Afghan Women's Mission

Known as the “most famous woman in Afghanistan,” dissident parliamentarian Malalai Joya returns to the US, this time to share her new political memoir, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, co-written with Derrick O’Keefe.

Listen to Malalai Joya on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.

“Perhaps the most remarkable feature of this inspiring memoir is that despite the horrors she relates, Malalai Joya leaves us with hope that the tormented people of Afghanistan can take their fate into their own hands if they are released from the grip of foreign powers, and that they can reconstruct a decent society from the wreckage left by decades of intervention and the merciless rule of the Taliban and the warlords who the invaders have imposed upon them. It is hard to find words to capture the incredible courage of this amazing young woman, and of the supporters who have gathered to protect her and carry on her work, particularly the many women ‘protesting with empty hands,’ evidence that ‘we are not only victims, and that women have the power to make changes in their lives and their country.’ She also shows how we can provide a helping hand — not with landmines, bullets, and bombs, but with ‘an invasion of hospitals, clinics and schools for boys and girls.’ Joya is raising an eloquent voice, and we owe to her, and to her people, to listen carefully, to learn, and to act.” – Noam Chomsky

“A chilling, vital memoir that reveals hidden truths about Afghanistan and directly addresses the misguided policies of the United States.” – Kirkus Reviews

“One of the few women, and the youngest, to win a seat in Afghanistan’s Parliament, Joya recounts in strong, uncompromising language her march to activism, from her humble origins to recognizing a burning need to bring the corrupted leaders to justice in her war-torn country.” – Publishers Weekly

Ms. Joya’s book tour will take her to New York, Washington DC, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco from late October to early November 2009.

Pre-order the book.

A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice by Malalai Joya with Derrick O’Keefe.

Malalai Joya has been called “the bravest woman in Afghanistan.” At a constitutional assembly in Kabul in 2003, she stood up and denounced her country’s powerful NATO-backed warlords. She was twenty-five years old. Two years later, she became the youngest person elected to Afghanistan’s new Parliament. In 2007, she was suspended from Parliament for her persistent criticism of the warlords and drug barons and their cronies. She has survived four assassination attempts to date, is accompanied at all times by armed guards, and sleeps only in safe houses.

Often compared to democratic leaders such as Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, this extraordinary young woman was raised in the refugee camps of Iran and Pakistan. Inspired in part by her father’s activism, Malalai became a teacher in secret girls’ schools, holding classes in a series of basements. She hid her books under her burqa so the Taliban couldn’t find them. She also helped establish a free medical clinic and orphanage in her impoverished home province of Farah. The endless wars of Afghanistan have created a generation of children without parents. Like so many others who have lost people they care about, Malalai lost one of her orphans when the girl’s family members sold her into marriage.

While many have talked about the serious plight of women in Afghanistan, Malalai Joya takes us inside the country and shows us the desperate dayto-day situations these remarkable people face at every turn. She recounts some of the many acts of rebellion that are helping to change the country — the women who bravely take to the streets in peaceful protest against their oppression; the men who step forward and claim “I am her mahram,” so the fundamentalists won’t punish a woman for walking alone; and the families that give their basements as classrooms for female students.

A controversial political figure in one of the most dangerous places on earth, Malalai Joya is a hero for our times, a young woman who refused to be silent, a young woman committed to making a difference in the world, no  matter the cost.

Recent reviews of Malalai Joya’s book in the UK and Australian Press:

