Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999 11:55:07 -0800
Subject: Re: Women's Rights in Afghanistan


>>Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999 00:45:57 -0500
>>To: sarabande-AT-brandeis.edu
>>From: vacirca-AT-charm.net
>>Subject: Women's Rights in Afghanistan
>>Cc:
>>Bcc:
>>X-Attachments:
>>
>>>Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 21:08:34 -0500
>>>From: Chauna Brocht and Kris Misage <chaunankris-AT-erols.com>
>>>Reply-To: chaunankris-AT-erols.com
>>>Organization: .
>>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>>To: jennifer wheeler <jenniferwheeler-AT-erols.com>, mary hall
>>><hall-AT-aclu-md.org>,
>>>        kim donahue <kdonahue-AT-savethebay.cbf.org>,
>>>        juliet vacirca brown <vacirca-AT-charm.net>,
>>>        kris misage <kmisage-AT-successforall.net>,
>>>        gwen pfeifer <gwenpfeifer-AT-juno.com>
>>>Subject: Women's Rights in Afghanistan
>>>
>>>I don't usually do these electronic petions, but I thought this was good
>>>for educational value, at least.  I wasn't aware of the severity of the
>>>situation, but maybe I'm out of it.  --Chauna
>>>
>>> * * * * * *
>>>
>>>Please sign petition at the bottom to support and include your town.  If
>>>you
>>>receive this list with more than 50 names on it, please email a copy of
>>>it
>>>to: sarabande-AT-brandeis.edu
>>>
>>>Even if you decide not to sign, please be considerate and do not kill
>>>the
>>>petition. Thank you.
>>>
>>>It is best to copy rather than forward the petition.
>>>
>>>* * * * * * *
>>>
>>>The situation is getting so bad in a Afghanistan that one person in an
>>>editorial of the times compared the treatment of women there to the
>>>treatment of Jews in  pre-holocaust Poland. Since the Taliban took power
>>>in
>>>1996, women have had to wear burqua and have been beaten and stoned in
>>>public for not having the proper attire, even if this means simply not
>>>having the mesh covering in front of their eyes.
>>>
>>>One woman was beaten to DEATH by an angry mob of fundamentalists for
>>>accidentally exposing her arm while she was driving.   Another was
>>>stoned to
>>>death for trying to leave the country with a man that was not a
>>>relative.
>>>Women are not allowed to work or even go out in public without a male
>>>relative; professional women such as professors, translators, doctors,
>>>lawyers, artists and writers have been forced from their jobs and
>>>stuffed
>>>into their homes, so that depression is becoming so widespread that it
>>>has
>>>reached emergency levels.  There is no way in such an extreme Islamic
>>>society to know the suicide rate with certainty, but relief
>>>workers are estimating that the suicide rate among women, who cannot
>>>find
>>>proper medication and treatment for severe depression and would rather
>>>take
>>>their lives than live in such conditions, has increased significantly.
>>>
>>>Homes where a woman is present must have their windows painted so that
>>>she
>>>can never be seen by outsiders.  They must wear silent shoes so that
>>>they
>>>are never heard.  Women live in fear of their lives for the slightest
>>>misbehavior. Because they cannot work, those without male relatives or
>>>husbands are either starving to death or begging on the street, even if
>>>they
>>>hold Ph.D.s. There are almost no medical facilities available for women,
>>>and
>>>relief workers, in protest, have mostly left the country,
>>>taking medicine and psychologists and other things necessary to treat
>>>the
>>>sky-rocketing level of depression among women.  At one of the rare
>>>hospitals
>>>for women, a reporter found still, nearly lifeless bodies lying
>>>motionless
>>>on top of beds, wrapped in their burqua, unwilling to speak, eat or do
>>>anything, but are slowly wasting away.  Others have gone mad and were
>>>seen
>>>crouched in corners, perpetually rocking or crying, most of them in
>>>fear.
>>>One doctor is considering, when what little medication that is left
>>>finally
>>>runs out, leaving these women in front of the president's residence as a
>>>form of peaceful protest.
>>>
>>>It is at the point where the term 'human rights violations' have become
>>>an
>>>understatement.  Husbands have the power of life and death over their
>>>women
>>>relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has just as much
>>>right
>>>to stone or
>>>beat a woman, often to death, for exposing an inch of flesh or offending
