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I received this note from today Leni Stern. She is an incredible guitar
player from New York City. If you ever have a chance to see her or buy one of
her records,I would highly recommend it. Her playing is as beautiful as it is
brilliant.
dear friends
my friend rikke send me this message today and it moved me to write to you
all and ask for your support.i feel awful about the conditions of women in
afghanistan and
i am grateful for every chance i get to do something about it.i hope you feel
the same.
warm regards
leni stern
Please read the attached message.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>
>>>>Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 10:25 PM
>>>>Subject: Human Rights for Women in Afghanistan
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Please spare a minute to read this mail. Thank you.
>>>>>
>>>>>The government of Afghanistan is waging a war upon women. The
>>>>>situation is getting so bad 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 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' has 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 said that
those in
>>>>>the West 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 (???) 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 same 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 US 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 Westerners may
>>>>>not understand. If life can threaten military force in Kosovo in the name
>>>>>of human rights for the sake of ethnic Albanians, then NATO and the West
>>>>>can certainly express peaceful outrage at the oppression, murder and
>>>>>injustice committed against women by the Taliban.
>>>>>
>>>>>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 Nations and that the current
>>>>>situation in Afghanistan will not be tolerated. Women's Rights is not a
>>>>>small issue anywhere and it is UNACCEPTABLE for women in 1999 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 anywhere
>>>>>else.
>>>>>
>>>>>>1) Patrick Ballin, Brighton, UK
>>>>>>2) Ben Ballin, Birmingham, UK
>>>>>>3) Jill Denham, Yeovil, UK
>>>>>>4) Ali Brownlie, Brighton, UK
>>>>>>5) Cathie Holden, Exeter, UK
>>>>>>6) Suniti Namjoshi
>>>>>>7) Elke Ruehl, Frankfurt, Germany
>>>>>>8) Birgit Albrecht, Frankfurt, Germany
>>>>>>9) Sabine Behrends, Germany
>>>>>>10) Ingrid Fuehrer, Germany
>>>>>>11) Jutta Willand, Frankfurt, Germany
>>>>>>12) Antje Vogdt, Paris, France
>>>>>>13) Barbara Bova, Naples, Florida
>>>>>>14) ruth Cavin, White Plains NY
>>>>>>15) Serita Stevens, LA, Ca
>>>>>>16) Adrian Muller, Bristol, UK
>>>>>>17) Lauren Milne Henderson, Tuscany, Italy
>>>>>>18)Tom Hope,Chianti,Italy
>>>>>>19)Sophie Rose,Chianti,Italy
>>>>>>20) Tim Hull, London,UK
>>>>>>21) Sven Holly Nullmeyer, Berlin, Germany
>>>>>>22) Bo Oliver Beckmann, Bremen, Germany
>>>>>>23) Thomas Gr=F6ne-Hincke, Bremen, Germany
>>>>>>24) Torsten Gr=F6ne, M=FCnchen, Germany
>>>>>>25) Beate Kunhardt, Berlin, Germany
>>>>>>26) Gernot Matzke, Berlin, Germany
>>>>>>26) Bodo Schmidt, K=F6ln, Germany
>>>>>>27) Bodo Busch, K=F6ln, Germany
>>>>>>28) Kursad Kahramanoglu
>>>>>>29) Tina Machida,Harare, Zimbabwe
>>>>>>30) Cor Groenendijk, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
>>>>>>31) Wies Houweling, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
>>>>>>32) Nicoline Roskam, Leiden, The Netherlands
>>>>>>33) Laura Mäntylä, Helsinki, Finland
>>>>>>34) Josephine Grin-Yates, Switzerland
>>>>>>35) Shahra Razavi, Geneva, Switzlerland
>>>>>>36) Nadje Al-Ali, London, UK
>>>>> 37) Chris Corrin, Glasgow, Scotland.
>>>>> 38) Gael Robertson, Kathmandu, Nepal
>>>>>39) Helen Gould, Appleby, UK
>>>>>40) Laura Benedict, Durham, North Carolina, USA
>>>>>41) Tema Okun, Durham, North Carolina, USA
>>>>>42) Monroe Gilmour, Black Mountain, NC USA
>>>>>43) Troy Phillips, New York, NY USA
>>>>>44) Rikke Sanborn, New York, NY USA
>>>>>45)luca benedetti,new york.ny,USA
>>>>>46)leni stern.new york,new york,usa
>>>>>47)Annamaria Grauso, New York, USA
>>>>>Please sign to support, and include your town and country. Then
>>>>>copy and e-mail to as many people as possible. If you receive this list
>>>>>with more than 50 names on it, please e-mail a copy of it to:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Mary Robinson,
>>>>>>High Commissioner,
>>>>>>UNHCHR,
>>>>>>webadmin.hchr at unorg_ch
>>>>>>
>>>>>>and to:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Angela King,
>>>>>>Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the
>>>>>>Advancement of Women, UN,
>>>>>>daw at undp_org
>>>>>>
>>>>>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
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Juliarty S.Masson
>>>>>>World YWCA
>>>>>>Tel.:004122-9296043
>>>>>>Fax: 004122-9296044
>>>>>>
>>>>>----------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Chris Corrin
>>>>>Politics Department
>>>>>University of Glasgow
>>>>>GLASGOW G12 8RT
>>>>>SCOTLAND
>>>>>
>>>>>PHONE: 44 141 357 4218
>>>>>FAX: 44 141 330 5071
>>>>>EMAIL:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
Troy Phillips
AT BEAM Inc.
212-966-9201 tel
212-966-9202 fax
Troy at at-beam_com
www.at-beam.com
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Subject: Human Rights for Women in Afghanistan
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 13:21:47 -0400
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