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On this day, the 8th of March, women all over the world look around themselves and take stock of their struggle to achieve their rightful lace in society. It is with great sadness and a deep sense of urgency that I voice my concern for those women who do not have this privilege of participating in this celebration, those women who have been robbed of all fundamental human rights by obscurantist bent on the annihilation of civilization and progressive human values. These are the brave women of Afghanistan, who are struggling today against the biggest menace to peace and democracy in the world. I call attention to the women of Afghanistan who have suffered death by torture, rape, incarceration, humiliation, the absence of medical treatment, the absence of education, the absence of moral and financial support, and the violation of human dignity. I urge the women of Pakistan to look towards their neighbors who carry on a war against themselves, punishing those who want to celebrate life, torturing those who just want to live. It has been twenty long and brutal years since the people of Afghanistan have been forcibly involved in a war which was not of their own making. Today, twenty years later, we, the women of Pakistan, must not remain untouched and unaffected by the violent victimization of our sisters in Afghanistan. We must make it known to the world that women and girl children are being systematically destroyed by those claiming to be the custodians of Islam and Islamic morality. We must raise our voices in unison to overcome this terrible injustice -- we must fight to bring peace and democracy and the protection of basic human rights in our country as well as in the country which has suffered for far too long. We must not allow our military to continue to benefit from the war in Afghanistan, and we must condemn our leaders who bolster themselves with support from dangerous fundamentalists whose tactics are setting standards for world-wide terrorism. We must rise today and honor the women of Afghanistan, we must also hang our heads in shame for have just stood by while a country bled to death.Sincerely,
Feryal Ali Gauhar
International Women's Day Greeting!Radical Women in Australia sends our heartfelt greetings and solidarity to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) and all women marching with you today. Radical Women is a socialist feminist and international organization of working class women of all races, ages and sexualities. We salute you for your courage in raising your voices against the brutal enforcers of the reactionary Taliban. And we stand with you.
Women in Australia are fighting savage cuts to our health care, education and all vital services. We are having to defend ourselves against our government's attempts to return women to the home to be dependent once again on a husband or a father. We are facing increasing violence, especially in the home, as men are being given tacit permission by the courts to beat, rape and even kill us. We do not yet have the Taliban, but we do have the economic conditions for a similarly vicious regime.
International Women's Day was sparked by the rebellion of garment workers in the United States. It was founded by socialist women in Europe. It ignited the Russian Revolution in 1917. In the proud tradition of IWD, Radical Women joins you in the fight of all women to actively participate in society as equals, to share its benefits and to decide how we lead our lives.
As women around the world march today, we will carefully watch the outcome of your demonstration. We will not stand by if our courageous Afghan sisters are attacked. End the Taliban! A society is just only when women enjoy respect, equality and freedom!
In solidarity
Debbie Brennan
for Radical Women (Australian Section)
To RAWA. I would like to thank all of you on this March 8th for letting me express my heartfelt admiration for your courage and endurance through these years of war. If there is anything I can do to help I would be glad to.Radha Kumar,
New Delhi, India
To my sister’s in Afghanistan,Our thoughts are with you. Our hope on this March 8, 99, the International Day of Woman, for you and all other Moslem women all over the world is to achieve equality and freedom. Our message for you women of Afghanistan is to fight and stay strong and above all stay alive. We will do our part to end gender apartheid all over the globe.
Sisters just remember that, for 20 centuries we, women, have been controlled by our fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, priests, mullahs, rabbi’s, monks, governments, fashion designers, and politicians, all of them men.
Today men are more dependent on us than any time in the past centuries. A world-wide strike by women will alter the shape of our societies in no time. Think about it!! If we stop working, cooking, keeping the house, taking care of their children and being there for them when they need us what option do they have. None. If we strike life will stop for men.
We have been harassed, raped, beaten, stoned to death, and denied our basic human rights so why shouldn’t we deny them the privilege of sharing their life with us. Sisters let’s organize a world-wide strike.
Sisters let’s make the 21st century the one in which women, all over the globe, will take control of their lives and rights, which includes our reproductive right. Let's pledge that in the 21 century we as women will live, work, enjoy for ourselves first and then as equal partners to our husbands we will contribute, better than in the past, to the well-being of our children, societies, nations, and our environment.
