Sisters, let us uproot violence against women with our organized struggle!
- Category: Statements
- Written by Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
- Published: Thursday, 23 November 2017
On October 17, 1999, the UN designated the 25th of November, famously known as the day of the brutal murder of the Mirabal sisters, as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Perhaps no country in the world received as much discussion on “freedom of women” and “ending violence against women” and other such appealing slogans as Afghanistan, but only in words. Especially, in the past one and a half decades of the US invasion and installation of its lackeys, the Afghan woman has become a tool in their hands to hide their reactionary, oppressive, and filthy reality and treacherously deceive people. The rapid growth of NGOs created for “defending women’s rights” and the millions of dollars poured as funding for this purpose, were all efforts by the West and the US to hide the real nature of their criminal war in our country, and pretend that they did not invade Afghanistan to plunder it, but to better the lives of its women. Only a handful of women like Nahid Farid, Shukria Barekzai, Fawzia Koofi, Amina Balkhi, Qadria Yazdanparast, Fatima Gilani, Amina Afzali, Sima Samar, Azita Rifat, Shinkai Karokhel, and others, who serve foreigners and criminal warlords, were given money, status and fame, and showcased as gains of women. But the majority of Afghan women still mourn and suffer in the ruins of our country under the domination of murderous fundamentalists in the government, the Taliban, and ISIS, and their painful cries echo from all corners of this land every day. Now even international human rights organizations cannot deny that Afghan women are in a more disastrous situation and are worse off today than they were under the dark rule of the Taliban.
During his presidential campaign, among many of Ashraf Ghani’s false and deceptive slogans was that “a government that cannot protect women in all areas, does not have the right to call itself a government”, but the most brutal forms of barbarity against Farkhundas, Tabbasums, Rukhshanas, Jamilas, and thousands of anonymous and ill-fated women, were committed during his corrupt and ridiculous governance, yet he remained shamelessly indifferent to these sufferings. Women cannot expect to remedy their pain through a puppet and filthy regime which is itself composed of the most vicious enemies of women and humanity; a government that welcomed back Gulbuddin “Rocket-yar”, this acid-throwing criminal and traitor like a bride; and a government that calls the brutal Taliban, “brothers”.
Savagery against women is the result of factors that have to be fully uprooted, there are no other effective steps to end this violence. The experiences of several countries proves that gaining consciousness, struggling, and participating in the political and economic life of a society, were the main reasons that women were able to better their lives, and perform their equal and befitting role in the freedom and progress of their societies.
Our suffering sisters and mothers,
The fundamentalism virus, of which misogyny is trademark, has run its roots throughout our wounded country’s body, and the feudal and patriarchal culture has become embedded in the warp and woof of the society. Even the men who make big claims of being pro-women have a discriminatory view against women and count them as second class citizens and “poor and weak beings”. In such a dark atmosphere, it is the duty of progressive and anti-fundamentalist forces to fight to mobilize and create a wide movement of women. We should accept this obvious truth that we cannot attain our rights by begging and depending on foreign forces, but with sacrifice and struggle against reactionary and misogynist elements and currents. The Mirabal sisters, the resistance of the women of Iceland, and especially the heroic struggle of Kobani women, are all bright examples that we have to follow.
Solidarity Party of Afghanistan believes that no justice and democracy seeking movement can take form without the active participation of women. A country whose one half is wrapped in heavy chains of ignorance and barbarism cannot attain prosperity. To gain the independence of our country and plant the seeds of freedom and other humanitarian values, the hidden strength of women, along with the men, has to be turned into a destructive, uprooting force. Only such a force can be effective in eliminating violence and discrimination against women.
Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
November 25, 2017
