[News] Afghanistan - An Angry Woman - There's no democracy under occupation.

[Anti-Imperialist News]

An Angry Woman -


There's no democracy under occupation.

By <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/malalaijoya>Malalai Joya

Source: 
<http://www.zcommunications.org/an-angry-woman-by-malalai-joya>L'Humanite
http://www.zcommunications.org/an-angry-woman-by-malalai-joya
Thursday, March 11, 2010

Exclusive interview with the young Afghan deputy thrown out of 
Parliament for having exposed foreign interference in her country.

Malalai Joya is an angry woman. She's angry about the war being 
carried out by the international coalition in her country, 
Afghanistan, angry about the UN bombs that are killing civilians in 
their villages, angry about calls for reconciliation with the Taliban 
and the war lords. "Stop the massacres in my country. Withdraw your 
foreign troops so we can stop Talibanization," is what the young 
Afghan deputy tells Western public opinion.

Huma: The conference in London, which took place at the end of 
January, formalized negotiations with the Taliban. What could happen next?

Malalai Joya: Millions of dollars have been promised to the Karzai 
regime so that insurgents will lay down their arms: at the same time 
millions of Afghans are dying in poverty. This will lead to the 
Taliban being rehabilitated, they will take control of the Loya 
Jirga, the meeting of the elders and the tribal leaders which is to 
be held soon. Can we really expect to establish democracy with such 
reactionaries? The Taliban aren't the only fundamentalists. When the 
USA and their allies overthrew Mullah Omar's regime, they replaced 
him with the war lords and the Northern Alliance who were led by 
Massoud. This group resembles the Taliban in its way of thinking. 
Over the past few years there's been a series of laws and judicial 
decisions that are scandalous. Under the pretext of national 
reconciliation, immunity was extended to the war lords and other 
known war criminals, many of whom sit in Parliament. These war lords 
are highly placed, they're in the Parliament, in ministries, the 
judiciary and they are all corrupt. And now the UN itself is crossing 
off the names of the ex-Taliban leaders from their black list. Is 
this the way to build the future of a people? Unless you want to 
persuade them that the Coca-Cola plant inaugurated by Karzai in the 
suburbs of Kabul, in our impoverished country where water is a 
precious resource, should serve as an emblem of the benefits of 
Western progress.

Huma: You were elected to Parliament in 2005. Eighteen months later 
you were suspended. Why?

Malalai Joya: At the opening ceremony of the parliamentary session I 
presented "my condolences to the Afghan people." Obviously, that 
didn't please a good number of deputies, who complained that they 
were offended. It's the war lords who wanted me out. I reminded that 
they had sacked Kabul during the 1992-96 civil war and that they were 
responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people. I said 
they should be dragged in front of the international courts. I also 
denounced the corruption, fed by the millions given by the 
international community under the guise of rebuilding the country. 
Very quickly, I couldn't go on. They cut my microphone as soon as I 
took the floor and I had to scream at the top of my voice to make 
myself heard over the insults and threats. Some deputies defended me, 
men and women, but they were few. I was called a communist and an 
infidel. The worst insults possible in their eyes. In a television 
interview, I ended up comparing Parliament to a zoo! Worse than 
stables because there at least the animals serve some purpose.

Huma: What will the reinforcement troops announced by Obama achieve?

Malalai Joya: The aim of the war was never to create democracy and 
justice nor to uproot the terrorist groups. The war's only purpose 
has been to perpetuate the occupation, install military bases and 
safeguard the takeover of a region that has substantial natural 
resources. Obama is just like Bush, if not worse, because he is 
escalating the war and bringing it to Pakistan. The American 
government is maintaining a dangerous situation in order to stay as 
long as possible in Afghanistan so it can more easily watch over 
neighboring countries like Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan. If 
Obama doesn't withdraw his soldiers there will be more bloodshed, 
more disasters. Look at the UN bombardments. In May 2009 in my own 
province more than 150 civilians were killed. This massacre allows 
the world a window onto the horrors being suffered by my people. But 
does the world really want to look in? I organized a press 
conference: a villager from Gerani, overcome by grief, came to tell 
us how he had lost 20 members of his family in the massacre. Mightn't 
he or other young men like him want to join up with the insurgents 
even if they are fundamentalists?

Huma: The situation of women under the Taliban regime finally moved 
international public opinion. What's the situation today?

Malalai Joya: The Afghan Constitution has clauses concerning women's 
rights. I was one of the many delegates in 2003 at the Loya Jirga who 
pushed for their inclusion, but the meeting is marked by the strong 
influence of fundamentalists with whom Karzai and the West cut deals. 
The base text might very well declare equality between men and women, 
but the country is ruled by Sharia law. The so-called democracy of 
the official Constitution is systematically flouted. It's only there 
as a token to attract international aid, which is then usually 
embezzled. Today Afghanistan is a country where women - often girls 
as young as 14 or 15 years - fleeing their conjugal home to escape 
extreme violence, are considered criminal and are imprisoned. Yes, 
there's an increase in the number of girls returning to school, but 
the records don't take into account the girls who have to leave 
school again, due to threats to their safety and pressure from their 
families to get married. Suicide has become the ultimate weapon of 
desperate young women, who are aware that there are alternatives but 
know that they will never have the right to them.

Huma: And what exactly are these alternatives?

Malalai Joya: All of the troops must leave and the militia of the 
warlords must be dismantled. Democracy can't be established by an 
occupying force that does nothing more than spread out and strengthen 
the Talibanization of my country. And it's my people who suffer. If 
the US and UN troops who are occupying my country don't voluntarily 
quit Afghanistan within a reasonable timescale they will find 
themselves confronted by even stronger resistance from the Afghans. 
The Western governments deliberately ignore that people are fighting 
to reconstruct the peace and safety of their country, in ways 
respectful of the rights of each man and woman. Democratic parties 
and associations are more often than not fighting in secret. Let's 
not forget that the Constitution bans the existence of all 
non-religious parties whose frame of reference does not include the 
Qur'an. Student protests against the recent bombardments and the 
rallies of hundreds of women last month at Kabul show the world the 
true path towards a real democracy in Afghanistan. There are so many 
faceless heroes and heroines. Their battle is in their towns and 
villages. Why does no single Western leader recognize the existence 
of a progressive movement that could emerge and play a role? I'm not 
losing hope, we need Western public opinion, and, in the course of my 
travels, I recognize that it's evolving. There have been protests 
against reinforcements being sent, people no longer believe in a 
"just war." But pressure needs to mount in order to sway the 
warmongering governments.

Translated by Kristina Wischenkamper and reviewed by Henry Crapo.




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