• “Malalai Joya is an activist, a dissident, and one of the bravest women in Afghanistan. But she is not a politician, and in this part-autobiography, part-manifesto, the youngest MP in her country’s parliament reveals the multiple tragedies of Afghanistan… Read more.
• “She kept diaries throughout her adolescence but she was initially resistant to the idea of writing a book. A quiet, self-effacing character, she dedicates her biography to women and children, the invisible casualties of conflict and oppression to whom she has given a voice in recent years: “The Bashiras, Rahellas, Bibi Guls, Pukhtanas and all my oppressed people whose sighs, tears and sorrows nobody sees…” Read more.
• “It is refreshing to read Malalai Joya’s version of events in Afghanistan from the perspective of a woman who has lived through the reign of the tribal warlords, the Taliban regime and the US-supported Hamid Karzai government…” Read more.
• “This biography should have made Joya a leading player in Afghanistan’s post-Taliban political life. Instead, she is a poster child for its failure. Saluted abroad for her courage and nominated for, or the winner of, a long list of international human rights and peace prizes, she lives clandestinely in Afghanistan itself, suspended from parliament for allegedly insulting the warlords and drug barons who occupy most of its seats…” Read more.
• “Joya has reasons for ensuring her security. Besides five assassination attempts, she was ousted from the Afghan parliament in 2007 – where she sat as its youngest elected member – on charges of insulting the parliament. Still, she refuses to be silenced. “The silence of good people is worse than the actions of bad people,” said Joya…” Read more.

Afghan Women’s Mission is pleased to announce a nation-wide tour of Zoya, a member of RAWA in October 2009, exactly 8 years after the start of the US war. Zoya will share the message of RAWA in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Iowa, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Francisco.

Press Coverage of Zoya’s Tour:

• Out of tragedy, a revolutionary is born
• Activist discusses Afghanistan war
• Afghan activist speaks out against violence

About Zoya

Twenty eight year old Zoya is a member of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Like many RAWA members, Zoya has witnessed and endured more tragedy and terror than most people do in a lifetime. Zoya grew up during the wars that ravaged Afghanistan and was robbed of her mother and father when they were murdered by fundamentalists – Zoya was only fourteen. Devastated by so much death and destruction, she fled Kabul with her grandmother and started a new life in exile in Pakistan. After attending a school funded by RAWA, she joined the underground women’s organization and continues their work resisting fundamentalism and war today. Zoya has traveled across the world speaking about her experiences and the work of RAWA.

Because RAWA is an underground organization, members like Zoya do not reveal their real identity for fear of being persecuted.

“The message of RAWA to freedom-loving people is to support the democratic organizations of Afghanistan. Freedom, democracy and justice cannot be enforced at gunpoint by a foreign country; they are the values that can be achieved only by our people and democracy-loving forces through a hard, decisive and long struggle.” — Zoya in a June 2009 interview with Elsa Rassbach, after testifying to the Human Rights Commission of the German Parliament.

SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE POSTER FOR ZOYA TOUR

Bay-area based artist Doug Minkler, has created a special commemorative poster for the tour, shown at right.

Minkler says, “The invitation to help RAWA publicize Zoya’s US tour is a great honor. I am inspired by RAWA’s courage, community projects and principled pro-democracy positions and it is my hope that my colorful depiction of the mythical phoenix opposing the gray US death drones and destruction will similarly inspire the viewer to find out more about the work of RAWA. I take great pride in standing with RAWA and hope that if I was in their shoes, I would exhibit the same strength.”

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Corporations want artists to glorify their wars, their products and their philosophies. I make posters for my own preservation, that is, planetary preservation. My prints are inspired not by rugged individualism, but by the collective humor, defiance, and lust for life exhibited by those on the margins.

The US Government claims that only through a massive military economy and preemptive wars can peace and justice be maintained. I am among a growing number of artists who disagree. We are asking, “Peace for who?”
and “What kind of justice?” And, with our art, we are answering: “Peace for all nations” and “Egalitarian justice”. We are putting our creativity in the service of like-minded organizations.

Past collaborations include: International Longshore Workers Union, Veterans for Peace, Rain Forest Action Network, SF Mime Troupe, American Civil Liberties Union, Lawyers Guild, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, United Auto Workers, Africa Information Network, Ecumenical Peace Union, ADAPT, De-Bug, Cop Watch, Street Sheet and United Educators of San Francisco.

More information can be found at the artist’s website at www.dminkler.com.

