TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE!
Tonight we're talked about a British intitiative to create including CCTV in the houses of women threatened with violence. We're also discussing the recent Iranian elections: are they important? Are attitudes towards Ahmadinejad changing? Here's an .
Domestic Violence.
Meg Munn: 鈥淭hese schemes offer a sanctuary room: locks, security and a phone line to the police. She can be safe until the police arrive. Women have the choice of this. It costs about 拢800 ($1,500) to fit out a room. It costs less than rehousing someone. It鈥檚 an option 鈥 we are not forcing it upon people.鈥
Andy is in London: 鈥淚 applaud the moves but I don鈥檛 think they understand the psychological violence. I agree with the concept of a safe room. Perpetrators should be treated as the common criminals they are.鈥
Madu is in India: 鈥淚f it鈥檚 a large-scale phenomenon then it鈥檚 a band-aid-ish way of dealing with a deep social crisis.鈥
Sandra Horley, Chief Exec of Refuge a domestic violence charity: 鈥淲hy would we want to make the victims the prisoners. These are ordinary men who think they have the right to beat women up. The problem we have with these rooms is they cannot live like Jodie Foster in the film. They have to go to the shops and do their daily routine. It鈥檚 the cart before the horse to say these rooms will help. This is not a good thing for women whose husbands know where they are living.鈥
Lisa is in London: 鈥淵ou have no safe room. They always get the phone so you cannot ring out.鈥
Sandra: 鈥淥n the whole the police response is patchy. Legal aid budgets have been cut.鈥
Another Lisa is in the USA: 鈥淭his option sounds like a good thing to explore. In North Carolina we had a woman killed at the shelter. If cannot get to her at home he will try elsewhere. It sounds good as a single resource for a victim.鈥
Sandra: 鈥淪anctuaries are a partial response. Too many women are at risk. We need governmental policies. You can educate via public awareness. Get into the schools and teach children that using violence is unacceptable.鈥
Lisa (USA): 鈥淲e want men involved in solving the problem.
Sandra: 鈥淒omestic violence costs the state in the UK 拢23bn.鈥
Nadiera is in South Africa: 鈥淚n South Africa black women suffer at the hands of the state. Domestic violence is part of a larger problem. This type of scenario is not possible for Africans living in poverty. CCTV in their home is an offence to liberties. You鈥檙e being monitored by the state and it perpetuates the gender differentiations. There are pros and cons. The state is hegemonic masculinity. This is a short term solution, it might give a sense of security now . . . 鈥
Rabiya: 鈥淎ren鈥檛 men victims too?鈥
Sandra: 鈥淲e have to cater for the majority and Refuge is here to help women victims. There are other charities to help men. Domestic abuse happens within a relationship. It鈥檚 an abuse of power. We live in a patriarchal society.鈥
Marylyn has called from the UK: 鈥淭he British government that have initiated programmes that start before birth.鈥
Sandra: 鈥淭here are things happening up and down the country. This government has done more than any other in thirty years. There鈥檚 a long way to go. There鈥檚 a difference between policy and practice.鈥
Iranian elections.
Hossein: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 quite revealing about how Iran is perceived by the West in the wrong way. When Ahmadinejad was first elected he was unknown and people were shocked because they thought Iran is becoming more radical. Now lots of people including reformers like myself know that this is not the way Iranians want there country. The incident in the university is the only thing that the West is now seeing as evidence of his unpopularity but if you talked to people in the streets then you would know this dissatisfaction has been increasing even among the less educated people.鈥
Dr Mehrdad Khonsari: 鈥淭he Ahmadinejad bubble has burst. It鈥檚 the first visible sign. What is being ignored is the fact that the whole reformist movement has been quashed. The military and secret service dominate.鈥
Hamid is in Iran: 鈥淎ccording to the results I believe that his politics inside Iran is not working. Tehran鈥檚 mayor is getting more support.鈥
Amir is in Iran: 鈥淭he tide is not turning. These elections will change nothing at all. Usually only minor things change. Compare Khatami to Ahmadinejad - what has changed? Nothing!鈥
Dr Khonsari: 鈥淲hat Amir meant is that irrespective of the setback Ahmadinejad has suffered the new people will not implement policies that will change things.鈥
Khourosh: 鈥淎hmadinjad is playing power politics with the Western press and governments. He鈥檚 playing this game well. They hold elections which are more or less insignificant but which get major coverage around the world and the final message is look at Saudi Arabia: they have no elections.鈥
Mark is in Switzerland: 鈥淭here is an irony. Listening to this programme we鈥檙e hearing the same comments that we heard about President Bush four weeks ago. It鈥檚 unfortunate we don鈥檛 listen to our populations.鈥
Dr. Khonsari: 鈥淭here is some truth in that. In this election the people had 2 dilemmas: 1. Boycott the vetted elections or 2. participate. 65% of the population live in major cities and in those cities the turnout was 35% per cent 鈥 not very much.鈥
Hossein: 鈥淭he elections show Iran has a minimum level of democracy and fragmentation.鈥
As usual we had problem with phone lines to Iran. It鈥檚 a shame because we know how much the Iranian population want to contribute.
That鈥檚 all for tonight. Goodnight and sleep tight.
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