[act-ma] ACTION ALERT: Call State Dept, Rally Tomorrow to Demand Malalai Joya's Visa!

Tue Mar 22 14:05:54 PDT 2011

ACTION ALERT: Call State Dept, Rally Tomorrow to Demand Malalai Joya's Visa!

Nearly a week after former Afghan Parliamentarian and acclaimed human rights
activist Malalai Joya was denied a U.S. visa, a national network of
activists is calling on everyone across the country to demand that the State
Department let Ms. Joya in.

*[image: phone]Call the State Department*

On Wednesday March 23, call Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State
Department at 202-647-5291 <http://justicewithpeace.org/202-647-5291> between
9 am to 5 pm Eastern Standard Time. Press "1" and leave a comment stating
that you are outraged at Malalai Joya's exclusion from the U.S. and that you
would like the State Department to immediately grant Ms. Joya an emergency
appointment and visa at any U.S. Embassy she has applied.

*[image: protesters]Rally for the Right to Hear Malalai Joya*

Come to a rally -- we need to speak out about the right to hear Malalai
Joya!  *Wednesday, March 23, 5:30 p.m.*, at Harvard Square T Station, in the
"Pit" right next to the main entrance.    Representatives of sponsoring
groups will be on hand to talk about Malalai Joya and ideological exclusion.
  Come to show your support!

*Background*

Joya was due to enter the U.S. on March 19th for three weeks of events
spanning over a dozen states to promote the paper-back edition of her book A
Woman Among Warlords. She was turned down for her visa application on the
basis of "living underground" and being "unemployed." Afghan activists who
criticize their government are routinely forced to live underground due to
the risks to their lives, and the vast majority of Afghan women are
unemployed. Ms. Joya has come to the U.S. at least 4 times before since
2006. She was listed last November by Time Magazine as one of the top 100
most influential people in the world, and this month by the Guardian
newspaper as one of the top 100 women activists and campaigners in the
world. Joya faces incredible security threats - she has survived at least 4
assassination attempts leading her to live underground.

[image: Malalai Joya]The reasons for Ms. Joya's exclusion is most likely
politically based - her outspoken opposition to the U.S.-NATO war in
Afghanistan now resonates with a majority of Americans and her 2011 tour
would have potentially drawn the biggest audiences yet. The ACLU has called
the increased phenomenon of denying visas to international activists and
intellectuals, as "ideological exclusion." On Friday March 19, nine U.S.
representatives and Senators including Jim McDermott and Bernie Sanders
wrote to the U.S. Embassy urging them to reconsider their decision.   Reps.
Michael Capuano and Richard Neal of Massachusetts have also written similar
letters.  To date there has been no official response.

Currently Ms. Joya is at an undisclosed location. American officials have
privately responded that she ought to apply at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and
that she would likely be granted a visa from there. However, Ms. Joya faces
grave risks to her life in Afghanistan and is unable to move freely and
openly there - a fact that U.S. authorities seem ignorant of. Additionally
when she was forced out of the Afghan parliament by U.S.-backed warlords in
2007, a ban on her travel from Afghanistan was issued, which is still in
effect.

The United States should grant Malalai Joya a visa immediately from any U.S.
Embassy.

It is an insult to her and all Afghan women that she has been excluded from
attending her speaking events in the U.S. and it is a travesty that
Americans are denied the right to hear directly from her about the Afghan
war.

Click here to find out what else you can do to help Malalai Joya be allowed
into the U.S.: http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/?p=1258

Click here for a press release about Malalai Joya's visa denial:
http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/?p=1255

Check www.afghanwomensmission.org for updates and more information.

Read back issues of the Afghanistan War
Weekly<http://justicewithpeace.org/aww-archive>

<http://justicewithpeace.org/>

United for Justice with Peace <http://justicewithpeace.org/> is a coalition
of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater
Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global
peace through social and economic justice.

*Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP
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Upcoming Events:

Fund our Future! A Boston Budget
Speakout<http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2360>Tue
Mar 226:00pmHibernian HallRoxbury
Rally: Let Malalai Joya Speak! <http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2508>Wed
Mar 235:30pmHarvard Sq PitCambridge
Malalai Joya and Noam Chomsky: The Case for Withdrawal from
Aghanistan<http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2451>Fri
Mar 255:30pmHarvard University, Radcliffe QuadrangleCambridgeMalalai Joya:
Liberating Afghan Women <http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2441>Sat Mar 26
3:00pmFirst Church in Jamaica Plain Unitarian UniversalistJamaica Plain
Newton Neighborhood Speak-out on the Budget: Fund Our
Future!<http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2514>Tue
Mar 297:00pmNewton Free Library

Jobs with Justice Annual Dinner 2011 <http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2502>Wed
Apr 66:00pmSuffolk DownsEast Boston
Are Unions Good for Public Schools and the Community? Finding Solutions
Collectively to the Current Crisis <http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2493>Thu
Apr 77:00pmTemple Kehillath IsraelBrookline
March and Rally: Bring the Troops Home
Now!<http://justicewithpeace.org/node/2166>Sat
Apr 912:00pmUnion SquareNew York, NY

*More Peace and Justice Events <http://justicewithpeace.org/upcoming-events>.
   How to Submit Events <http://justicewithpeace.org/posting-events>*

-- 
United for Justice with Peace
www.justicewithpeace.org
617-383-4UJP
P.O. Box 390449, Central Square, Cambridge, 02139

United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice
organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The
UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through
social and economic justice.
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