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A Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women is
congratulating for her courage Juanita Broaddrick, the 56-year-old
business woman who accused President Clinton of raping her and is
demanding that Clinton resign.
Marie-Jose Ragab, the president of Virginia's Dulles Area chapter of NOW,
said that her chapter believes Broaddrick's story and gives her its full
support. It is Ragab's hope that Broaddrick's courage will give other
women who may have been victimized by Clinton a voice in the nation's
public forum.
"We hope that her strength and resolve will inspire other women possibly
victimized by Mr. Clinton to come forward and speak up as well," she
said.
The chapter first called for Clinton's resignation last August when
Clinton admitted that he had been lying to the American people for a
period of about seven months during which "the rule of law was mocked,
sexual harassment was ridiculed and some women were terrorized for
exercising their constitutional rights."
Dismayed by the silence of NOW's national leadership on matters of sexual
harassment law in regards to Clinton's affairs and alleged rape, the
Dulles Chapter voted last Friday to call for the immediate resignation of
NOW's national officers and board. The chapter also voted to disassociate
itself from NOW's national office until these changes have taken place.
"The original intent of NOW was to stand for the rights of all women in
all facets of society in a non-partisan manner, a creed we adhere to,"
said Ragab. "We believe that the national officers and the national board
members have damaged the credibility of NOW to the degree that it may not
be able to recover from it. We cannot, in conscience, be party to this."
Ragab went on to say that NOW's mission has always been to protect the
civil rights of all women, even if it meant going after political
parties, Congress, or the president. She believes her chapter is still
abiding by this mission; it's the rest of the organization that has
broken the rules.
Because NOW, according to Ragab, has broken the rules, her chapter no
longer promotes the organization nor does it collect dues. She's also
refusing membership and telling others within the chapter to avoid
harassment from the organization by not renewing their memberships. And
Ragab has taken the right to criticize the organization as she sees fit.
Ragab believes that the actions of her dissident chapter are foiling
White House strategies of having the press present a united and
supportive NOW.
"There is no question that the defenders of the White House have gone to
great lengths to present a unified picture of women and feminists in the
Democratic Party," Ragab said.
Ragab told WorldNetDaily that as she approached major news stations about
her chapter's stance on Clinton's affairs with women, the producers at
the news stations told her that their station was called by the White
House telling them not to report on the Dulles chapter. Although this
statement, if true, could be used to incriminate White House members,
Ragab admitted that there was no way to support these statements or to
know whether or not the stations were simply trying to make her feel good
or if they were just excusing themselves.
Regardless of what news producers may have said, however, Ragab believes
that many of the women in her chapter are terrified of the repression of
women taking place by Clinton's defense team. She said that some women in
her chapter, who work for the government, feel that there is an
"atmosphere of fear" within the workplace because of the repression.
Ragab is appalled that some women are once again feeling afraid in the
workplace. She said she's also unimpressed with those Democrats who
rebuke the president for his lack of moral decency and then turn around
and whole-heartedly support him.
"Although we believe Mr. Clinton is guilty of perjury and obstruction of
justice as charged, we accept the judgments rendered by the Senate,"
Ragab said. "We are, however, unmoved by the display of moral outrage
Democrats profess to feel toward a man they otherwise passionately
support, someone we concluded uses and abuses women and then seeks to
destroy those who attempt to expose the harm they suffered." |
