With that said, Canada's own New Democratic Party could certainly learn something from Blair. For the beleaguered socialists, the important lesson is that a charismatic leader can help a leftist party to get its message across - and that, along with its poor organizational structure, has arguably been the NDP's biggest stumbling block in recent years. The point, however, is that for all those pundits who have written about Blair, few actually seem to understood why he came to power. Because in the final analysis, his makeover of the Labour Party had little to do with it. More than anything else, Blair continues to benefit from a disorganized Right. so.
Few terms are more misunderstood than women's rights'.
Most recently, the conviction of three Bosnian Serbs for rapes committed against Muslim women has been hailed as a massive victory for womankind. But although it's always encouraging to see justice done, there is much more to this issue than the extreme cases of brutal acts of violence. In truth, our own culture might have made major strides in terms of protecting women's legal rights, but it is no less important a battleground for their overall treatment than a courtroom in the Hague. Although the treatment of women across the globe should certainly be of concern to those of us in Canada and the United States, it also allows us to conveniently ignore many of the problems that face them here at home. Right-wing commentators, of course, tend to imply that women in the western world should be content with their lot.