I would like to quote from Abigail Adams, who during the American Women struggle for freedom and equality on March 3, 1776 said. “We are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
Let's take charge. Let's make the 21st. Century truly our century.
Dr. Parvin Darabi
Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation, USA
A message from Monira Baradaran (M.Raha) one of the noted fighter women of Iran and the writer of the distinguished book Haqeeqat-e-Saada (Plain Truth). She has spent long years of her honorable life in one the prisons of the blood sucking Islamic Republic of Iran. All her experience and resistance is a source of pride and inspiration for women all over the world.
Dear friends,
With warm greeting for all you dear friends; Your energetic activities and brave fights warms the heart of any human being who is fed up with wars and killing of innocent. Every time I hear or read the awful news from Afghanistan or see the heart rending events, that happens because of the ignorance and narrow mindedness of Taliban, on television momentarily I struggle with such despair and gloominess that I feel disgusted with human race but when I remember that there is a power of resistance that does not get tired, I feel a surge of energy through my veins. I learn lessons from your resistance.
I know your fight is not only against Taliban's destructive regime but your fight is against obscure thinking of people who with their ignorance and prejudices keep on watering the mills of tyrannical rulers.
Your fight takes place in several front heads so I came to this conclusion: that you have strong legs to stand up firm, you have powerful arms to fight, you have potent minds to think of doing good and the right things, and least but not last you have warm hearts for loving and helping the oppressed; More power to you all.
In hopes of celebrating the women's day in our own beloved countries under the shadow of liberty one day soon, I shake your hands warmly.
In hopes of success and happiness for you.
Honor to Meena's memories.
Monira Baradaran (M.Raha)
Illinois National Organization for Women is proud to join with RAWA on International Women's Day 1999 to call for an end to the horrendous treatment of women in Afghanistan. We also call on our own elected officials to support interventions that will protect our Afghani sisters from the continuation of these abuses. We look forward to the visit of Ms. Homa Saeed later this year to the Chicago area to draw more attention to this issue. We urge all of our sisters to not give up the battle for equality, as we are joining with you in this struggle.Sue O'Shaughnessy
Illinois National Organization for Women
USA
Dear Ms. Sohaila Danish and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan,Please accept our strongest sentiments of solidarity. We are appalled at the situation of women in Afghanistan and wish to sincerely do what we can to support their liberation. Your struggle is crucial not only for the women of Afghanistan, but for all of us everywhere. Please keep us updated and we will network the information as widely as possible. Your struggle is just, and women around the world support you.
Dr. Catherine Euler
Research Center on Violence, Abuse and Gender Relations
Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
I would like to convey my solidarity to you for your March 8th meeting. I think you have a very difficult job to combat the atrocities that men proliferate, especially fundamentalists. I wish you well in your war against them and even though it might seem insignificant, please know that my thoughts and best wishes are with you.Lani Guerke
Lecturer in journalism & multimedia
Charles Sturt University
Australia
Dear Sohaila Danish,It's heartening to note that the movement for women rights has gained strength despite heavy odds and social and cultural taboos, and it is beginning to take roots even in the areas where women are faced with the worst kind of oppression and violence. The women rights activists have been able to successfully bring to fore the excesses women have been subjected to in these regions. In the same context it is commendable how the women rights activists in Afghanistan are actively and almost daringly pursuing campaign against the inhumane and barbaric treatment being meted out to women by the Taliban regime. Their is a courageous effort, which is bound to affect the lives of many, even here in Pakistan and other countries where religious bigots have been encouraged to perpetrate violence against women, with impunity.
Be the case in which an adult woman has married on her own or where she has shown the courage to regain the custody of her abducted child, or in the instance in which she was burnt alive as a cover-up for sexual assault mounted against her, or other cases of stove burning, imprisoned hari women etc., the women are facing the atrocities of varying degrees. It is time women geared up to overcome these atrocities in a more organized and disciplined manner. With various international conventions such as CEDAW providing them effective safeguards against such discrimination and relevant domestic laws at their disposal, they need teamwork for an organized campaign for the implementation of these laws. A little more resolve and they can beat the forces of tyranny.
