With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

333 Pages·2003·3.55 MB·English

by  Anne E. Brodsky

WITH ALL OUR
STRENGTH
WITH ALL OUR
STRENGTH
THE REVOLUTIONARY
ASSOCIATION OF THE WOMEN
OF AFGHANISTAN
Anne E.Brodsky
Routledge • New York & London
Published in 2003 by
Routledge
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New York, NY 10001
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Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
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Copyright © 2003 by Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brodsky, Anne E.
With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan/
Anne E.Brodsky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-93492-3 (hardback)
1. Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan—History.
2. Women in politics—Afghanistan.
3. Women—Afghanistan—Social conditions. II. Title.
HQ1236.5.A3 B763 2003
305. 42'06'0581–dc21 2002015429
ISBN 0-203-50069-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-57547-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments xi
“I’ll Never Return” xii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1 “I’VE LEARNED THE SONG OF FREEDOM” 13
Joining the Movement
CHAPTER 2 “I’M THE WOMAN WHO HAS AWOKEN” 27
Meena and the Founding of RAWA
CHAPTER 3 “WITH ALL MY STRENGTH I’M WITH 57
YOU ON THE PATH OF MY LAND’S
LIBERATION” RAWA’s
History and Continued Resistance
CHAPTER 4 “I’VE OPENED THE CLOSED DOORS OF 101
IGNORANCE”
Education as Revolution
CHAPTER 5 “MY VOICE HAS MINGLED WITH 149
THOUSANDS OF ARISEN WOMEN”
Running the Movement
CHAPTER 6 “OH COMPATRIOT, OH BROTHER” 187
Male Supporters
CHAPTER 7 “I’VE BEEN REBORN AMIDST EPICS OF 215
RESISTANCE AND COURAGE”
The RAWA Life
CHAPTER 8 “I’VE FOUND MY PATH AND WILL 263
NEVER RETURN”
The Movement Continues
Glossary 273
v
Notes 277
References 295
How You Can Help 301
Index 303
(Map credit Cartographic Services, University of Maryland Baltimore County
[UMBC] Department of Geography & Environmental Systems)
FOREWORD
There was a time that no pen moved to write a poem or article that reflected
the realities of Afghanistan. No filmmaker made a film that showed the
true oppression of our people. No country’s or government’s conscience
was awakened enough to do anything to change the situation in
Afghanistan. After too many years of knowing about our tragedy, only
September 11 forced some governments and institutions to take action,
claiming at this late date that they did so because they cared about
Afghanistan and the liberation of Afghan women. Unfortunately this
action did not cure the wounds of our people. And even as September 11
suddenly brought the world’s largest forgotten tragedy to the center of
attention, still most people and governments and media do not understand
our reality. The tragedy of our country has been reduced to the image of
the Taliban and the burqa and a narrow 5-year period of our history. But
the oppression of Afghanistan and particularly Afghan women did not
start with the Taliban nor has it ended with their defeat. And the image of
Afghan women, silent under the shroud of the burqa, does not tell the
truth of our lives nor our resistance.
This book is about the untold reality of Afghanistan, of the resistance of
Afghan women, and of our organization, RAWA, which throughout all
the different oppressive regimes has been unfortunately the lone
independent voice of women and of all peace-and freedom-loving
Afghans struggling against fundamentalism and for secular democracy,
women’s rights, and human rights.
RAWA as a humanitarian organization has always had our social service
projects to help the downtrodden women and people of Afghanistan, but
in a country like Afghanistan these aids are not enough. Thus, RAWA as
a political organization always has spoken publicly about the brutalities
of the Soviet puppets and the jehadis, the Taliban, and the currently
reinstated Northern Alliance warlords. We have repeatedly demanded
their removal. For years RAWA has been warning countries not to support
these monsters, but no one cared and no one heard. RAWA was alone
throughout all this and besieged by enemies on all sides. We refused to be
viii
intimidated and continued our struggle under difficult and risky
situations. Our enemies slaughtered our founding leader, Meena, thinking
they would silence the voice of RAWA and of Afghan women, but they
were wrong. Instead our members became more inspired by her blood and
continued with stronger dedication and commitment that continues to this
day. We know that our goals cannot be achieved easily in a country like
Afghanistan, but we will continue no matter how long or how many
sacrifices it may take.
Our enemies have accused us of many things: being too radical because
we talk of women’s equality; being too revolutionary because we talk of
secular democracy; being too independent because we have refused to
compromise with traitors and criminals; being controlled by outsiders
because we have found many loyal supporters in Afghanistan and
