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No Subject
by Elson E. Boles
25 October 1999 23:20 UTC
Please read the following and pass it on. When
forwarding it, do not simply
hit the "forward" option in your email program.
Kindly cut and paste it
onto a new message so that the format is not
interrupted. Thanks!
I have received several of these but NONE explaining
the whole truth. I am
usually passive but feel we should all get involved.
After you copy and
paste you can add your name.. Please take the time to
do this it seems a
small thing but like a mustard seed it can produce
good results.. Thanks
-------------------
Please spare a moment to read. Thanks.
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 It to
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. Suicide 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. Everyone
has a right to a
tolerable human existence.
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.
**** Please sign to support, and include your town and
country.
1 Carlo Heip, Yerseke, The Netherlands
2. Anneliese Ernst, Yerseke, The Netherlands
3. Erika Oberer-Bley, Konstanz, Germany
4. Bernd Bukau, Freiburg, Germany
5. Martina Buettner, Heidelberg, Germany
6. Oliver Gruss, Heidelberg, Germany
7.Christine Vagner,Toulouse,France
8. Jean-Charles Faye, Toulouse, France
9. Beatrix Bugler, Toulouse, France
10. Malika Pares, Toulouse, France
11. Emmanuel Courcelle, Toulouse, France
12. Abdelmadjid Mesli, Strasbourg, France
13. Thomas Heiser, Strasbourg, France
14. Jelila Labed-Nachbrand, Strasbourg, France
15.Francoise Brunette, Strasbourg, France
16. Margaret Kruger, Strasbourg, France
17. Helene Detemple, Strasbourg, France
18. Valentine Thiebold, Strasbourg, France
19. Olivier Guerrero, Montreal, Canada
20. Lynn Palovits, Pierrefonds, Canada
21. Michel Palovits, Montreal-North, Canada
22. Michel Julien, Repentigny, Canada
23. Marie Theberge, Uxbridge, Canada
24. Jim Crane, Uxbridge, Canada
25. Evelyn Benchimol, Dorval, Canada
26. Coeli Smith, London, Canada
27. Roberts C. Smith, Riverside, California, USA
28. Robert V. Bird, Ontario, California, USA
29. Michael Higgins, San Diego, California, U.S.A.
30. Sharon Sample, Stillwater, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
31. Andy Novak, Fife, Washington, U.S.A.
32. Catherine Barron, Fife, Washington, U.S.A.
33. Sharon Carpenter, Holdenville, Oklahoma, U. S. A.
34. Teresa Rothrock, Holdenville, Oklahoma, U. S. A.
35. Brandon S. Pasley, Chickasha, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
36. April D. Doshier, Chickasha, Oklahoma, U.S.A
37. Benjamin J. Thomas, Chickasha, Oklahoma, U.S.A
38. Scott M. Horn, Chickasha, Oklahoma, U.S.A
39. William J. Novotny, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
40. Elson E. Boles, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
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@unorg.ch
and to:
Angela King,
Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement
of Women, UN,
daw@undp.org (mailto:daw@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.
Valentine Thiebold
e-mail vthiebold@cus-strasbourg.net
tel 03 88 43 62 46
fax 03 88 60 95 22
Elson E. Boles
Assistant Professor, (Historical) Sociology
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
(405) 574-1243
facbolese@usao.edu
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