Regards,
Asma Jahangir
Lahore, Pakistan
RAWA - you have my support. From the little I know about women’s intolerable situation (which is already to much) in Afghanistan, I hope for change.Yours sincerely,
Jonas Bylund, B.A. social anthropology.
It is heartening to know that the RAWA is struggling for women's rights in such a situation when hope and future look bleak. Their fight is not only against extremists and fundamentalists but also against the old and deep rooted traditions which are keeping women of Afghanistan in slavery and bondage. It is also heartening that they are not disillusioned or disappointed even after leaving their homeland and living in a foreign country where they are facing all types of problems. I believe that change is coming and time is near to recognize the status of women in society. The growing consciousness and awareness of their rights will keep them fighting until to achieve success. We are with you RAWA.Dr. Mubarak Ali
Lahore, Pakistan
You are the people who are experiencing this cruelty first hand. You are the ones who have lost your loved ones. You are the ones who have lost your country. I am someone sitting in a comfortable house on the other side of the world watching and listening, and I feel humbled by your anguish and the courage with which you face it. For all that I have not had to face the horror of rape and pillage and murder and hangings and amputations, I have had to face the same human disease which you face, even though it be in a different form.What is common in what we all face, all over the world, is a tyranny which would poison and destroy our spirit to be free and self-generating human beings with the right to a full life and real happiness. It will take brave hearts and clear minds to face this evil devil that besets us and expel him from our lives. You clearly have both these talents.
If I would have a request, it would be this. Please do not think that this vicious attack on your lives comes from something that is male. It does not. Male people who perpetrate this horror are not men. They are diseased creatures who have lost their ability to be human beings. They are NOT men. As a man I am only ashamed of them. They disgust me. Real men love life and are creative.
Real women love life and are creative. Please God, let us be real men and women with each other.
Bless you for your work and your courage and your will to pursue the dream of a world that works for us all with REAL harmony and REAL peace and food and shelter and the right and opportunity for every human being to be creative and happy.
Be well. Be happy. Be successful.
Tym, Canada
Dear friends,I wish to send you my warmest thoughts in support of your struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan. I wish you courage and success in attracting the world's attention to your struggle.
Keep up the fight, we are supporting you from Australia.
Dominique Thiriet
Australia
We would like to express our full support for our sisters’ struggle for freedom and women’s rights in Afghanistan. We hope that in a very near future we could meet in Iran and Afghanistan and celebrate the Women’s Day and enjoy the freedom side by side. We are fighting for the same cause in our countries and should come closer to each other and organize joint actions in order to show the world that the women of Iran and Afghanistan are not silent.Sholeh Irani
The Iranian Women’s Bulletin Avaye Zan
Defence Committee for Women in Iran- Sweden
Dear Women of Afghanistan,
The Women Peacemakers Program of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation heartily supports your action on March 8, the International Women's Day.
The Women Peacemakers Program thinks it is very brave for the Afghan women to come up for their rights. Human rights are also women's rights, and there will never be peace, where women's rights are violated. We hope your action may stimulate a process in Afghanistan towards a culture of human rights, peace, and nonviolence. Our hearts are with you.
In peace and friendship,
Shelley Anderson and Janne Poort - van Eeden,
International Fellowship Of Reconciliation
The Netherlands
I want to express all my indignation about the way women are treated in Afghanistan by these awful Taliban. I don't believe in god, but I am sure that, should he exists, they would all go to hell. I send all my love and solidarity to the Afghan women.
Emmanuelle de Pontevès
Paris, France
Today we celebrate International Women’s Day.
We celebrate this day knowing that the women and girls in Afghanistan continue to suffer a torturous oppression while most of the international community sits quietly. We celebrate this day knowing that young girls throughout China and Thailand are ruthlessly abducted and sold into slavery. We celebrate this day knowing that women throughout Kosovo are forced to flee their homes, leaving behind their family, friends, and lives. We celebrate this day knowing that men in America rape and beat a woman almost every single minute of every single day. We celebrate this day knowing that those men who define politics, religion, and culture also define the extent to which women can be safe, free, and economically independent. We celebrate this day in a tireless struggle to relieve those men of their abusive powers and restore fundamental human rights to women everywhere. We celebrate this day in solidarity, knowing that we are not alone in our suffering and struggles to gain the most simple of human rights. We celebrate this day in remembrance of the women who have been killed and whose murders went unpunished, unrecognized.
