Category Archives: AWM News

Media in the United States have greatly exaggerated any victories for women’s rights, and downplayed the conditions of warlordism, oppression and poverty that still flourish. In a recent trip to Afghanistan, Co-Directors of the Afghan Women’s Mission, Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls found that the situation of women and girls was extremely dire and that little had changed since the fall of the Taliban.

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AWM Interview on independent media, Democracy Now!

Click here if you are a member of the media and are interested in an interview. Continue reading →

Video Screening, Slide Show and Music
Proceeds to Benefit RAWA

Taliban Country is a documentary where journalist Carmela Baranowska spent three weeks embedded with U.S. Marines in Afghanistan. She then returned in secret to the area where she was with the Marines to document what was really happening that the Marines would not let her see. Its a story of prisoners abused and villagers humiliated. "This report prompted US inquiry."

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RAWA enters 2005 with a financial crisis, which adversely affect tens of humanitarian projects which are currently being run in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Due to significant downfall in the level of donations over the past few months, RAWA may be forced to close down many of its projects while they are still greatly needed like before. That would be a painful decision for us and have bitter ends for thousands of suffering Afghan women and children. Therefore we appeal to all of our supporters and well-wishers of Afghan women to share their contribution in keeping the great humanitarian task goes on. Continue reading →

RAWA’s Malalai Hospital project is in critical condition – funds have been drastically dropping as media attention turns elsewhere. We need your help. It costs about $20,000 each month to run Malalai Hospital – to pay for doctors’ and nurses’ salaries, to buy supplies like bandages or surgical instruments, even to keep the water and heat running in the building. Malalai Hospital treats 300-350 people – women who couldn’t get care elsewhere – each day. Continue reading →

Los Angeles – Two events commemorate the start of the “war on terrorism” in Afghanistan. October 7th, 2004 will mark the third Anniversary of the “War on Terrorism” – a day when Coalition forces united to enter Afghanistan in search of Osama Bin Laden and the Al Queda Network. In the three years since the claim of “liberation,” Afghanistan has fallen into a complete security nightmare due to a lack of interest and focus by NATO and the International community. Security is still limited to the capital city of Kabul, while places like Herat have seen a rise in suicide among women. After twenty-five years, Doctors Without Borders has pulled out of the country.

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On Thursday May 27th at 7:30 pm, there will be an evening of presentations, spoken word, music and a slideshow to highlight the on-going struggles of the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The event will be held at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 W. Wilshire Blvd at Berendo in Los Angeles.

Speakers will feature Sonali Kolhatkar of Afghan Women’s Mission and Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange. Ross Altman, Gene Owens & James Kirk, and Mark Rodriguez will perform.

The event is endorsed by: ANSWER; Be the Cause; CAIR; Catalyst for Change; Code Pink; Frank Dorrell; Garment Worker Center; GCC Justice Coalition; LA Greens; Westside Greens; Office of the Americas; War is Not the Answer Vigil.

For more information call (323) 687-1193.
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Sahar Saba of RAWA is traveling throughout the U.S. this month on a speaking tour. Sahar has traveled extensively representing the plight of Afghan women to the world. Continue reading →

“I request you to please not carry my picture in the newspapers. I am under threat and may get identified if I go back to Afghanistan,” appeals prominent Afghani social activist Saher Saba. Continue reading →

Produced by local scenester Steve Tobin for Fire Museum and Electro Motive Records, this benefit compilation for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) brings together a wide variety of players spanning a multiplicity of genres, from jazz, modern classical, and experimental improv to folk, indie rock, and dance. While a few of the featured artists hail from distant lands — e.g., freaky instrumentalists Godspeed You Black Emperor! (Montreal) and Turkish avant-garde singer Saadet Turkoz — most were handpicked from our own back yard. Familiar names include art
punks Deerhoof, global-minded altrockers Charming Hostess, estrogen-powered a cappella sensation Jou Jou, and haunted fairy-tale duo Faun Fables; lesser-known standouts are post-Pixies pop group 20 Minute Loop and queer hip-hoppers Deep Dickollective. Continue reading →

There will be a series of free and open lectures by Tahmeena Faryal at various campuses and spaces during Nov. 12-15 in Southern California. Continue reading →