[1252] in peace2
NYT: Women of Kabul Gather for Faltering First March
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Tue Nov 20 13:44:26 2001
Message-Id: <200111201843.NAA12239@gold.mit.edu>
To: peace-list@MIT.EDU, peace-women@MIT.EDU, pro-choice@MIT.EDU, gwg@MIT.EDU,
greens-announce@MIT.EDU, stop@MIT.EDU
cc: mitai-exec@MIT.EDU, anti-hate@MIT.EDU, women-announce@MIT.EDU
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Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 13:43:30 -0500
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
1)
To learn more about the status of women in this tumultuous
time in Afghanistan, listen to Amy Goodman's archived shows
or live on-line at:
http://www.democracynow.org
2)
Also, consider joining the mailing list called "afghan-crisis@mit.edu"
via blanche, listmaint or writing to "afghan-crisis-request@mit.edu".
People involved with this list, the Muslim Student Assoc. and UTR
put on a great event last night with the world programs director of Oxfam.
The situtation continues to be dire and we must not confuse food *delivery*
(in bulk) with food *distribution* to the people who need it. The former is
happening to some degree, the latter is still not in any meaningful level.
3)
NYT article that should be called:
"Taliban II (a.k.a. Northern Alliance) forbids peaceful demonstration
of women calling for their rights from the gang-raping thugs in the NA"
... but I guess this is why I will never get a job at the times!
Peace,
Aimee
Women of Kabul Gather for Faltering First March
November 20, 2001
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:31 a.m. ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Shedding their head-to-toe
burqas, hundreds of women gathered in the Afghan capital on
Tuesday to demand their rights after five years of stifling
Taliban rule.
On a bright, crisp day in a Kabul suburb, women in leather
jackets, skirts and flowered headscarves met to call for
the right to work, education for their daughters, and a
political voice.
Led by former politician Saraya Parlika, the plan was to
march to the United Nations office in the center of city.
But military police of the Northern Alliance, who seized
control of Kabul from the Taliban a week ago, said they had
been given no warning and postponed the march for a week.
It was a faltering start, but still an important moment for
the women who just seven days ago could not leave the house
unaccompanied, let alone show their faces.
``They say it was a security problem but we'll do it again
next week,'' said Parlika, as men hung out of their
apartment windows, amazed at the spectacle beneath.
Former teachers, doctors and civil servants chatted and
laughed in the winter sunshine. They had all been sacked
from their jobs by the Taliban, who banned women from
working in their strict interpretation of Islamic rule.
``I came here to demand an education for my daughter,''
said 43-year-old Roya Sherzad. ``I was a teacher, I am a
literate, educated woman, but my daughter has barely been
to school.''
The Taliban banned mixed classes and said they did not have
the resources to open separate boys' and girls' schools.
Most of the women had similar thoughts on their mind.
``I
don't think we are asking for much. We want a government
that gives our children an education and allows us to work
and live our lives in peace,'' said Shukria, a former
administrator.
``I need to support my family. This isn't about politics,
it's just about a normal life.''
FINDING A VOICE
But Parlika, chairwoman of the 100-member General Coalition
of Women, a human rights organization that has operated in
secret since 1996, had more ambitious plans.
``We met yesterday to draw up our short-term agenda,'' she
said. ``We decided we should shed our burqas and march to
the U.N. to demand our political voice.''
Parlika is pushing for women to be represented at a meeting
of Afghan groups to discuss the shape of a future
government that the U.N. is working to convene.
But despite the concern to ensure all Afghanistan's ethnic
groups are fairly represented in the new government, the
rights of women seem to have been left behind.
U.N. special envoy Francesc Vendrell has held meetings in
recent days with the exclusively male Northern Alliance and
other political leaders, but not with Afghan women.
Even before the Taliban took power, Afghanistan was a
male-dominated society.
``Now we have to start the women's struggle all over
again,'' said Parlika, a senior member of Afghanistan's
communist party in the 1980s, who says she is finished with
hard-line politics.
``We need a voice, that is all. We want to be at that
meeting.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-attack-afghan-women.
html?ex=1007276197&ei=1&en=948086a81f64c4a7
