for sure I'll sign..

Librani Selby, @msterdam, Holland


  good luck

             :)

>From: "dd" <addfield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: XCHANGE@xxxxxxxxxx
>To: "ARTNINE list" <ARTNINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,"'Fluxlist" 
<Fluxlist@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,"GREEKWEB" 
<greekweb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,"Xchange RADIO" <xchange@xxxxxxxxxx>, 
"Syndicate" <syndicate@xxxxxx>,"Rhizome" <list@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Next 5 
Minutes 3" <debates@xxxxxxx>,"Neoscene" 
<Majordomo@xxxxxx>,"Monde-Diplomatique.Fr" 
<requests@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,"Mi_Ga" <mi_ga@xxxxxx>, 
<m9323@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:56:59 +0200
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> >Hi Everyone, 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 drive and appear in public alone until
>> >only 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 name 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 we 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
>> >1998 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) Bruce J. Malina, Omaha, NE
>> >2) Raymond Hobbs, Hamilton, ON, Canada
>> >3) Elizabeth Demaray, Kanata, ON, Canada
>> >4) Fred Demaray, Kanata, ON, Canada
>> >5) Leslie Penrose, Tulsa, OK
>> >6) Susan Ross, Perkins, OK
>> >7) Jeannie Himes, Tulsa, OK
>> >8) Lois Adams, Tulsa, OK
>> >9) Mona M. Miller, Fort Collins, CO
>> >10) Kara A. Sheldon, Colorado Springs, CO
>> >11) Gay Victoria, Colorado Springs, CO
>> >12) Catherine Euler, Leeds, UK
>> >13) Faith Muimo, Leeds, UK
>> >14) Sanna Vehvildinen, Helsinki, Finland
>> >15) Jussi Onnismaa, Helsinki. Finland
>> >16) Marjatta Hahkio, Helsinki, Finland
>> >17) Jouko Hahkio, Helsinki, Finland
>> >18) Colin Sydes, Helsinki, Finland
>> >19) Gavin Cowie, Helsinki, Finland
>> >20) Andrew Walker, London, UK
>> >21) Roberto Battista, London, UK
>> >22) Hamish Makgill, Brighton, Uk
>> >23) Naomi Beresford-Webb, London, UK
>> >24) Theo Gupta, London, UK
>> >25) Karyn Allen, Bath, UK
>> >26) Sarah Cox, London, UK
>> >27) Harriet Peel, Oxford, UK
>> >28) Lisa McCormick, Oxford, UK
>> >29) Cibele Ponces Alvarenga, UK
>> >30) Isabelle Swiderski, London, UK
>> >31) Cathy Gibson, Nanaimo, BC, Canada
>> >32) George Gibson, Nanaimo, BC Canada
>> >33) Christine Gibson, Victoria, BC Canada
>> >34) Pam Vanderbraak, Kanata, ON Canada
>> >35) Anita Paradis, Orleans, ON Canada
>> >36) Rod Sprules, Nepean, Ontario, Canada
>> >37) Joanne Johnson, Nepean, Ontario, Canada
>> >38) Bente Baklid, Chelsea, Quebec, Canada
>> >39) Christine Beasley, Chelsea, Quebec, Canada
>> >40) Willie Allan, Chelsea, Quebec, Canada
>> >41) Nikki Emmerton, Twickenham, UK
>> >42) Neil Crofts Twickenham UK
>> >43) Alexandra Ihre, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >44) Anna Ingemarsdotter, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >45) Elisabeth Ess?n, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >46) Anna Koffman, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >47) Staffan Danielsson, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >48) Susann Fstergerd, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >49) Lena Dahlberg, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >50) Jonas Nordstrfm, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >51) Anna Klevebdck, Stockholm, Sweden
>> >52) Birgitta Sdwe, Bromma, Sweden
>> >53) Birgitta Pahl?n, Spenga, Sweden
>> 54) Gunilla Byrman, Lund, Sweden
>> 55) Lars Ellestrfm, Lund, Sweden
>> 56) Marie Johansson, Lund, Sweden
>57) Cristina Dimaki, Athens, Greece
>58)Dimos Dimitriou, Athens, Greece
>
>> >   **** 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@xxxxxxxx
>> >
>> >   and to:
>> >
>> >   Angela King,
>> >   Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women,
>> >   UN,
>> >   daw@xxxxxxxx
>> >
>> >   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.
>
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