I promise to remain in solidarity with you women of Afghanistan. I will not remain a silent and passive participant in the horrific abuses that you are faced with daily. You have shown your faces and given us your voices despite the fatal consequences you face and I will not allow your voices to go unheard. will never become too busy to write a letter or speak out or ask for donations for your tirelessly dedicated organization RAWA.
In celebrating this day we recognize your suffering and struggles, we applaud your strength, and thank you for sharing your voices and for your tireless work to restore women’s human rights. You are not forgotten. You are not alone.
Together we stand in solidarity.
Inger Brinck
USA
For RAWA,
It is matter of great pride and pleasure for my party Pakistan People's Party (Shaheed Bhutto group) and me to laud and congratulate Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan for their courageous struggle against the reactionary forces who are trying to stop the rightful emancipation of women of Afghanistan.
In this era tremendous technological progress, the reactionary forces have joined hands to crush the rights of working and exploited classes. Those forces have now adopted the most modern technological devices, like electronic and print media, to conceal their conspiring faces under the cover of liberalism. The trumpeting of their concern about the basic human rights while practically acting quite otherwise is a glaring example of their deceit.
These reactionary forces and their brokers, to make them live under constant pressures of poverty, superstition and oppression have especially targeted the majority of womenfolk. The abuse of their rights, in grabs of religious tenets or sophisticated modernity, presents a frightening picture of deceit and exploitation. This picture includes the whole world, but the women of the Third World are facing much more tragic situation than those living in developed countries.
Afghanistan is no exception. I know that the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan is fighting against the tyrannies of religious priesthood that, with their brokers, perpetrate ignorance as bliss and suppression as women's destiny. Consequently, the women of Afghanistan, like their sisters in Pakistan, are living in the dark medieval ages even at the end of twentieth century.
On behalf of my party, and all the sections of Pakistan society who are engaged in the same struggle of women's emancipation, I salute the relentless fight of RAWA, against the usurpation of rights of women in Afghanistan. I want to assure them that they are not alone in their struggle. And that they are bound to win. The day is not very far in the future when all oppressed and exploited laborers; workers farmers and women shall live in the atmosphere of justice and equality.
Ghinwa Bhutto
Chairperson,
Pakistan Peoples Party (SB)
Central secretariat
Karachi, Pakistan
Dear Sohaila,
We published the "Herstory" of Meena in the March/April 1999 issue of New Moon. We sent you a copy last week, so you should be receiving it soon. I wish you lots of luck with your International Women’s Day projects.
Sincerely
Bridget Grosser
Managing Editor
New Moon Magazine
USA
Thank you on behalf of all women struggling against male domination for the brave and strong work that you are doing.
Even in the UK, where we get very little information about the what the rest of the world is doing to women, we know about the Taliban and the terrible human rights violations it is committing against our sisters. We are all perpetually astonished that the international community does nothing against these violations and therefore supports them.
Do not give up, whatever happens. We who struggle here join with you on March 8 in your fight.
Sarah Maguire
UK
Dear RAWA sisters,
About two years ago I first learned of the Taliban's take over of Afghanistan. I read about it in a Canadian magazine called Homemaker. The article centered on the plight of the Afghani women under this regime. I felt nauseated by what I read the Taliban had done. I felt at a loss as to what I could do. I occasionally read small articles on the Taliban, and again, it would infuriate me. Then I found the Web Site for RAWA. Although the Web Site is well done, it clearly shows the horrors that Afghani women are living in. And although it made me sad to read the articles and view the pictures, it also made merealize something. It showed me that although this is going on, the Afghani women are starting to organize. The first step in a successful revolution!
I am just starting to understand what I must do to help RAWA through my contact with Sohalia Danish. I will try to do whatever I can in Canada. I will make sure more and more people become aware of your fight. I will try to raise some funds, and I will try to raise some supplies. And, I will always help you fight, however I can.
On this 8th day of March, 1999, I will remind you that many are starting to fight for your rights over here in North American. You are not alone. There are many who will help. You will persevere.
