April 28 More Sinister and Shameful
Than April 27

In light of the unmatched malicious acts of the "Northern Alliance" criminals from 1992 until 1996, RAWA raised the slogan "April 28 More Sinister Than April 27!", causing bodies to shiver, brows to knit and the "Northern Alliance", especially, to shell their verbal artillery against us for RAWA's daring to call this "glorious" day of the arrival of the "well-seeming" Mujahedden, after the collapse of puppet regime, as a black day!

Nevertheless this slogan, which had arisen from the hearts of shattered people, was so engraved in the minds and souls of the majority of the population that no force has had the power to cover this reality with the ragged cloth of religious terror and intimidation.

The present state of "Northern Alliance" fundamentalists in the government and their regional "Emirates," has made the deceitful and treacherous nature of these traitors obvious to even the most ordinary of people. And the only people who are trying to remove the dirt from the faces of the April 28 culprits are a bunch of compromised intellectuals.

But the wound of oppression, caused by these Jehadi criminals, on the heart of our people is so painful and raw that it will not heal until the time when all of the "Northern Alliance" leaders and their intellectual apologists are removed from the throne and duly punished.

Taking notice of the corrupted nature of fundamentalists we have repeatedly stated that as long as the bandits of Rabbani, Sayyaf, Dostum, Khalili, Khalis, Ismail Khan, Ata, etc are not removed from power, talking about carrying out free and fair elections, framing a new constitution and establishing a new national police and army, will in the end only legitimize the rule of fanatic fundamentalists and betray our people.

Those who claim that progress will come gradually and can occur through compromise with the fundamentalist leaders should realize that the current bitter realities on the ground - the continuation of "rascality", self-interests and dog fighting of these leaders and commanders, the lack of security, the increase in poverty, unemployment and prices, the absence of a functioning economy, the high position of "Northern Alliance" warlords, and especially Panjshiris, in numerous provinces and offices, and the shadow of the intelligence service over the heads of our people, etc. - are all crystal clear examples, which more than words, show how ridiculous is the prescription of "compromise with the fundamentalists."

Additionally the preachers of business with the criminals should know that the "Northern Alliance" tacitly support Gulbuddin, Taliban and their Al-Qaida bosses in order to show the "need" and "importance" of their own military existence, and that, other than a battle for power, there is no serious ideological difference between the Northern Alliance and the others. The "interruptions" of Hezb-e-Islami and their Taliban brothers must continue to occur so that America and its agents do not stop their purchase of the "Northern Alliance."

We are holding this year's demonstration at a time when Iraq has just fallen to the American forces. However preparation for war and the final occupation of Iraq was accompanied by nearly unparalleled anti-war movements and the condemnation of the government of the United States and its president from every nook and corner of the world. After the Vietnam War, the world has never witnessed such a strong display of power against war and against the U.S. and British governments. Although this movement, not only across the world but first and foremost in the heart of the U.S. and England, could not prevent the war, it surely has played a vital historical role in raising awareness and mobilizing pro-peace and anti- oppression organizations and individuals. In addition it has torn to pieces the deceitful mask of democracy worn by the U.S government and its partner Great Britain to defend their actions and has left behind a great tradition for future anti-war struggles . According to many political interpreters, the anti-war movement had so much force, persistence and breadth that, despite the invasion of Iraq and collapse of Saddam's bloody dictatorship, the faces of the U.S. and Britain are red due to the slaps they received and they are not considered the victors. Both of these governments have shown how heedless they can be towards the general feelings of the people in their own country and else where in the world when their economical and political interests are at stake

The tragedy of our country in regard to this global anti-war movement is that once again no voice was heard from any organization except RAWA, which organized a rally and published multi-lingual statements of solidarity with the world wide anti-war movement. As its representatives in America and Europe explained, Afghanistan can not be summed up just with Jehadis, Taliban, Al-Qaida or CIA forces. Our nation, having suffered from the pain of war for the last quarter of the century is totally against war and aggression.

The government of Afghanistan was among those affiliated governments which voted in favor of the U.S.'s assault on Iraq and certainly that didn't surprised anyone.. But the irony was that during the firestorm in Baghdad, it announced its intention to help the Iraqi people by collecting funds from Afghan citizens!

Mr. Karzai indeed may think some Iraqis stupid or foolish enough to accept his offer, but he makes a big mistake if he thinks the Iraqi nation is so naive that they will not tell him: "Mr. Karzai, firstly your homeland is so much ruined that it is better to not even allow yourself to discuss such relief efforts, and secondly, and importantly, please keep the money collected for Iraq in your own pocket. Defending us could have had much more meaning had you opposed the U.S. led attack on our soil."

Just as we think that the U.S., Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others owe our nation an official and straightforward apology for creating and establishing the criminal fundamentalists in Afghanistan, we hope a day will come when a democratic government will be in power in our land which could ask forgiveness of the Iraqi people for this shameful decision of the current government.

And that day, the day of a complete and total amputation of the hands of fundamentalists and their bosses from this land and the establishment of a real democratic government will come very soon. The new wave of activities among the anti-fundamentalist organizations in the present situation brings hope for the growth and development of these organizations who are in favor of the overthrow of fundamentalist forces. The experience of RAWA with this important reality is telling: until yesterday organizations and individuals had no courage to join RAWA in condemning the fundamentalists, but today we see this display of courage. Even some of them show greater bravery and put Massoud, the fabricated "National Hero" of the hangmen in power, in the same array as his other traitorous brothers. They have found that differentiating Ahmed Shah Massoud from Rabbani, Gulbuddin, Sayyaf and the rest of the April 28th criminals will cause others to question the veracity of their claims of being anti-religious fascism, pro-democracy, pro-women rights and patriots.

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) once again calls upon all pro-democratic elements to know that no one else but ourselves will come to our rescue. It is incumbent upon us to rise up and clean Afghanistan from the dirt and scars of 28th April.

If I arise
If you arise
We all will arise

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
April 28, 2003, Islamabad