>>>them in the slightest way.
>>>
>>>David Cornwell has told me that we in the United States should not judge
>>>the
>>>Afghan people for such treatment because it is a 'cultural thing', but
>>>this
>>>is not even true.  Women enjoyed relative freedom, to work, dress
>>>generally
>>>as they wanted, and drive and appear in public alone until only 1996 --
>>>the
>>>rapidity of this transition is the main reason for the depression and
>>>suicide; women who were once educators or doctors or simply used to
>>>basic
>>>human freedoms are now severely restricted and treated as sub-human in
>>>the
>>>name of right-wing fundamentalist Islam.  It is not their tradition or
>>>'culture', but is alien to them, and it is  extreme even for those
>>>cultures
>>>where fundamentalism is the rule.  Besides, if we could excuse
>>>everything on
>>>cultural grounds, then we should not be appalled that the Carthaginians
>>>sacrificed their infant children, that little girls are circumcised in
>>>parts
>>>of Africa, that blacks in the deep south in the 1930's were lynched,
>>>prohibited from voting and forced to submit to unjust Jim Crow laws.
>>>
>>>Everyone has a right to a tolerable human existence, even if they are
>>>women
>>>in a Muslim country in a part of the world that Americans do not
>>>understand.
>>>
>>>If we can threaten military force in Kosovo in the name of human rights
>>>for
>>>the sake of ethnic Albanians, Americans can certainly express peaceful
>>>outrage at the oppression, murder and injustice committed against women
>>>by
>>>the Taliban.
>>>
>>>Kathleen Barbosa
>>>
>>>* * * * * * * *
>>>
>>>STATEMENT:
>>>In signing this, we agree that the current treatment of women in
>>>Afghanistan
>>>is completely UNACCEPTABLE and deserves support and action by the people
>>>of
>>>the United States and the U.S. Government and that the current situation
>>>overseas will not be tolerated.  Women's Rights is not a small issue
>>>anywhere and it is UNACCEPTABLE for women in 1998 to be treated as
>>>sub-human
>>>and so much as property. Equality and human decency is a RIGHT not a
>>>freedom, whether one lives in Afghanistan or the United States.
>>>
>>>* * * * * * * *
>>>
>>>1) Kathleen Barbosa, New London, CT
>>>2) Melissa J. Buckheit, Waltham, MA
>>>3) Olga Broumas, Brewster, MA
>>>4) Heather Feldman, Waltham, MA
>>>5) Robert L. Hawkins, Waltham, MA
>>>6) Ann Vollmann Bible, Cambridge, MA
>>>7) Joy Garnett, New York, NY
>>>8) Cynthia Pannucci, New York, NY
>>>9) Ken Knowlton, Merrimack NH
>>>10) Eric Somers, Poughkeepsie, NY
>>>11) Faith Watson, Philadelphia, PA
>>>12) Sherry Branch, Orlando, Fl
>>>13) Susie Ellis, Strasburg, VA
>>>14) Christine Jurzykowski, TX
>>>15) Marion Hunt-Badiner, CA
>>>16) Riane Eisler, CA
>>>17) Dagmar Celeste, OH
>>>18) Linda Krasienko, Westlake, OH
>>>19) Patti Verde, Westlake, OH
>>>20) Anita C. Hill, St. Paul, MN
>>>21) Peggy Yingst, Mentone, CA
>>>22) Laurie Line, El Cajon, CA
>>>23) Barbara D'Aversa, La Mesa, CA
>>>24) Erin Alcaraz, Phoenix, AZ
>>>25) Erin Thomas Palmeter, San Diego, CA
>>>26) Karen Van Dyke, San Diego, CA
>>>27) Robert MacPhee, San Diego, CA
>>>28) Robin Yerian, Santa Barbara, CA
>>>29) Jack Canfield, Santa Barbara, CA
>>>30) Eve Hogan, Kihei, HI
>>>31) Marty-Jean Bender, Kihei, HI
>>>32) Marsha Lash, Kihei, HI
>>>33) Jodi Scaltreto, Hillsboro,NH
>>>34) Donna Raycraft, Penacook NH
>>>35) Karen Dufault, Contoocook, NH
>>>36) Melissa Dyckes, Denver, CO
>>>37) Amanda Guinn, Austin, TX
>>>38) Toni King, Austin, TX
>>>39)  Jane Rock Kennedy, Laramie, WY, USA
>>>40) Dianne Adkins WV, USA
>>>41) John London Houston, TX, USA
>>>42) Connie Frady, Warner Robins, GA, USA
>>>43) Lisa Wynn, Evansville, IN  USA
>>>44) Carolyn Filzer, Owensboro, KY
>>>45) K. Cue, Owendsboro, KY
>>>46) Karen Husby, Evansville, IN
>>>47) Alida Zweidler-McKay, Somerville, MA
>>>48) Elizabeth Starling, St. Paul, MN
>>>49) Chauna Brocht, Baltimore, MD
>>>50) bob brown, baltimore,md
>>
>
>"Solidarity is running the same risks."
>                        - Che Guevara
>("La solidarieta' significa correre gli stessi rischi.")
>
>
>
>
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>>>51)Saul  Steier, San Francisco,CA

Saul Steier
Department of Humanities
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
(415) 338-3129
sauls-AT-sfsu.edu




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