throughout the world. The irrational rage of our enemies, who supported
the jehadis during the 1992–1996 period, who never chanted a slogan
against the Taliban, and who are now serving the bloody, rapist regime of
the Northern Alliance, does not surprise nor concern us. When an
organization of women, in a country whose fundamentalists have been
associated with those who created a catastrophe like September 11, can
carry out a tangible struggle while attracting tens of thousands of
supporters worldwide, it is neither strange nor surprising that a number
of people will develop hatred and jealousy against us.
What is more important to us is the strength and energy that we gain
from the peace, freedom and democracy-loving people in Afghanistan and
around the world who support our movement. We cannot forget the
countless numbers who have written to us saying, “Sisters, you are not
alone in your struggle—we are with you,” those who have dedicated so
much of their time and energy to helping RAWA, and our supporters who
have learned about our work and standpoints so they can speak and write
about the ongoing concerns of Afghan women. We can never truly express
our gratitude and pride at the moral and material support and solidarity
of individuals from all over the world who enable us to run our projects
and help and encourage so many Afghan women, who might otherwise
be without hope. Honestly, when we think of all these heartfelt and
concretely meaningful supporters of RAWA, any opposition and
accusations against us seem very petty and insignificant.
This book, written by someone we have known as a supporter for many
years, is just one example of the type of support that is crucial to RAWA.
Dr. Anne Brodsky dedicated two years of her life to writing this book. In
spite of many difficulties and risks she traveled three times to Pakistan
and to Afghanistan and endured living with RAWA members for months,
which we see as very instructive to her, but also praiseworthy. We saw
her write tens of pages of notes daily and ask many questions to make
herself as deeply familiar with RAWA as possible so she could portray a
ix
better and more complete picture of this oldest women’s
antifundamentalist organization. She took the difficult option of
researching and studying RAWA directly, rather than allowing herself to
make judgments from the views of our opposition or even our supporters.
While other books have been written on RAWA and have their
particular value, this is the only book that uses firsthand experience to
accurately portray Afghan women not as silent victims under their burqas
but warriors who have bravely resisted all oppressive regimes and have
changed their lives and the lives of many others. In this book the many
direct quotes by Afghan women from all walks of life give more
opportunities for their voices to be heard by the world. This has always
been a goal of RAWA. In this book, the values and work of Meena and her
centrality to RAWA are highlighted and for the first time described with
a depth that makes clear her great life contribution to RAWA and the
women of Afghanistan and how she has earned her place in the hearts of
RAWA and all freedom-loving Afghans.
One of the greatest values of this book is that it reflects the other face of
America and the other governments who have contributed to the tragedies
that have befallen our country. As we have always said, the people should
not be confused with their government. Many governments, without
caring a bit about the values of democracy and human rights, helped create
the fundamentalists by arming them and then leaving them to destroy the
people. Then when the fundamentalists were out of their control, these
governments waged a war against them, in which more innocent lives
were sacrificed than by the terrorism of Osama and Taliban, and ultimately
they gave the power back to the same old butchers. But in these countries
are also the people who speak out against these policies and for whom the
pains of our people are felt in solidarity; where even those feeling the
agony of September 11 deep in their hearts went to Afghanistan to express
their sympathy to the victims of the American bombardment; and where
this book has been written on the true lives of Afghan women and of
RAWA, so that our story can act as a beacon for many others who reflect
our resistance and uncompromising stance against the bloody enemies of
peace, security, and women’s and human rights throughout the world. By
writing a book about an organization that bears the wounds of
fundamentalism on its face, Dr. Brodsky does us the great service of
valuing and shedding light on the pains and agonies and the resistance of
all the freedom-loving women of our beloved country, stuck deep in the
claws of fundamentalist barbarism.
In return for the efforts of Dr. Brodsky, we, the members of RAWA, have
nothing to offer other than the promise to always hold high the flag of our
struggle against religious and nonreligious fascism and for democracy,
women’s rights, and social justice. And we have no doubt that she, who