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From: "Margaret" <margaret-AT-rie.net.au> Subject: AUT: Re: on RAWA -East Timor Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:47:57 +1000 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. It is great to see a discussion on the world outside the usual anarchist ideological adherents & events. Here in Oz we had the mass murder of East Timorese for 25 years with little interest from the Australian/world anarchist movement alas. The Christian Church and Leninist Party social justice activists filled the void with some civil disobedience eg hiding asylum seekers - "illegal refugees" who were to be deported from Australia. "Closest" to the anarks The "Catholic Worker anarchists" did try to disrupt the war machine in Britain and Australia which armed & trained the bloody Soeharto regime. But the Catholic worker scene activists were largely ignored by the larger movement of secular/atheist anarchists. Remembering Forgetting is a booklet by one CW activist ,Ciaron O'Reilley that looks at East Timor for those who want to read more (contact ciaronx-AT-hotmail.com ). (There is currently a resurgence in the "sanctuary" movement to aid escaped refugees now from Iraq & Afghanistan whose boats have been siezed by the military here, and their deportation to Nauru and then Mandatory Detention Centres ie PRIVATE PRISONS here is Australia. There has also been protests outside these detention centres but again this has been organised by the Church and Party machine networks marginalising the anarks. However anarchists do attend events and have a consistent presence.) Finally faced with another slaughter in Timor - after the Independnce Referendum which most East Timorese VOTED in - there was a mobilisation by unionists and the community which called for the Australian Army to join UN peacekeepers there to stop the Islamic fascist and Indonesian military backed thugs from terrorising the locals. Anarchists got involved in this molbilisation & support for the local Timorese in practical ways eg the East Timor Community Computer Project. Alas the economy there is tough and robbery of the school where we had the computer class happened recently. SO some interesting devlopments out of real experiences: some anarchists can work with political & religious activists of different ideologies. some anarchists can support the vote for independence, and the use of UN peace-keepers Heresy, ideologically unsound, politically incorrect or just practical given the situation, the real situation you find yourself in. AFGHANISTAN The Afghani people are really up against it similarly 20 plus years of war and misery most people ignored them and suddenly the recent upsurge in interest at present mostly because US citizens died in New York.... (blah blah you know the rave Bin Laden & Taliban funded, trained and let loose to defeat the Russians like Hussein in Iraq to defeat the Iranians etc these frankenstein monsters attack their masters family). If the RAWA want to see and end of fighting by the UN, return of the "democratic king" (the Bulgarian monarch was elected recently so there are other precedents) so community can be rebuilt then LISTEN TO THEM. To excpect the uprising of anarchist or anarcha-feminist militias inside Afghanistan and the refugees in Iran & Pakistan is abit pompous when anarchists have not talked to them before; nor produced propaganda in the local languages. Time may change the isolation of anarchists via the internet/literature in Arabic and face to face contact/meetings and anarchists in the "middle east" not just Israel will be "out and about" . Already some anarchists are organising in Egypt but like the African anarchist mobilising; it is early days. These new anarchists should not be expected to be Euro-centric/Judeo-Christian or Atheist...the CNT in Paris, France has been organising with Muslim culture workers from North Africa who work in the shit jobs and get racist abuse/ignored by the other unions. These are examples of anarchist reaching out to "different" communities. Similary with the RAWA to get publicity they have gone on Oprah TV show; had the Octaves Beyond Silence CD project etc. Finally some anarchist media are interviewing them... we have only one family, humanity & one country, the world. Viva Anarchy Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: s. hyland To: mujereslibres-AT-lists.tao.ca Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 2:04 AM Subject: on RAWA hello mujeres libres There has been a surprising silence on this list about the current American war, so I figured it was about time I contributed after my own long absence. My collective here in Boston, USA, puts together the Northeastern Anarchist magazine and for the next issue we have been working on an article and hopefully interview with RAWA. It has been hard to find out their political platform, if they have one - for they seem to be more of a coalition. Ultimately we are trying to figure out whether to raise moneys for RAWA, how to critically support them, and whether there are other revolutionary feminist-friendly groups to contact and support. It would be helpful if anyone on this list could share any knowledge or contacts. This war is unique in that there is a clear feminist position - already being fought for by the women themselves in Afganistan. As feminists and anarchists in the USA, we Americans really need to figure out how to help the people on the receiving end of U.S. bombs besides holding our anti-war demos and marches and writing editorials. RAWA fills that void, but not without constructive criticism. From what we can tell, and we have been looking at RAWA for the past few years now, RAWA stands for social and political revolution yet we have no clear understanding of their economic position. In terms of class RAWA rightly focuses on women as an economic class (probably the major economic class), but a larger economic vision we cannot tell. They opposed the Soviet occupation in the 70s (as would we), they oppose the tyrannical coalition of the Northern Alliance, but they give provisional support for the return of the former king (89-year old King Zahir Shah, who has meanwhile rejected monarchism!), and see as part of the solution a U.N. peacekeeping mission to disarm the warring factions inside the country. Anarchists are opposed to these last points , which are important because they are part of RAWA's proposed solutions. Yet, none of us have been living in a decimated country under 30 years of civil war and know nothing of what seems to be probable solutions. How do you organize yourselves under such conditions? --sanya some links stolen from someone else: The Emancypunx anarchi-feminist zine from Poland did an interview with RAWA. Not able to find an article in English. The SAC links to them. Not able to find an article in English. http://www.sac.se/en/otherlinks.html The Karasin Anarchist Collective (in Turkey) is in solidarity with RAWA and here is an article in Turkish http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7479/rawaTurk.htm Z Magazine http://rawa.false.net/zmag.htm Amnesty Now http://rawa.false.net/ai-usa.htm Amnesty International http://rawa.false.net/ai.html The Socialist http://rawa.false.net/socialist.htm Soujourner http://rawa.false.net/sojourner.htm Green Left Weekly http://rawa.false.net/m-nanji.htm The Nation http://rawa.false.net/nation.htm Some of the other factions in Afghanistan Afghan Mellat (Afghan Social Democrat Party) http://www.afghanmellat.com/executive_summary.htm Unitary state, no federal autonomy, supports islam, islam based legal system, mixed economy (private property, free market, state monoply of unprofitable enterpirises, progressive taxation, export driven fruit and mining, pro-union/anti-class war). Afghanistan Liberation Organization ("Communist") http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/3231/ Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist Opposed to the Soviet Union when it invaded, opposed to the curent PRC Afghanistan Labour Revolutionary Organization Affiliated with the Pakistan Labor Party (Democratic Socialists/Trots) Accepts the return of the King for a transitional period Loya Jirga is an interesting site... loya jirga being the traditional grand assembly of Afghanistan... kind of like a constitution convention going back atleast 300 years, with earlier tribal precedents. Most of the support for the King seems to be so that his presence would grant legitimacy to the Jirga. http://www.loyajirga.com/ ----- Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

