On behalf of the Feminist Peace Network, I send greetings of solidarity and support from women everywhere to our sisters in Afghanistan on International Women’s Day. Your courage and strength is an inspiration to us all.
Please send me information about your event and any pictures and I will post them on our website as part of our coverage of IWD.
Lucinda Marshall, Founder
Feminist Peace Network
To the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan,
On International Women's Day--a day steeped in revolutionary women's history--we extend to you our solidarity in the struggle for freedom and new human relations you are waging in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As women battle for life and humanity from Congo and Kenya to Palestine and Colombia we know that it is women like you who dedicate your lives to transforming the world, who give us not only hope, but the certainty, that another, a free world, is possible. We Marxist-Humanist women are fighting in the belly of the beast, the United States, and realize that our fight for freedom here, our struggle against this racist, sexist, homophobic, capitalist society is one of the most effective ways to help our Afghan sisters. Raya Dunayevskaya, the founder of Marxist-Humanism and our organization, News and Letters Committees, projected that it is never enough to present what you oppose; therefore our slogan this International Woman's Day in solidarity with you, is: To the barbarism of war we pose the new society. We have always thought that your very name, The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, announces to the world what is needed for Afghanistan to be free: a revolution, one that is so deep and total that all segments of society experience new human relations. The struggle continues.
For freedom,
Terry Moon
for Women's Liberation--News and Letters Committees
I congratulate the extraordinary women of RAWA for their brave and vital support for the women of Afghanistan. Not only is RAWA an inspiration to all of us active in seeking justice, the cause of Afghanistan, and especially the women of Afghanistan, touches all our lives. Why? You may ask. The reason is that only when social justice is achieved in Afghanistan -- a country ravaged by poverty, warlords and foreign adventures -- will true human progress be marked. The women of Afghanistan should know that they have many friends in other countries, who support their struggle, and I pay tribute to them and offer them my solidarity.
Thank you.
John Pilger
Journalist, Documentary Filmmaker
As the world, and particularly America, moves on, masquerading as if the women of Afghanistan have been liberated, when we know that 80% of the country is controlled by warlords and Taliban, V-Day stands in solidarity with all those women who courageously fight for real freedom, real liberation from violence and tyranny. We have been with you, and we will be with you until the struggle is over.
Eve Ensler, Founder of V-Day
Playwright and Feminist Activist
On International Women’s Day 2008, I would like to express my deepest support to the women of Rawa who have tirelessly worked for the betterment, not only of women’s rights, but for the human rights of all Afghans – I continue to be amazed and inspired by their work, commitment and creative ideas in improving the lives of those around them.
It is unfortunate that the international community has not honored their commitment to help the people of Afghanistan, especially the women. Instead they support short sighted policies that have not helped to rebuild the institutions and infrastructure of the country, but have instead contributed to increasing corruption of the government and to the pockets of the warlords. RAWA is one of the few groups that is committed to making real and positive change for the country. Thank you RAWA and may the best be with you now and always in the future!
Meena Nanji
Documentary Film Maker, director of "A View from Grand of Sand"
On the first anniversary of the terrorist crimes of September 11 2001, RAWA issued a stirring call for international solidarity against “the vermin of fundamentalism,” whether it goes under the name of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or the Northern Alliance, or assumes some other guise. RAWA called for a “Free, Democratic, and Blossoming Afghanistan,” and “Victory in the Decisive War to the Very End of Afghan Women Against Fundamentalism and for Democracy.” Victory in that decisive war is still a dream, in Afghanistan and elsewhere in this tormented world. And as so often in the past, women remain the primary victims of the vermin, and also take their place in the forefront of the struggle for freedom and justice.
I hope and trust that your courageous actions today will prove to be a long step forward in this grim and necessary task.
Noam Chomsky
Linguist, Philosopher, Political Activist, Author, and lecturer.
On the occasion of international women's day, I wish to express my solidarity with the struggle of the women of Afghanistan against the illegal occupation by foreign troops of their country and homeland.
The US and its allies claim to be committed to the rights of women and that their war is a "just war".
They have used women's rights as a pretext to wage a war of conquest.
The western media has sustained this pretext. Media disinformation has served as a coverup.
The US and its allies have committed extensive war crimes directed against the Afghan people.
The women of Afghanistan are the victims of the US sponsored war on their homeland.
