE ZOEPF

MARABA, Syria — Back home in Iraq, Umm Hiba's daughter was a devout
schoolgirl, modest in her dress and serious about her studies. Hiba,
who is now 16, wore the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, and rose early
each day to say the dawn prayer before classes.

But that was before militias began threatening their Baghdad
neighborhood and Umm Hiba and her daughter fled to Syria last spring.
There were no jobs, and Umm Hiba's elderly father developed
complications related to his diabetes.

Desperate, Umm Hiba followed the advice of an Iraqi acquaintance and
took her daughter to work at a nightclub along a highway known for
prostitution. "We Iraqis used to be a proud people," she said over 
the
frantic blare of the club's speakers. She pointed out her daughter,
dancing among about two dozen other girls on the stage, wearing a 
pink
silk dress with spaghetti straps, her frail shoulders bathed in
colored light.

As Umm Hiba watched, a middle-aged man climbed onto the platform and
began to dance jerkily, arms flailing, among the girls.

"During the war we lost everything," she said. "We even lost our
honor." She insisted on being identified by only part of her name —
Umm Hiba means mother of Hiba.

For anyone living in Damascus these days, the fact that some Iraqi
refugees are selling sex or working in sex clubs is difficult to
ignore.

Even in central Damascus, men freely talk of being approached by 
pimps
trawling for customers outside juice shops and shawarma sandwich
stalls, and of women walking up to passing men, an act unthinkable in
Arab culture, and asking in Iraqi-accented Arabic if the men would
like to "have a cup of tea."

By day the road that leads from Damascus to the historic convent at
Saidnaya is often choked with Christian and Muslim pilgrims hoping 
for
one of the miracles attributed to a portrait of the Virgin Mary at 
the
convent. But as any Damascene taxi driver can tell you, the Maraba
section of this fabled pilgrim road is fast becoming better known for
its brisk trade in Iraqi prostitutes.

Many of these women and girls, including some barely in their teens,
are recent refugees. Some are tricked or forced into prostitution, 
but
most say they have no other means of supporting their families. As a
group they represent one of the most visible symptoms of an Iraqi
refugee crisis that has exploded in Syria in recent months.

According to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, about
1.2 million Iraqi refugees now live in Syria; the Syrian government
puts the figure even higher.

Given the deteriorating economic situation of those refugees, a 
United
Nations report found last year, many girls and women in "severe need"
turn to prostitution, in secret or even with the knowledge or
involvement of family members. In many cases, the report added, "the
head of the family brings clients to the house."

Aid workers say thousands of Iraqi women work as prostitutes in 
Syria,
and point out that as violence in Iraq has increased, the refugee
population has come to include more female-headed households and
unaccompanied women.

"So many of the Iraqi women arriving now are living on their own with
their children because the men in their families were killed or
kidnapped," said Sister Marie-Claude Naddaf, a Syrian nun at the Good
Shepherd convent in Damascus, which helps Iraqi refugees.

She said the convent had surveyed Iraqi refugees living in Masaken
Barzeh, on the outskirts of Damascus, and found 119 female-headed
households in one small neighborhood. Some of the women, seeking work
outside the home for the first time and living in a country with high
unemployment, find that their only marketable asset is their bodies.

"I met three sisters-in-law recently who were living together and all
prostituting themselves," Sister Marie-Claude said. "They would go 
out
on alternate nights — each woman took her turn — and then divide the
money to feed all the children."

For more than three years after the American-led invasion of Iraq in
2003, Iraqi prostitution in Syria, like any prostitution, was a
forbidden topic for Syria's government. Like drug abuse, the sex 
trade
tends to be referred to in the local news media as acts against 
public
decency. But Dietrun Günther, an official at the United Nations
refugee agency's Damascus office, said the government was finally
breaking its silence.

"We're especially concerned that there are young girls involved, and
that they're being forced, even smuggled into Syria in some cases,"
Ms. Günther said. "We've had special talks with the Syrian government
about prostitution." She called the officials' new openness "a great
step."

Mouna Asaad, a Syrian women's rights lawyer, said the government had
been blindsided by the scale of the arriving Iraqi refugee 
population.
Syria does not require visas for citizens of Arab countries, and its
government had pledged to assist needy Iraqis. But this country of 19
million was ill equipped to cope with the sudden arrival of hundreds
of thousands of them, Ms. Asaad said.