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It is great to see a discussion on the world outside the usual anarchist ideological adherents & events.

Here in Oz we had the mass murder of East Timorese for 25 years with little interest from the Australian/world anarchist movement alas.

The Christian Church and Leninist Party social justice activists filled the void with some civil disobedience eg hiding asylum seekers - "illegal refugees" who were to be deported from Australia. "Closest" to the anarks The "Catholic Worker anarchists" did try to disrupt the war machine in Britain and Australia which armed & trained the bloody Soeharto regime. But the Catholic worker scene activists were largely ignored by the larger movement of secular/atheist anarchists. Remembering Forgetting is a booklet by one CW activist ,Ciaron O'Reilley that looks at East Timor for those who want to read more (contact ciaronx-AT-hotmail.com ).

(There is currently a resurgence in the "sanctuary" movement to aid escaped refugees now from Iraq & Afghanistan whose boats have been siezed by the military here, and their deportation to Nauru and then Mandatory Detention Centres ie PRIVATE PRISONS here is Australia. There has also been protests outside these detention centres but again this has been organised by the Church and Party machine networks marginalising the anarks. However anarchists do attend events and have a consistent presence.)

Finally faced with another slaughter in Timor - after the Independnce Referendum which most East Timorese VOTED in - there was a mobilisation by unionists and the community which called for the Australian Army to join UN peacekeepers there to stop the Islamic fascist and Indonesian military backed thugs from terrorising the locals.

Anarchists got involved in this molbilisation & support for the local Timorese in practical ways eg the East Timor Community Computer Project. Alas the economy there is tough and robbery of the school where we had the computer class happened recently.

SO some interesting devlopments out of real experiences:

some anarchists can work with political & religious activists of different ideologies.

some anarchists can support the vote for independence, and the use of UN peace-keepers

Heresy, ideologically unsound, politically incorrect or just practical given the situation, the real situation you find yourself in.

AFGHANISTAN

The Afghani people are really up against it similarly 20 plus years of war and misery most people ignored them and suddenly the recent upsurge in interest at present mostly because US citizens died in New York....

(blah blah you know the rave Bin Laden & Taliban funded, trained and let loose to defeat the Russians like Hussein in Iraq to defeat the Iranians etc these frankenstein monsters attack their masters family).

