Will xenophobia spare Strauss-Kahn jail for rape?

This video from the USA says about itself:

Hotel workers protest as Dominique Strauss-Kahn leaves court

New York City union hotel workers protest as former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair leave Manhattan Criminal Court after Strauss-Kahn‘s arraignment hearing on sexual assault charges in New York.

From the New York Times in the USA:

Strauss-Kahn Case Seen as in Jeopardy

By JIM DWYER, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and JOHN ELIGON

Published: June 30, 2011

The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the housekeeper who charged that he attacked her in his Manhattan hotel suite in May, according to two well-placed law enforcement officials.

Although forensic tests found unambiguous evidence of a sexual encounter between Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a French politician, and the woman, prosecutors now do not believe much of what the accuser has told them about the circumstances or about herself.

“Sexual encounter”; what an euphemism for what was presumably rape.

Among the discoveries, one of the officials said, are issues involving the asylum application of the 32-year-old housekeeper, who is Guinean, and possible links to people involved in criminal activities, including drug dealing and money laundering.

Well, if you are poor, as you cannot afford a New York City rich people’s house on a chambermaid wage, then you probably live in a “poor” neighborhood. A New York City neighborhood where some people do not see other ways of making money than drug deals etc. And if those people live, eg, next door to you, then you know them, and then there is a “possible link”. It is very twisted logic to infer from this that a poor African immigrant woman probably lied about being sexually attacked by one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

George W. Bush lied about very many things, like those supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction which were a pretext for the Iraq war. Yet this does not mean we should doubt Bush’s veracity when he said that Dick Cheney would be his election running mate, as Cheney indeed turned out to be his running mate.

It seems that prejudices against women, against Africans, against immigrants, against working class people, play a role amongst New York authorities involved in the Strauss-Kahn rape case.

And now, the other issue mentioned by the New York Times. “The asylum application of the 32-year-old housekeeper”. Mr Strauss-Kahn, not being female, not being poor, not being African, could get easily into the USA.

For the Guinean chambermaid, things are different. Guinea is a bloody dictatorship; there is much sexual violence against women. Yet, xenophobia in the USA makes it difficult for Guineans to get political asylum.

So, she may have, technically, “lied”. Like some other refugees from poor countries, faced with rigid bureaucracy and rigid rules in rich countries, do.

Ms Ayaan Hirsi Magan (real name of “Ayaan Hirsi Ali”), when she applied for political asylum, and later for a Dutch passport, in the Netherlands, lied about her name, about her birth date, about her whereabouts before applying for asylum. Other women (and men) of Somali origin doing that would be harshly punished with deportation by the Dutch authorities.

However, Ms “Ali” was not punished, as her attacks on Islam were useful for the political right wing in its anti-immigrant witch-hunt.

The New York City Guinean chambermaid does not seem to be useful to the establishment, like Ms “Ali” is.

Don’t let xenophobia, racism, misogyny and anti-worker prejudice prevail over justice in the Strauss-Kahn case!

Portia Crow, Inter Press Service: “Despite questions about her credibility, the Sofitel maid who is accusing former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault is still a victim and should be treated as one, according to her attorney… He claimed that District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. was trying to drop the case in order to save face, and stressed that the 32-year-old alleged victim still deserved justice”: here.

Violence Against Migrant Women Won’t End After DSK Case. Michelle Chen, Colorlines: “The narrative of the immigrant housekeeper allegedly assaulted by a European official perfectly illustrates an axiom of violence and power: the wider the gap between genders and races, the greater the latitude of injustice. Yet the same story plays out every day on an endless loop around the globe: a retaliatory rape against a young girl sends a warning to the enemy militia; a wife is pummeled into bloody silence, her bedroom beyond the purview of traditional local courts; a daughter is married off to pay down a farm debt. The stories weave into a pattern that a media-fatigued public has come to normalize”: here.

Nafissatou Diallo Interviews: Dominique Strauss-Kahn Accuser Speaks: here.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Case: Hotel Maid‘s Lawyer Says Her Remarks Were Wrongfully Portrayed: here.

Nafissatou Diallo Sues Dominique Strauss-Kahn Over NYC Hotel Encounter (VIDEO) : here.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn allies allegedly offered £4m to silence ex-lover: here.

Arrests after Strauss-Kahn speech in UK. Police detain man and woman protesting against speech by French politician who quit as IMF chief over rape accusations: here.

Former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a French court yesterday he was unaware that female participants at hotel orgies in Paris and Washington were prostitutes. He and 13 co-defendants are on trial accused of aggravated pimping in connection with a sex ring centred on the Hotel Carlton in Lille: here.

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