Peace my sisters, Peace. Wishing you good fortune,
Sharon Dion
Canada
I read an article in an American magazine detailing your struggles. As I viewed your web site, I recognized the power and strength you have. Your struggle and cries for help and equality will not go unheard. I will pray and think of you often and in my small ways will bring attention to your despairs, as you are my people and sisters.
I noticed that most of your social activity is in Pakistan. What resources do you have available in America?
Helena Mehr-Lindsey
California, US
Dearest Friends and Sisters,
The dauntless courage and tenacity with which sisters of RAWA are carrying forward their struggle for a more humane, sensitive and just Afghan society is a lesson to us all in South Asia.
Some of us who are facing cruel reprisals emerging from within our own societies, where long-buried prejudices and hatreds are sanctioning brutal levels of violence from within our midst., cannot but be failed to be inspired by the sheer grit that your organization has shown. Our Neighbors and neighborhoods have turned battlegrounds for the worst kind of 'us' versus 'them' politics and we have to admit that we need to struggle hard against the demon within.
From Mumbai and India we wish you all courage and hope. And long and fighting lives. For the brave struggle that you have devoted your livesto.
Towards a fair just and humane south Asia
Love and Hugs
Teesta Setalvad, editor,
Communalism Combat, Mumbai
India
Dear friends,
Thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to send a message of solidarity. Here is our message:
DO NOT GIVE UP, DO NOT LET GO AND DO NOT EVER THINK YOU ARE ALONE IN YOUR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE INJUSTICES OF THIS WORLD. WE ARE WITH YOU.
Our warmest wishes from GAATW.
Bandana Pattanaik
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
THAILAND
Dear women of RAWA.
At its meeting on 2 March the Mount Ainslie branch of the Australian Labor Party moved a motion of support and admiration for the Afghanistan women in their ongoing struggle. We take this opportunity to celebrate your strength and courage in your work and your lives. Our thoughts are with you on International Women's Day and in the future.
Yours sincerely
Christina Ryan
Senior Vice President
Australian Labor Party
Please accept my deepest feelings of solidarity with your cause. I can only guess what kind of courage it takes to stand up against the forces oppressing women in Afghanistan. Please know that there are many women all over the world who are praying for your success. You are not just fighting for yourselves but for your children and your children's children and the future of your country.
Linda Richardson
Hello women, Womensport Australia would like to express our support and admiration for you and your work. Despite tremendous difficulties you have still managed to come together and continue an enormous task. Many of us are deeply distressed by the treatment of our sisters in Afghanistan and watch all developments closely.
In celebrating International Women's Day we are celebrating the strength of women and the determination which we all show in our common struggle.
With love
Christina Ryan
Executive Officer
Womensport, Australia
Dear Sohaila Danish,
You can tell listeners at your gathering that like anyone I have spoken with in this country, I am distressed and outraged by the treatment of women by the Taliban.
Women have been denied access to work, health, society, even life itself. Islam recognizes that that women were created equally as images of the divine and requires that the genders show one another mutual respect. Yet the Taliban men show less respect for their women that they would for their animals. The heinous crimes the men are committing offend women, Afghan society, human dignity and God.
I believe that Taliban crimes against humanity will not go unheeded in God's eyes. I also believe that the foreign policy of civilized nations, like Canada, should support the cause of Afghan women and their supporters.
Irenka Farmilo
Ottawa, Canada
Dear Sohalia,
Please convey the women who will be marching with RAWA on the 8th of March the message that the women of AIDOS feel very close to them and that we will go on doing our best to support their efforts and struggle.
With all our warmest wishes.
Daniela Colombo
President
Italian Association for Women in Development (AIDOS)
Italy
I am a man from Mallorca -on the Balearic islands- that read the news about your country and difficulty can believe it.You are not alone. We are with us.
Sebastia Vidal
Balearic
Dear Friends,
I am writing to let you know that in our course, Women, Race, and Culture, here at University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, we have talked about the situation of women in Afghanistan. We are extremely pleased to learn of women from that country who are challenging the policies which are severely restricting women's freedoms. You are not alone! We support your struggle and admire your efforts on behalf of women's rights and social justice!
