[242] in peace2
Afghan women follow-up
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (F. AuYeung)
Wed May 3 16:50:22 2000
Message-Id: <200005032049.QAA104220@w20-575-129.mit.edu>
To: peace-list@MIT.EDU, peace-women@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 16:49:34 -0400
From: "F. AuYeung" <auyeung@MIT.EDU>
maybe we coordinate one day together in support. interested people
please email <peace-keepers>. i just gave blood today, so maybe
friday would be a good day?
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 15:41:32 -0400
From: David M Matheu <dmmatheu@MIT.EDU>
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 11:21:35 EDT
From: Becky Hull <beckyhu@hotmail.com>
To: MITAI-EXEC@MIT.EDU
Subject: Urgent:Kindly read & forward (til 5/6). The fast for Afghan women
has begun!
Hello,
I'm so sorry I missed your event last night at MIT in regard to the Gender
Apartheid in Afghanistan. I found out about it when I got ome from work at
10:30. I would like to let you know that this campaign and ask if I might
speak to someone about getting the word ASAP to all who atteneded last
night.
My phone number (for your use only) is 617-796-8830.
Please call me today. I'll be out after 6:00 tonight.
Thanks,
Becky Hull
The following is an update on the campaign that has
appeared in the Boston Phoenix, Omaid Weekly, the Azadi
Afghan Radio website and through numerous U.S. and
international groups' mail lists.
Becky Hull of West Newton, MA, has initiated a fast in
support of abolishment of apartheid in Afghanistan. She
is inviting all who have felt pain because they've allowed
themselves to connect with love to the people in the
Afghan media stories, to join her in transforming that
energy to help. She'd like millions to join her in
fasting for solidarity to support abolishment of the
gender apartheid in Afghanistan. The information that led
her to initiate this campaign follows.
It was after reading a petition a month and a half ago
that I became aware of the need to become involved. Since
the Taliban took control in 1996, Afghan women have been
turning to suicide to escape life under Islamic fundamentalist
rule. It is an utter outrage that unable to attend school or
work, Afghan women are held prisoners in
their own homes and allowed in public, only if completely
covered by a burqua and under the direct supervision of a
male relative.
When I first read this news, I allowed myself to imagine
the extreme fear I would feel if my life were to be
reduced to one of constant degradation with no choices to
walk in public, go to a job, talk openly, persue
education, and wear clothes that didn't cover every inch
of my body and face. The stripping of basic rights of
safety and freedom has left Afghan women consumed by fear
and so lacking in hope, that many are reduced to lie
motionless and starving in hospital beds.
It is truly imperative that we ALL amass immediately with
help. For Afghanistan to survive, order and balance must
first be restored through the guarantee of it's women's
and girls' well being. With the power that unity and
optimism can create, we can insist that the United States
add Afghanistan and Pakistan (who, according to the annual
U.S. report on international terrorism, continue their aid
of the Taliban) to their list of state sponsors (of
terrorism). A series of tough sanctions automatically
apply to those on this list. Without the finances,
weapons and the support they get from Pakistan and other
surrounding countries, the Taliban will be unable to
continue the perpetration of these atrocities.
Hull, who is supported by The Feminist Majority
Foundation, a national coalition of activists, will fast
with five other women in the United States, for the week
of April 30th through May 6th. During that week four of
them will consume only seeds and water. MANY OTHERS ARE
FASTING WITH DIFFERENT FOODS AND FOR LESS TIME.
Hull says she will be nurtured each time she allows her
visions of the Afghan women to be infused with the light
of love and compassion. Her abstinence from variety in
diet will mirror the loss of their ability to make
choices.
You can let your concern be heard with this clear and
strong commitment, without having to put your life on
hold to carry a sign in front of the white house!
Accept the invitation to fast for a day/s by
sending an email to BeckyHu@webtv.net or
by postcard to Mailbox #277, Mail Boxes etc.,
Center 1522, Walnut St., Newtonville, MA,
02460. Please include your name, city, state,
the number of days and the food upon which
you will fast. For more (background and other
ways you can help) information please contact
her through email or visit The Feminist Majority
Foundation web site at www.feminist.org and The
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan at
www.RAWA.org
------- End of Forwarded Message
from the Tuesday May 2 talk (my intepretation):
The Afghanistan people have been facing war for much of history, since
the country is in a geo-strategic location, a crossroads among Asia, the
Middle East, Asia minor, and eastern Europe. And recently, the country
has been at war for about two decades, ever since the Russians invaded
in 1979. As usual, the US response was to fund militant insurgency
groups to undermine communism, which supplied the power to the wrong
people when the Soviet puppet governments collapsed.
Fundamentalists factions funded by various neighboring countries then
fought for power in 1992, bringing about the worse killings than outside
invaders. Eight parties fought for control, and by 1996, the Taliban
took 90% of the power, with the remaining percentage belonging to other
fundamentalist opposition groups. The Taliban was trained in Pakistan
to fight, thus most of the soldiers are poorly educated and have no
sense of Afghan culture nor values, nor even the meaning of Islam.
Practically overnight, the country became a living hell for women.
Afghanistan did not begin as the most progressive nation, but 50% of the
work force, 50% of teachers, 40% of students, and 40% of doctors were
women. The Taliban quickly removed women from work and from schools;
rates of rape and beatings jumped, and people accused of fundamentalist
crimes were beaten or killed in the public. The situation is so bad for
women that most would rather hide at home; many committed suicide, and
sometimes, even parents consent to their children's suicide rather than
have them married off to fundamentalists.
There are some good details and campaign organizing information at
Feminst Majority <www.feminist.org/afghan>. Here are some examples why
life for women is so unbearable:
* ban on work outside home
* ban on activity outside home unless accompanied by close male relative
* ban on dealing with male shop owners
* ban on being treated by male doctors
* ban on women being doctors (1+1=0)
* ban on education
* ban on wearing loud shoes or high heals
* ban on riding taxis without same close male relative (cmr)
* ban on appearing on television
* ban on riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with cmr
* ban on wearing bright color clothes
* ban on white socks
* ban on nail polish (get finger chopped off if caught)
* ban on festive occasions
* ban on washing clothes in public water areas
* ban on appearing on balconies of home
* ban on male tailors making women's clothes or measuring sizes
* ban on photographing women or having posters of women
* must wear burka (complete covering with mesh opening for eyes)
* whipped/beaten/stoned if accused of sex outside marriage
* whipped/beaten/stoned if traveling with non close relative male
* ride on segregated buses
* for all including children, ban on laughting aloud
* for all including children, ban on listening to music
* for all including children, ban on flying kites or playing with birds
This is but a partial list of the ridiculous oppression which are driving
women to mental instability, to becoming beggars and prostitudes to make
a living, or to suicide.
The two women from RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afganistan) <www.rawa.org> advocate the following path: to put full
military sanctions on not just the Taliban, but also all their supporting
buddy countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. By
choking the flow of arms from the supporters of the Taliban, the women
believe that the Taliban will fall quickly. They also think that other
countries such as the US should take a more active position in
de-recognizing the regime. Currently, the US is "neutral" among the
fundamentalist parties. In Hiliary Clinton's words, the Taliban actions
are "not cultural, but criminal." Decent people cannot allow
fundamentalist militant rule to continue.
Felix AuYeung
