the bravest woman in Afghanistan

Malalai Joya, the Afghan Politician who has been called the bravest woman in Afghanistan is to return to Canada on a speaking tour, according to rabble.ca.  Article by Derrick O’Keefe.  

The Canadian Peace Alliance has issued this announcement of a brief return visit by Malalai Joya. The tour comes at an important time, with exhortations coming from a number of fronts to extend Canada’s role in the military occupation of Afghanistan beyond 2011.

Malalai Joya, described as “the bravest woman in Afghanistan” is on a Canadian speaking tour, which started in Ottawa last night. Joya was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. She is an outspoken critic of the NATO-led war that she says has not provided democracy and women’s rights and has taken a terrible civilian toll in her country.

Joya will be participating in The Global Conference on Human Rights in Diverse Societies at McGill University in Montreal, October 7-9. The Canadian Peace Alliance is co-sponsoring the following speaking events with Joya over the next week.

Calgary – Sunday, October 10, 3pm. University of Calgary Room: ICT102 – 2500 University Dr. NW

Vancouver – Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7pm. at W2 Storyeum, 151 W. Cordova (Between Cambie and Abbott)

Toronto – Wednesday, October 13, 7pm. Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church, 427 Bloor Street West

Malalai Joya last visited Canada in November 2009, when she warned against the Obama administration’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Joya is strongly opposed to any extension of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2011.

This woman has been tireless in her efforts to alleviate the suffering of our sisters in Afghanistan.  She has continued her efforts despite multiple assassination attempts and countless threats.  Women and children are inevitabley the innocent victims of war, no matter who the nation states are or what the premise of the war.  She states unequivically that we cannot enforce democracy by propping up a corrupt regime.  Democracy can only be won by the victims of the repressive state.

Speaking about the recent elections in Afghanistan, Joya states: “Elections in Afghanistan are no longer fooling anyone… Afghans can now see clearly that democracy will never come through elections in an occupied country where guns and money have the first and last word. To call what we have in Afghanistan democracy is nothing more than a bad joke.”

On women’s rights Joya emphasizes that the war has not ended the suffering of Afghan women: “Crimes against women have been increasing year after year, in part because warlords and fundamentalists of all stripes have seen that they have impunity to assault women…. This goes on because anti-women ideologues control Afghanistan’s judiciary – and this happened in front of the eyes of the U.S., the UN and NATO at the Loya Jirga.  After almost a decade, military occupation has not brought any semblance of women’s rights to Afghanistan.”

For more information, visit the website of the Canadian Peace Alliance.

When I hear a bereaved mother of a fallen soldier imploring the Government to stay the course, I wonder why she feels that more Canadian mothers should sacrifice their children to a cause that is so obviously not about spreading democracy.  I can understand her need to justify the horrible sacrifice of her child’s life, but I would really appreciate it if she’d leave my kid out of it!  I happen to feel that Ms. Joya has been the voice of reason in this whole clusterfuck of an international corporatisation scheme and that if more people in supposedly democratic societies would pause and think about the children, why, we might just be getting somewhere!  Progressively, I mean.  Okay?