In solidarity,
Kelley Ready (Carol A. Ready)
Department of Social Change and Development
University of Wisconsin at Green BayNT
USA
It is with great sadness that we read of the plight of our sisters in Afghanistan. Please let them know that they are not alone in their suffering; that the injustices they endure do not go unremarked; and that women all over the world hope and pray for an end to their cruel and inhumane treatment.
Sometimes the future of the humanitarian community and those it seeks to protect looks bleak: we must not give up hope. Just as the unjust governments of South Africa, Romania, Nigeria had ultimately to come to an end, so to must Afghanistan's reign of terror.
My thoughts are with the women of Afghanistan.
Nicola Kohn,
London School of Economics
Dear Ms Sohaila Danish,
I would be very grateful if you could pass on this message to the women of Afghanistan on international women day.
On behalf of myself, and many of my friends in Australia, I would like to express my deepest admiration, support and solidarity for the courage the women of Afghanistan continue to show in the face of the brutal oppression by the Taliban. Your struggle must be emotionally and physically exhausting, and I hope you are able to find the resources, love and support of the people around you to continue to fight back against those who so fear women's equality with men.
On international women's day 1999, I wish you continuing strength, passion, victory and a peaceful future.
Respectfully
Krysti Guest
Australia
If every women on the face of this earth had the strength that you women have then all women (Muslim, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Buddhists,,, all women) would rule the earth. I have pride and faith in you that your actions of peace will overcome your sorrowful losses, but remember, remember! A fight for equality means agreeing to let the Taliban's voice be heard as well as your own.
Sincerely,
Angela Keller
USA
Dear Ms. Danish:
Please accept the following as Equality Now's solidarity message for your March 8th event.
Equality Now supports the women of Afghanistan in their struggle for freedom, equal rights and social justice. The Taliban's denial of the most fundamental human rights of women is an unconscionable violation of dignity and respect for humanity. The world is watching the women of Afghanistan and we will not rest until their rights are restored.
Good luck on March 8th. Know that we at Equality Now are with you always and especially on this important day.
In solidarity,
Mandy Sullivan
Campaign Director, Equality Now,
New York, USA
On the occasion of March 8th, the International Woman's Day, I would like to express my solidarity with women who are made to endure the medieval legacy of Islamic Law at the end of the 20th century.
Based on aggressive notions of masculinity, a variety of fundamentalist groups is continuing to oppress women throughout the Islamic world by taking away their very basic human rights.
I would like to urge the governments of these countries to reconsider this medieval legacy and restore the women of their country the basic dignity they deserve.
Sincerely,
Tomislav Z. Longinovic
Associate Chair
University of Wisconsin-Madison
USA
Dear friends,
The Asian Women's Human Rights Council, a network of Women's human rights groups in the Asia-Pacific region think of you specially today and wish the women of Afghanistan much courage in the days ahead.
We ask you to continue to give voice to the unspeakable, almost unimaginable violence that you are living through: and we learn from the many women who have been brave enough to cross a line; to break the silence.
Weaving your stories with our stories
Your pain with our pain
Your strength with our strengthWith kind wishes,
Corinne Kumar
Regional Co-ordinator
Asian Women Human Rights Council
It is a sad thing that we stop to remember the plight of the women who are dying in Afghanistan on one day a year. It is a sadder thing that previous efforts have not seemed to lessen your pain. Our group, "Out Of Order," and its members send you our love and support on this day to celebrate and mourn for women around the world. We celebrate your triumphs with you, and we mourn those who have been lost.
We shall continue to try and educate others through the medium of theatre, encourage people to do whatever small or large parts they can, and pray that soon the abominations that control your country are struck down. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. The screen in front of me blurs as tears of frustration and despair fill my eyes: I truly hope this nightmare of yours will end soon.
Kristene Wilbur,
Rebecca Miller,
Jackie Harrison,
Roy Spina,
Ruairi Kennedy
USA
WOMANKIND demands human rights for women all over the world and most particularly for women in Afghanistan. Below you will find a letter that we produced together with the largest NGOs in the UK last year as part of the campaign 'a flower for the women of Kabul' directed at the UK government.