On international women's day, we demand the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Michel Chossudovsky,
Director, Centre for Research on Globalization (CRM), Montreal
Author of America's "War on Terrorism"
Dear Sisters in Afghanistan,
There is so much to say that words seem almost useless. But, please know that there are many women, and men, around the world who know of your struggle, who care. This includes many people in my home country of the U.S., even though our country's foreign policy decisions and military actions have so often done much more harm than good to Afghanistan.
We stand with you in solidarity for peace and safety, for health and education, for survival and a brighter future. And, we are doing all we can to put our solidarity into action to try to be of real help.
We wish you strength and peace, and we send our love to you and your families and communities.
Alicia
Maryland, USA
To all at RAWA,
On this day, International Women's Day 2008, SAWA-Australia sends you its heartfelt message of solidarity and support. For over thirty years RAWA has been a beacon of hope and help for the suffering women of Afghanistan. RAWA continues to be a bastion of strength against the fundamentalists. Its struggle for a secular state, a state that guarantees human rights for all and equal rights for women, gives the women of Afghanistan and the people of the world the determination to continue the fight for justice and for a better future.
SAWA-Australia deplores the way in which Australia and other Western governments prop up a government of proven criminals and religious extremists and supports RAWA in its struggle to bring these elements to justice. May this International Women's Day bring RAWA strength and growth and a better future for Afghanistan's women.
With very best wishes,
Barbara James
Secretary, SAWA-Australia
Dear RAWA sisters,
On this special day for all women around the globe, International Women's Day, we are thinking of you during our celebrations and send a message of solidarity and love to you all.
Though you are many miles away, we never forget our Afghan sisters struggle for human rights and on this day we wish you well and pledge our ongoing commitment to support you in your courageous work.
Onnie Wilson
RAWA Supporters Melbourne
Australia
Now is the time to raise our voices together!
Women are still in danger of facing violence everywhere, in the streets, homes, at work. It keeps occurring even now not only in Afghanistan but also in Japan regarded worldwide as a country with democracy prevailing and basic livelihood being secured. Thus all over the world women have to live through various hardships.
There are quite a few factors which bring about violence, to name but a few, world spread maldistribution of wealth, overcapitalism, Japanese domestic administration under the umbrella of super power’s militarization, working conditions in which feminization of poverty is outliving
In Japan where we live, since 63 years ago when a big war ended, women have been living surrounded by tremendous fear of violence because of the US military presence in Japan under the treaty concluded between the nations. There have been, time after time, struggling women with wrath, and however loud their voices have been they’ve never reached the power of the state.
In 1995, the year in which World Conference on Women in Beijing was held in the wave of movement enlightening “human rights of women,” there was a big incident in Japan. In Okinawa, prefecture with a long history of subordination and oppression even by Japanese central government in a small island situated in the southernmost of Japan, where the most of the US military are stationing, a girl was raped by US servicemen. Naturally, protest movements on a vast scale spread all over Japan, However, both governments never took any drastic measures, which leads the present situation that there have never ceased rapes and violence by US servicemen in Okinawa especially in the vicinity of the bases until now.
This February, a girl became a victim of a rape by an US soldier in the very Okinawa. This incident exposes that both governments of the US, self-acknowledged super power and of Japan, a subordinate of the US、 regard sexual violence towards women as of little importance. The governor of Okinawa allegedly said, “Which is more important, the security treaty or rape of a girl?” Moreover, on February 28, the US consulate general in Okinawa was reportedly drinking coffee while the Okinawan protesters were waiting with the request of meeting him, which was eventually rejected. Shame on both of them!
But, women cannot remain being victims any longer. Against such chauvinism of the men with power, women must change public sentiments, laws, and politics through the solidarity on global scale. Let us raise our voices of “No Violence Ever!” in every corner of the earth. In Afghanistan, in Japan, in Iraq, in Palestine, in Thailand, in Burma, in China, in Argentine. And each voice must be organized in order to strengthen following an example that one rice ear can easily be plucked while a cluster of rice ears cannot.
For the Friends of RAWA, Japan to join RAWA’s activities of establishing human rights of women means that Japanese women as well have to grasp what situation they are in now and take actions of protesting against human rights violation and violence. We never stop sending messages or taking actions aimed at fulfillment of human rights of women in Japan and the world.
Friends of RAWA,
Japan
Dear RAWA Sisters,
You are never forgotten, not for a day or for a minute! We are always supporting you in your struggle for freedom and rights, always reaching new people to tell them about you, and they are always touched by your plight. Your spirits have touched ours and opened a deep channel of compassion and love for all of you. Rise up!! And rise up again and again!
Truth will always win in the end!
We send you our love, hugs and prayers,
RAWA Supporters Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA USA