Statement by Sonali Kolhatkar, Co-Director of Afghan Women’s Mission

Recently prominent liberal voices in the United States have expressed the view that the US war in Afghanistan is being waged to help secure the rights of Afghan women. The Feminist Majority, a prominent women’s organization in the US responded today to my critique of their pro-war position, co-authored with Mariam Rawi, a member of RAWA. The FM response was originally published under the title, “Why the Feminist Majority Foundation Supports Engagement in Afghanistan,” and later changed to “Why Is the Feminist Majority Foundation Refusing to Abandon the Women and Girls of Afghanistan?” In it, Eleanor Smeal and Helen Cho assert that “As long-time peace activists, we did not support the bombing of Afghanistan after 9/11.” But the FM also never came out against the war in Afghanistan as they did against the war in Iraq. Instead they called for full inclusion of women in any post-war government. That silence meant tacit support of the war. Today that support for war continues by equating the security craved by all Afghans with the war being waged by US troops. While I fully agree with the FM that the US must stop supporting warlords, and pour resources into development and aid I disagree that dropping bombs, fighting ground offensives, imprisoning Afghans, and all the byproducts of war are somehow making women safer.

Similarly, Howard Dean, former chair of the Democratic National Committee and one-time Presidential candidate on a liberal platform, in an interview on Democracy Now on Friday July 17th, pronounced his support for the US war in Afghanistan based on protecting women’s rights. In the interview, Dean repeated the logic that the US is waging war for Afghan women’s liberation. And on the flip side, according to Dean, “if we leave, women will experience the most extraordinary depredations of any population on the face of the earth.” By this logic, Dean implies that the US has for the past 8 years been a bulwark against a the deterioration of women

Rethink Afghanistan is a ground-breaking documentary by Brave New Films, that focuses on the what is really happening in Afghanistan as a result of US policy.

Part 5 of the film, just released online, explores the often-touted “liberation” of Afghan women and war’s disproportionate toll on women and their families. A member of RAWA was interviewed for this film, alongside Afghan Women’s Mission Co-Director Sonali Kolhatkar and many women’s rights advocates. Parts 1-4 can be viewed at www.rethinkafghanistan.com.

Brave New Films has partnered with RAWA to provide direct aid to refugee families displaced by the war. Earlier efforts helped raise $6,000 for emergency aid. $9000 more is needed. Please watch this short film and make a donation to RAWA to help them provide basic necessities to the refugees.

Image Caption: Humayun, a resident of Bala Baluk district, who lost 20 members of his family in the U.S. air strikes on May 5, 2009, was present at the May 11 press conference in Kabul

MP for Farah Province condemns NATO bombings: ’This massacre offers the world a glimpse at horrors faced by our people’

By Malalai Joya

As an elected representative for Farah, Afghanistan, I add my voice to those condemning the NATO bombing that claimed over 150 civilian lives in my province earlier this month. This latest massacre offers the world a glimpse of the horrors faced by our people.

However, as I explained at a May 11 press conference in Kabul, the U.S. military authorities do not want you to see this reality. As usual, they have tried to downplay the number of civilian casualties, but I have information that as many as 164 civilians were killed in the bombings. One grief stricken man from the village of Geranai explained at the press conference that he had lost 20 members of his family in the massacre.

The Afghan government commission, furthermore, appears to have failed to list infants under the age of three who were killed. The government commission that went to the village after three days — when all the victims had been buried in mass graves by the villagers — is not willing to make their list public. How can the precious lives of Afghans be treated with such disrespect?

The news last week is that the U.S. has replaced their top military commander in Afghanistan, but I think this is just a trick to deceive our people and put off responsibility for their disastrous overall strategy in Afghanistan on the shoulders of one person.

The Afghan ambassador in the U.S. said in an interview with Al Jazeera that if a ‘proper apology’ is made, then ‘people will understand’ the civilian deaths. But the Afghan people do not just want to hear ‘sorry.’ We ask for an end to the occupation of Afghanistan and a stop to such tragic war crimes.

The demonstrations by students and others against these latest air strikes, like last month’s protest by hundreds of Afghan women in Kabul, show the world the way forward for real democracy in Afghanistan. In the face of harassment and threats, women took to the streets to demand the scrapping of the law that would legalize rape within marriage and codify the oppression of our country’s Shia women. Just as the U.S. air strikes have not brought security to Afghans, nor has the occupation brought security to Afghan women. The reality is quite the opposite.

