(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

“You can cut the flower, but you cannot stop the coming of spring.”

This is my new favourite quotation. It comes from Malalai Joya, the Afghan parliamentarian and feminist who was tossed out of the Afghan parliament for vocally opposing the new regime, which has merely shifted power from the Taliban to the warlords. She said this after an attempt on her life.

Joya was a vocal opponent of the Taliban ever since she returned to her native Afghanistan at the age of 19. At a time when almost no one in the world could place Afghanistan on a map, she was a vocal opponent of the Taliban and a staunch supporter of democracy.

After the occupation of Afghanistan, the Western powers set up a parliament that was very much in the hands of warlords who were, in Joya's words, were "the most anti-women people in the society [of the Mujahideen]." For criticizing the drug lords and war criminals who are our allies, she was thrown out.

She'll be coming to Canada today, but you can bet she'll be ignored by both the government and most of the mainstream media, even though she's quite a famous figure worldwide.

Indeed, she's probably quite an embarrassment for the current pro-NATO-occupation government, who'd like this uppity woman to go away. They'd prefer her to shut up, I think, so that the big strong men can make Afghanistan a safe place for, uh, women to have an equal say.

Comments

[frog-songs.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized she was in Canada today. Thanks for posting the link.

The first time I ever heard her speak was on the radio one winter afternoon, in the car with my partner. He and I were driving to his parents' house, which is in Emma's village but in a hideous new subdivision. I was in a place where I was completely freaked out about school, and as wickedly depressed as I'd ever been. All of a sudden this young woman is on the radio, talking about warlords and parliaments and things that are well and truly fucked-up, and it was like a big ol' glass of perspective.

Malalai Joya kicks my ass, whether or not some North Atlantic old dude would like her to.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

True that -- the fact that this woman has had so little coverage is a sign of how awful and war-hawkish our media's gotten.