If the RAWA want to see and end of fighting by the UN, return of the "democratic king" (the Bulgarian monarch was elected recently so there are other precedents) so community can be rebuilt then LISTEN TO THEM.

To excpect the uprising of anarchist or anarcha-feminist militias inside Afghanistan and the refugees in Iran & Pakistan is abit pompous when anarchists have not talked to them before; nor produced propaganda in the local languages.

Time may change the isolation of anarchists via the internet/literature in Arabic and face to face contact/meetings and anarchists in the "middle east" not just Israel will be "out and about" . Already some anarchists are organising in Egypt but like the African anarchist mobilising; it is early days. These new anarchists should not be expected to be Euro-centric/Judeo-Christian or Atheist...the CNT in Paris, France has been organising with Muslim culture workers from North Africa who work in the shit jobs and get racist abuse/ignored by the other unions. These are examples of anarchist reaching out to "different" communities.

Similary with the RAWA to get publicity they have gone on Oprah TV show; had the Octaves Beyond Silence CD project etc. Finally some anarchist media are interviewing them...

we have only one family, humanity & one country, the world.

Viva Anarchy

Margaret

----- Original Message -----

From: s. hyland

To: mujereslibres-AT-lists.tao.ca

Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 2:04 AM

Subject: on RAWA

hello mujeres libres

There has been a surprising silence on this list about the current American war, so I figured it was about time I contributed after my own long absence. My collective here in Boston, USA, puts together the Northeastern Anarchist magazine and for the next issue we have been working on an article and hopefully interview with RAWA. It has been hard to find out their political platform, if they have one - for they seem to be more of a coalition. Ultimately we are trying to figure out whether to raise moneys for RAWA, how to critically support them, and whether there are other revolutionary feminist-friendly groups to contact and support. It would be helpful if anyone on this list could share any knowledge or contacts.

This war is unique in that there is a clear feminist position - already being fought for by the women themselves in Afganistan. As feminists and anarchists in the USA, we Americans really need to figure out how to help the people on the receiving end of U.S. bombs besides holding our anti-war demos and marches and writing editorials. RAWA fills that void, but not without constructive criticism. From what we can tell, and we have been looking at RAWA for the past few years now, RAWA stands for social and political revolution yet we have no clear understanding of their economic position. In terms of class RAWA rightly focuses on women as an economic class (probably the major economic class), but a larger economic vision we cannot tell. They opposed the Soviet occupation in the 70s (as would we), they oppose the tyrannical coalition of the Northern Alliance, but they give provisional support for the return of the former king (89-year old King Zahir Shah, who has meanwhile rejected monarchism!), and see as part of the solution a U.N. peacekeeping mission to disarm the warring factions inside the country. Anarchists are opposed to these last points , which are important because they are part of RAWA's proposed solutions. Yet, none of us have been living in a decimated country under 30 years of civil war and know nothing of what seems to be probable solutions. How do you organize yourselves under such conditions?

--sanya

some links stolen from someone else:

The Emancypunx anarchi-feminist zine from Poland did an interview with
RAWA. Not able to find an article in English.

The SAC links to them. Not able to find an article in English.
http://www.sac.se/en/otherlinks.html

The Karasin Anarchist Collective (in Turkey) is in solidarity with RAWA
and here is an article in Turkish
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7479/rawaTurk.htm

Z Magazine
http://rawa.false.net/zmag.htm

Amnesty Now
http://rawa.false.net/ai-usa.htm

Amnesty International
http://rawa.false.net/ai.html

The Socialist
http://rawa.false.net/socialist.htm

Soujourner
http://rawa.false.net/sojourner.htm

Green Left Weekly
http://rawa.false.net/m-nanji.htm

The Nation
http://rawa.false.net/nation.htm

Some of the other factions in Afghanistan

Afghan Mellat (Afghan Social Democrat Party)
http://www.afghanmellat.com/executive_summary.htm
Unitary state, no federal autonomy, supports islam, islam based legal
system, mixed economy (private property, free market, state monoply of
unprofitable enterpirises, progressive taxation, export driven fruit and
mining, pro-union/anti-class war).

Afghanistan Liberation Organization ("Communist")
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/3231/
Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist
Opposed to the Soviet Union when it invaded, opposed to the curent PRC

Afghanistan Labour Revolutionary Organization
Affiliated with the Pakistan Labor Party (Democratic Socialists/Trots)
Accepts the return of the King for a transitional period

Loya Jirga is an interesting site... loya jirga being the traditional
grand assembly of Afghanistan... kind of like a constitution convention
going back atleast 300 years, with earlier tribal precedents. Most of
the support for the King seems to be so that his presence would grant
legitimacy to the Jirga.
http://www.loyajirga.com/

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

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