This now infamous law is but the tip of the iceberg of the women’s rights catastrophe in our occupied country. The whole system, and especially the judiciary, is infected with the virus of fundamentalism and so, in Afghanistan, men who commit crimes against women do so with impunity. Rates of abduction, gang rape, and domestic violence are as high as ever, and so is the number of women’s self-immolations and other forms of suicide. Tragically, women would rather set themselves on fire than endure the hell of life in our ‘liberated’ country.

The Afghan Constitution does include provisions for women’s rights – I was one of many female delegates to the 2003 Loya Jirga who pushed hard to include them. But this founding document of the ‘new Afghanistan’ was also scarred by the heavy influence of fundamentalists and warlords, with whom Karzai and the West have been compromising from the beginning.

In fact, I was not really surprised by this latest law against women. When the U.S. and its allies replaced the Taliban with the old notorious warlords and fundamentalists of the Northern Alliance, I could see that the only change we would see was from the frying pan to the fire.

There have been a whole series of outrageous laws and court decisions in recent years. For instance, there was the disgusting law passed on the pretext of ‘national reconciliation’ that provided immunity from prosecution to warlords and notorious war criminals, many of whom sit in the Afghan Parliament. At that time, the world media and governments turned a blind eye to it.

My opposition to this law was one of the reasons that I, as an elected MP from Farah Province, was expelled from Parliament in May 2007. More recently, there was the outrageous 20-year sentence handed down against Parvez Kambakhsh, a young man whose only crime was to allegedly distribute a dissenting article at his university.

We are told that additional U.S. and NATO troops are coming to Afghanistan to help secure the upcoming presidential election. But frankly the Afghan people have no hope in this election – we know that there can be no true democracy under the guns of warlords, the drug trafficking mafia and occupation.

With the exception of Ramazan Bashardost, most of the other candidates are the known, discredited faces that have been part and parcel of the mafia-like, failed government of Hamid Karzai. We know that one puppet can be replaced by another puppet, and that the winner of this election will most certainly be selected behind closed doors in the White House and the Pentagon. I must conclude that this presidential election is merely a drama to legitimize the future U.S. puppet.

Just like in Iraq, war has not brought liberation to Afghanistan. Neither war was really about democracy or justice or uprooting terrorist groups; rather they were and are about U.S. strategic interests in the region. We Afghans have never liked being pawns in the ‘Great Game’ of empire, as the British and the Soviets learned in the past century.

It is a shame that so much of Afghanistan’s reality has been kept veiled by a western media consensus in support of the ‘good war.’ Perhaps if the citizens of North America had been better informed about my country, President Obama would not have dared to send more troops and spend taxpayers’ money on a war that is only adding to the suffering of our people and pushing the region into deeper conflicts.

A troop ‘surge’ in Afghanistan, and continued air strikes, will do nothing to help the liberation of Afghan women. The only thing it will do is increase the number of civilian casualties and increase the resistance to occupation.

To really help Afghan women, citizens in the U.S. and elsewhere must tell their government to stop propping up and covering for a regime of warlords and extremists. If these thugs were finally brought to justice, Afghan women and men would prove quite capable of helping ourselves.

Malalai Joya was the youngest member of the Afghan Parliament, elected in 2005 to represent Farah Province. In May 2007 she was unjustly suspended from Parliament. Her memoir, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, is forthcoming later this year from Scribner.

Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace Present a Conference on Afghanistan

Sunday, May 3, 2009 * 1-6 p.m. * USC Taper Hall * Keynote Speakers: Sonali Kolhatkar – Tom Hayden

Click Here to Register

Click Here to Download the Flyer

As US bombs rained down on Afghanistan in October 2001, interfaith voices called for “justice, not vengeance” and insisted that ‘religious communities must stop blessing war and violence’. Now, with additional US troops on their way to that war-ravaged country, it’s again time to speak out and to act. As we continue to insist on the complete withdrawal of US military forces from Iraq, we must do the same with respect to Afghanistan. We must urgently take action while preparing to carry out a long-term struggle to dismantle the war system. Let us begin to create a culture of peace, based on social and economic justice, that will bring our world at last into one Beloved Community.

This important conference will feature keynote speaker Sonali Kolhatkar of KPFK and the Afghan Women