"Sometimes you see whole families living this way, the girls pimped 
by
the mother or aunt," she said. "But prostitution isn't the only
problem. Our schools are overcrowded, and the prices of services, 
food
and transportation have all risen. We don't have the proper
infrastructure to deal with this. We don't have shelters or health
centers that these women can go to. And because of the situation in
Iraq, Syria is careful not to deport these women."

Most of the semi-organized prostitution takes place on the outskirts
of the capital, in nightclubs known as casinos — a local euphemism,
because no gambling occurs.

At Al Rawabi, an expensive nightclub in Al Hami, there is even a 
floor
show with an Iraqi theme. One recent evening, waiters brought out
trays of snacks: French fries and grilled chicken hearts wrapped in
foil folded into diamond shapes. A 10-piece band warmed up, and an
M.C. gave the traditionally overwrought introduction in Arabic: "I
give you the honey of all stages, the stealer of all hearts, the most
golden throat, the glamorous artist: Maria!"

Maria, a buxom young woman, climbed onto the stage and began an
anguished-sounding ballad. "After Iraq I have no homeland," she sang.
"I'm ready to go crawling on my knees back to Iraq." Four other 
women,
all wearing variations on leopard print, gyrated on stage, swinging
their hair in wild circles. The stage lights had been fitted with
colored gel filters that lent the women's skin a greenish cast.

Al Rawabi's customers watched Maria calmly, leaning back in their
chairs and drinking Johnnie Walker Black. The large room smelled
strongly of sweat mingled with the apple tobacco from scores of water
pipes. When Maria finished singing, no one clapped.

She picked up the microphone again and began what she called a salute
to Iraq, naming many of the Iraqi women in the club and, indicating
one of the women in leopard print who had danced with her, "most
especially my best friend, Sahar."

After the dancers filed offstage and scattered around the room to 
talk
to customers, Sahar told a visitor she was from the Dora district of
Baghdad but had left "because of the troubles." Now, she said she
would leave the club with him for $200.

Aid workers say $50 to $70 is considered a good night's wage for an
Iraqi prostitute working in Damascus. And some of the Iraqi dancers 
in
the crowded casinos of Damascus suburbs earn much less.

In Maraba, Umm Hiba would not say how much money her daughter took
home at the end of a night. Noticing her reluctance, the club's
manager, who introduced himself as Hassan, broke in proudly.

"We make sure that each girl has a minimum of 500 lira at the end of
each night, no matter how bad business is," he said, mentioning a sum
of about $10. "We are sympathetic to the situation of the Iraqi
people. And we try to give some extra help to the girls whose 
families
are in special difficulties."

Umm Hiba shook her head. "It's true that the managers here are good,
that they're helping us and not stealing the girls' money," she said.
"But I'm so angry.

"Do you think we're happy that these men from the gulf are seeing our
daughters' naked bodies?"

Most so-called casinos do not appear to directly broker arrangements
between prostitutes and their customers. Zafer, a waiter at the club
where Hiba works, said that the club earned money through sales of
food and alcohol and that the dancers were encouraged to sit with 
male
customers and order drinks to increase revenues.

Zafer, who spoke on condition that only his first name be used,
refused to discuss specific women and girls at the club, but said 
that
most of them did sell sexual favors. "They have an hourly rate," he
said. "And they have regular customers."

Inexpensive Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular
destination for sex tourists from wealthier countries in the Middle
East. In the club's parking lot, nearly half of the cars had Saudi
license plates.

From Damascus it is only about six hours by car, passing through
Jordan, to the Saudi border. Syria, where it is relatively easy to 
buy
alcohol and dance with women, is popular as a low-cost weekend
destination for groups of Saudi men.

And though some women of other nationalities, including Russians and
Moroccans, still work as prostitutes in Damascus, Abeer, a 23-year-
old
from Baghdad working at the same club as Hiba, explained that the
arriving Iraqis had pushed many of them out of business.

"From what I've seen, 70 percent to 80 percent of the girls working
this business in Damascus today are Iraqis," she said. "The rents 
here
in Syria are too expensive for their families. If they go back to 
Iraq
they'll be slaughtered, and this is the only work available."


-- 
Yoshie
------- End of forwarded message -------

Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro en fibertel.com.ar
[No necesariamente es su autor]
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"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
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