Outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy to discuss violence against women in Iraq

The third annual Karen Levin Coburn '63 Lecture in Women's Studies at Skidmore College will be given by Yisaf Susskind on Thursday, March 22, at 8 p.m. in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. The talk, titled "Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the U.S. War on Iraq," is free and open to the public. 

As part of her talk, Susskind will describe the work of MADRE, the international women's human rights organization she serves as communications director. MADRE has been on the ground in Iraq since the first Gulf War, providing emergency supplies of medicine and milk, and supporting the network of women's shelters set up by the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).

Susskind's talk comes just weeks after the release of a MADRE report documenting widespread use of rape and other forms of torture against Iraqi women and accusing the Bush Administration of trading women's rights for cooperation from the Islamists it boosted to power. The report, written by Susskind and released March 6 during the 51st United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, includes testimonies of numerous rape survivors, collected by the OWFI.

"Under U.S. occupation, Iraqi women have endured a wave of gender-based violence, including widespread abductions, public beatings, death threats, sexual assaults, 'honor killings,' domestic abuse, torture in detention, beheadings, shootings, and public hangings," Susskind wrote. Such violence, she asserts, is systematic and part of a larger agenda. "Iraq's Islamists see the subordination of women as a top priority-both a microcosm and a precondition of the social order they wish to establish. As in Iran, Algeria, and Afghanistan, a campaign of violence against women was the first salvo in the Islamists' war to establish a theocracy in Iraq."

Skidmore students help choose speakers each year and meet with them informally before the lecture, according to Adrienne Zuerner, associate professor of French and director of the Women's Studies Program. Since women's studies as a discipline emphasizes both theory and practice, Zuerner feels it is important for students to engage with both scholars and activists. "So many of our students want to do nonprofit work," she said. "They want to go out and change the world. Susskind is a wonderful role model."

Born and raised in Israel, Susskind directed a project at a joint Israeli-Palestinian human rights organization in Jerusalem before joining MADRE in 1997. She has written extensively on U.S. foreign policy and women's human rights, and her critical analysis has appeared in online and print publications such as TomPaine.com, Foreign Policy in Focus, and The W Effect: Bush's War on Women (Feminist Press, 2004). Susskind has been featured as a commentator on CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio, and is the author of an upcoming book on U.S. foreign policy and women's human rights.

The Coburn Lecture honors Karen Levin Coburn '63, co-author of the acclaimed book Letting Go: A Parent's Guide to Understanding the College Years.