Ajahn Brahm Speech Banned

Ajahn Brahm, was invited to deliver a speech on Gender Equality at the UN Day of Vesak Convention in Vietnam in May 2014. His speech was banned by the conference organising committee the day before it was due to be given at the Convention. Although Gender Equality is one of the declared UN millennium goals and although Ajahn Brahm’s paper on Gender Equality had been officially accepted for the convention, he was told at the last moment while he was in Vietnam that he would not be allowed to present his paper.

This is Ajahn's response from the following Friday's talk at Dhammaloka (it's audio).............



And here's his banned speech in full.............. !!

Theravada Buddhism and MDG 3: 

Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Theravada Buddhism 

By Ajahn Brahm

Introduction 

On December1 1955, in Montgomery Alabama, an African-American woman refused to obey a bus driver’s order to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. That simple act of defiance for the cause of social justice became one of the most important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movements in the USA. That woman was Rosa Parks. The United States Congress called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. December 1 is commemorated in the US states of California and Ohio as “Rosa Parks Day”. Rosa Parks became a Buddhist before she passed away in 2005 aged 92. One can speculate that this female icon against discrimination chose Buddhism because it is well suited to advancing social justice issues.

In this paper, I will discuss how Buddhism may advance the particular social justice issue of Millennium Development Goal No. 3: Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. I will focus on the need for Theravada Buddhism’s current male leadership to clearly demonstrate its own commitment to MDG 3 through acceptance of the bhikkhuni ordination. Only then can it use its considerable influence to make our world more fair, one where people are judged on their character and not on their gender.