[act-ma] A Woman Among Warlords: Malalai Joya Exposes U.S. War in Afghanistan - 10/29, 10/30, and 10/31

[Cole Harrison]

Malalai Joya, the young woman who the BBC has hailed as the "bravest
in Afghanistan", has published her memoirs, A Woman Among Warlords:
The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Speak Out.

Joya, now 31, was the youngest ever woman elected to the Afghan
Parliament in 2005 and is an outspoken critic of the Karzai government
and NATO occupation. She will be speaking in the Boston area between
October 29-31 (see places and times below) as part of a North American
tour to speak about her new memoir, co-written with Canadian activist
and writer Derrick O’Keefe.

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Thursday, October 29, 7 pm - MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge,
Room 10-250.   Sponsored by MIT End Violence project,
end_violence at mit.edu

Friday, October 30 2:30 pm - Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK St,
Cambridge.  Carr Center for Human Rights Conference Room, Rubenstein
219

                                   7 pm - Emerson College, Bordy
Auditorium, 216 Tremont St, 1st Floor, Boston.   (Boylston T stop)

Saturday, October 31, 2 pm - 93 Lyndhurst St., Dorchester (Lyndhurst
is off Allston St., which is off Melville Ave.; Shawmut T stop),
Sponsored by Dorchester People for Peace.  Info: 617-822-9474 or
617-721-9606
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With U.S. President Obama considering escalating the war in
Afghanistan with over 40,000 more troops, Joya’s speaking tour and
book release is timely. “Afghan women like me, voting and running for
office, have been held up as proof that the United States has brought
democracy and women’s rights to Afghanistan,” Joya writes. “But it is
all a lie.”

Her book tells the story of her life in the context of three decades
of war. Joya details her reasons for opposing NATO's war and suggests
concrete steps for building an independent and genuinely democratic
Afghanistan.

Often compared to democratic leaders such as Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi,
this extraordinary young woman was raised in the refugee camps of Iran
and Pakistan. Inspired in part by her father's activism, Malalai
became a teacher in secret girls' schools, holding classes in a series
of basements. She hid her books under her burqa so the Taliban
couldn't find them. She also helped establish a free medical clinic
and orphanage in her impoverished home province of Farah. The endless
wars of Afghanistan have created a generation of children without
parents. Like so many others who have lost people they care about,
Malalai lost one of her orphans when the girl's family members sold
her into marriage.

Today, Joya brings to a North American audience the lessons of
Afghanistan’s long history of occupation and resistance. And she hopes
her book will “correct the tremendous amount of misinformation being
spread about Afghanistan.”

“Afghans are sometimes represented in the media as a backward people,
nothing more than terrorists, criminals and henchmen. This false image
is extremely dangerous for the future of both my country and the West.
The truth is that Afghans are brave and freedom loving people with a
rich culture and a proud history. We are capable of defending our
independence, governing ourselves and determining our own future.”

Co-sponsored by the Afghan Women's Mission and United for Justice with Peace.

See the full events schedule at
http://justicewithpeace.org/afghan-joya.     Call 617-491-4UJP or
write ujpcoalition at gmail.com for information on Boston area events.

--
Cole Harrison
rozziecole at gmail.com
617-469-9838

United for Justice with Peace
www.justicewithpeace.org