With all our solidarity and the best wishes for International Women's Day,
WOMANKIND Worldwide
UK
A few days ago I happened to watch a documentary film shown on television about the war waged by Russia against Afghanistan, the scenes were terrifying. But it seems to me that one nightmare has now been replaced by another - the scourge of criminality and oppression masquerading as religion.
As your celebrations approach on March 8, I urge you to continue to bring your awful situation to the attention of the world community through the internet and by any other means. Please call upon all Afghanis and those of Afghani ancestry who are living in North America and in other democracies to petition their respective congressmen, members of parliament to bring an end to state violence against women.
I wish you continued success with your endeavors.
Mark Lewis
USA
Dear sisters,
Just a short message to tell you that I wish you good luck with your fight.
From Catalonia (Europe) we don't forget you, and especially next Monday, March 8th, we will remember you.
Long live freedom and democracy! Down with fundamentalism!
Anna Marta
Catalonia
Human, fundamental and civil rights organization "Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International" has urged the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan to ensure the safety and security of the Afghanistan's women's rights activists during the March 8 observance of International Women's Day.
Chairman of the Trust Mr. Ansar Burney, Advocate said it was concerned over "continued threats" against activists of the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). The government must take the threats seriously and order all possible steps to protect the Women's Day protests in Pakistan.
Ansar Burne
Pakistan
This is to express my solidarity to all Afghani women from Barcelona,
Dr. Susanna Tavera
Spain
Solidarity and sisterhood to you in your struggle.
Sheila Rowbotham
Dear Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan,
The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy (CRLP) wishes to express our support for the women in Afghanistan who are forced to endure the discrimination of the Taliban. CRLP believes that the rules of the Taliban violate women's human rights as these rights are defined in numerous international documents including Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women, and the Declaration and Program of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights. CRLP calls on the government of Afghanistan to end all sanctions against women.
Sincerely,
Anika Rahman
Director, International Program
The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy
New York, USA
The women of Afghanistan and sisters from RAWA.
Greetings on the occasion of International Women's Day from VIMOCHANA, a forum for women from Bangalore - India.
Struggle against fundamentalism is a very real part of our daily life in India. With a government that has it's political ideology rooted in communalism and casterism, communal divides and rising voices of the fundamentalist forces are no new phenomenon to us in this country. Therefore, we understand your struggles and live them with you. Since the Hindu fundamentalists razed Babri Masjid leading to country wide riots and outbreak of communal clashes in 1992, we in VIMOCHANA have taken up the movement of WOMEN IN BLACK and have stood for communal peace and harmony, in silent protest every week on Thursday, wearing black clothes. WOMEN IN BLACK is a powerful movement taken to by women in Israel, in Bosnia, in Papua New Guinea, in Argentina, in India and many other countries around the globe, where women are standing every week dressed in black and silently protesting in their countries for peace, for end to wars, for end to oppression, to discrimination and for women's rights.
Next Thursday i.e. on the 11th of March when we in VIMOCHANA stand in our next Women in Black protest, be assured that our protest banners will include the voices of protest from RAWA and the fight for peace, for freedom of religion, thought and expression, for social justice and to safeguard women’s' rights in Afghanistan. Your struggle for peace and justice will be part of our thoughts and of our campaign. In solidarity and with best wishes for success in your struggle, courage and for support from all part of the world....
Shakun. M.
Coordinator
VIMOCHANA.
Dear Women at the RAWA 8th March Women's Day,
It is said that "all the personal is equal to the political". So is your sad and joyful activity to demonstrate that women's lives and activities have to be valued as important and independent contribution to a country's economic and social wellbeing. I wish you strength and success.
With sisterly greetings and respect,
Jose Maas
Black Women Advancement
The Netherlands
On behalf of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Danish section, I would like to express my solidarity with women in Afghanistan. I Denmark we try to press our government to make some statements at the 55th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights 22-30 April. You shall know that you are not alone. On the 8th of March we will light a candle to symbolize our hope for and solidarity with your fight for freedom, democracy, women's rights and social justice.
All the best
Annelise Ebbe
vice president
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Danish Section
I think that it's really important to stress this disgusting act upon the Afghanistan women to others. Men and women. I personally find this disturbing and hope that it never happens in any other countries, especially the U.S. We women have been oppressed enough. Thanks for posting this site on the net.
Sincerely,
Denise P.Buck
USA