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Many brave women act boldly for peace every day; some even
risk their lives. What follows is one woman’s quest for
peace in Afghanistan.
Malalai Joya, 26, of
Afghanistan endures constant death threats and is protected
by bodyguards. Why? Because the social worker and elected
representative to Afghanistans’s Loya Jirga — or Grand
Council — dared to speak out against fundamentalist warlords
who wanted to become leaders of the country.
In her December 2003 address to the Loya Jirga when the
council was meeting to approve a new constitution, Joya said
that the fundamentalists and criminals who waged
Afghanistan’s 26-year war should not be allowed to serve as
leaders of the new democratic government; instead, she
suggested they should be put on international trial for war
crimes.
Joya was one of about 100 women out of more than 500
delegates serving on the Afghan Grand Council, and her
speech was cut short by an uproar from those who disagreed
with her. Because she refused to apologize, she was called
infidel and prostitute, and her house was attacked. In order
to continue as a representative to the Loya Jirga, she was
placed under United Nations protection.
Seeking solidarity
As a young American woman living safely in my country, I
probably would not have read or heard about Joya’s death if
the warlords she condemned had succeeded in killing her. I
certainly would have never met her. However, as a program
assistant for the Lutheran Office for World Community, I am
privileged to meet brave women like Malalai Joya. Because I
work in the Church Center for the United Nations —
a building that houses non-governmental organizations and is
across the street from the UN headquarters in New York City
— I have heard stories like Joya’s from women of Sudan,
Colombia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, East Timor, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. These women come
to the UN looking for solidarity and support from peace
activists in our country. However, many times the only
people in the room to hear them are other women — often from
faith-based organizations.
Joya, in her youth and stature, is unimposing, but her story
is powerful. While she told her story with the help of a
translator, several realizations came to me in what I can
only describe as waves of enlightenment:
• I had never met a woman so culturally different than me
before;
• everything I’ve heard about her country is probably a lie;
and
• there are so many other women in the world like her that I
know nothing about.
In September, as she spoke
with about 20 women from religion and non-profit
organizations, she told us that though the Taliban regime
was toppled three years ago, money, guns and international
connections are still the best way to get into elected
office.
“People with guns are the least supportive of women and
democracy,” she said. “The constitution has rights for women
written in it, but it can’t be enforced if the warlords are
in power. Government officials claim that they want women in
power or in school, but they are lying. Many Afghan women
commit suicide every month due to pressures of a
male-dominated society.”
This October 9, Afghanistan held its first ever presidential
election and interim President Hamid Karzai was confirmed in
mid November as the country’s new president. He was selected
from an ethnically diverse slate of 17, including one woman,
a few warlords, and some of questionable backgrounds in
terms of human rights. According to an October 11 Newsweek
article, 41 percent of the country’s 10.5 million registered
voters were women, however many husbands decided whether
their wives and daughter could cast ballots. Fear of
Taliban-instigated violence and scorn of being the first man
to allow his wife or daughter to vote might have kept many
away from the polls, Newsweek reported.
Recognizing and joining
peace builders
When I hear the urgency in the voices of these brave women
seeking peace and women’s rights in their countries, I
wonder what I can do to support their important work. It
never seems enough to just be educated by them and then to
spread my new awareness to others. But that is, at least, a
start.
Joya told us that current U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan
is contributing to a potentially explosive civil war, and
that, because of warlords and corruption, not even
one-fourth of the aid money flowing into Afghanistan reaches
the people it is intended for. When I asked her if she was
planning to meet with anyone in the U.S. government while in
the U.S., she simply said “no.”
Since she spoke out against the fundamentalists last year,
she has been invited to visit human rights and women’s
groups around the world. She declined for months, not
wanting to be perceived as a spokeswoman for Western
beliefs, giving her enemies more ammunition to use against
her. However, at the invitation of Eve Ensler, author of the
“Vagina Monologues,” Joya finally decided to come to the
U.S. because, she said, Ensler went to Afghanistan when the
women there were still forgotten. Since Ensler visited
Afghanistan, she has launched V-Day, a worldwide movement to
stop violence against women and girls.
Desperate conditions
Just to survive in Afghanistan is a daily act of bravery as
the conditions are so desperate. Joya, a deeply religious
person from a poor family, cannot afford to think that she
cannot make a difference to the women of Afghanistan. She
works with local Islamic religious leaders because that is
the only way to reach people in her community. Despite
massive amounts of money, medical supplies and food going to
Afghanistan from the United States, faith-based groups here
have not offered to help the people of Joya’s country like
they could.
Whenever she speaks, Joya talks about the importance of
solidarity. She thanks feminists and human rights defenders
from around the world; and she credits specifically Women
for Women International and Revolutionary Association of the
Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). But I find our responsibility —
our part of the solidarity as U.S. women — more difficult to
grasp since our country seems so much a part of the problem.
“Solidarity for Afghan women is to recognize that people
like Malalai Joya exist and that you do not have to import
leaders into the country,” said Vina Nadjibulla, a UN
representative of United Methodist Church who is also from
Afghanistan. “Solidarity is understanding that local
leadership arises even in the worst situations. Solidarity
is supporting (Joya’s) work without taking it over.”
The real work of building
peace
It is difficult in the U.S. to stand in solidarity or
witness to the world’s suffering when we are confronted with
so many mixed messages. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan
after in October 2001, many in women’s movements were
confused and even misled by the claim that our country was
liberating Afghan women. Nadjibulla suggested American women
should challenge U.S. foreign policy when it uses women as
an excuse for military intervention.
Joya renews my hope, but her story and other stories like
hers are disheartening because we often do not know the
reality of how our government actions are ignoring — or even
harming — women in other countries. None of the stories of
the peacemakers I have met are finished. After surviving the
horrors of war, most of them are just beginning the real
work of rebuilding their communities. For us to stand in
solidarity, we must ask them directly what their needs are,
and then we must spread the word by telling others,
including our government. Only then can we tell others about
them, and find ways to begin building peace together.
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Women
Braving Peace
