Ulasan tentang kasus pelecehan seksual Direktur IMF terhadap pekerja
hotel, muslimah asal Afrika Barat.
In Defense of the Hotel Maid
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Laila Lalami – Tue May 17, 7:48 pm ET
NEW YORK – French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote Monday on the
Beast, "What I do know is that nothing can justify a man being thus
thrown to the dogs." Laila Lalami knows a few more things. Who the
real dogs are, for one.
Tuesday evening.
I do not know what actually happened Monday, the day before today,
inside the head of Bernard-Henri Lévy.
No one knows, actually. Because there is no evidence of deep and
careful thinking in his defense of Dominique Strauss-Kahn—the IMF
director accused last weekend of sexual assault on a hotel maid in New
York.
But it certainly would be nice to know how a philosopher who has so
staunchly claimed to defend the rights of Muslim women can find
himself on the side of the alleged rapist rather than on the side of
his alleged (Muslim) victim.
I refuse to consider the dime-store psychology explanation that the
person Lévy chooses to defend is, like him, the bearer of a fancy,
hyphenated name and, like him, a very rich man, and therefore this is
all just a case of a few good ol' boys standing together.
It certainly would be nice to know how a philosopher who has so
staunchly claimed to defend the rights of Muslim women can find
himself on the side of the alleged rapist rather than on the side of
his alleged (Muslim) victim.
What I do know is that nothing in the world can justify a philosopher
throwing an alleged victim of sex assault to the dogs.
Nothing, no suspicion whatever, permits so many members of the French
press to speculate that this must have been a wicked plot by
Strauss-Kahn's rivals in the upcoming elections or by those who want
him out at the IMF.
Nothing, no earthly law, should also allow a hotel maid—admirable in
her courage to immigrate to another country, learn a new language, and
support her children through honest work—to be exposed to the slime of
French elites drunk on salacious gossip and driven by some obscure
vengeance against hotel workers.
And what I know even more is that Strauss-Kahn, whom I do not know
personally, was arrested on a plane as he attempted to leave the
country; that his lawyers denied the charges of sex assault, then
later said the sex was consensual; and that, during his tenure at the
IMF, he was investigated for a sexual affair with a subordinate.
Powerful man, yes. Rich man, yes. Subject to a different form of
justice: no, not in this country.
This morning, I commend the American judge who, by delivering
Strauss-Kahn to Rikers Island, took him for a subject of justice like
any other.
At the same time, I am troubled by a public figure, modestly termed "a
leading French intellectual," meaning that he gets to decide who
should be held responsible for alleged sex crimes.
I resent the French tabloid press, a disgrace to the profession, that,
without the least precaution or any consideration of the effect of
their gossip, has depicted the hotel maid as having large breasts and
a nice ass and being not very seductive.
I am angry with all those in France who jumped at the occasion to
deride the American justice system, and America in general. Where was
this outrage when Hannibal al-Gaddafi was released on bail after
beating up his pregnant girlfriend in a Paris hotel?
And I hold it against the commentators, pundits, and other minor
figures of a French political class who went well beyond mere
statements of "shock" and "stupefaction," to publicly try a case about
which none of us know very much.
I'm angry with, to name one, former Minister of Education Jack Lang,
who couldn't understand the "lynching" that poor Dominique
Strauss-Kahn had to endure under the American justice system, or why
Strauss-Kahn hadn't been freed on bail when there had not been a
death.
I hold it against all those who flatly deny the account of this other
young woman, this one French, who for eight years, and perhaps out of
fear, did not dare come forward about charges of attempted rape, but
decided to put herself under public scrutiny now. Could it be that she
sensed that her account would finally be believed?
And I am, of course, dismayed at the political impact of the event:
The French left, which, if Strauss-Kahn were out of the running, would
have to figure out what it really stands for.
France, which must now come to terms with the possibility of having
the far-right leader Marine Le Pen as its next president.
And the people of the Third World, who must now learn the name of the
next IMF director who will ruin their economies.
Laila Lalami is the author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and
Secret Son. She is currently an associate professor at the University
of California, Riverside. Follow her on Twitter at:
Twitter.com/LailaLalami
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