Subscribe to the print edition and enjoy The Republic in
your bathroom!
Plus, your subscription goes a very long way in helping to support The Republic and its writers and produces. It's like paying for the music you like.
Click here for details
|
Dissent
A voice from Afghanistan that Stephen Harper doesn’t want you to hear
Malalai Joya, banned Afghan parliamentarian, is visiting British Columbia
By Derrick O’Keefe
|
Later this month and into early November, people in British Columbia will have a special opportunity to hear from Malalai Joya, an atypical politician to say the least, and surely one of the world’s most courageous activists for women’s rights and social justice.
Joya, at only 29 years old, has emerged as the fiercest critic of the warlord-filled regime backed by the NATO powers in Afghanistan. Her visit is being organized and sponsored by the Vancouver StopWar Coalition and BC Labour Against War. She will be a featured speaker at an October 27 rally against the war as well as at a teach-in the following weekend.
For opponents of Canada’s role in Afghanistan, Malalai Joya’s story exposes the lies and hypocrisies put forward as justifications for this country’s aggressive intervention. Joya was elected in 2005 to the Afghan parliament, but from her first speech in that chamber she has been shouted down, assaulted and threatened for having the temerity to not just criticize the heavy presence of warlords in the government of Hamid Karzai, but to name names as well. In an April 2007 speech at the University of California at Los Angeles, she bluntly described the sordid state of affairs in her occupied country:
“Today the Northern Alliance leaders are the key power holders and our people are hostage in the hands of these ruthless gangs of killers. Many of them are responsible for butchering tens of thousands of innocent people in the past two decades but are in power and hold key positions in the government.”
Let me list a few of the key power-holders of Afghanistan: Karim Khalili, the vice-president, is leader of a pro-Iran party called Wahdat, responsible for killing thousands of innocent people, and named by Human Rights Watch as a war criminal; Ismael Khan, another killer warlord and lackey of the Iranian regime is the minister of water and power; Izzatullah Wasifi, Afghanistan's anti-corruption chief, has been a convicted drug trafficker who has spent around four years in a Nevada state prison in the US; General Mohammed Daoud, Afghanistan's deputy interior minister in charge of the anti-drug effort, is a former warlord and famous drug-trafficker; Rashid Dostum, the chief of staff of the Afghan army, is a heartless killer and warlord, named by Human Rights Watch as a war criminal; Qasim Fahim, former defense minister and now a Senator and adviser to Mr Karzai, is the most powerful warlord of the Northern Alliance, and stands accused of war crimes.
For the crime of speaking truth to these local powers and their foreign protectors, Malalai Joya lives under constant threat. She has survived four assassination attempts and must live a clandestine existence, using safe houses and traveling with armed guards, often under the cover of the burqa to conceal her identity.
In May of this year, Joya was suspended from the Afghan parliament on the pretext that she had insulted that institution by referring to it as a “zoo.” Further proceedings have upheld and extended the suspension to three years.
It would be a grotesque understatement to say that Joya has been a victim of double standards with regards to proper “parliamentary behaviour,” seeing as she herself has faced threats of rape and murder from fellow lawmakers who were not sanctioned at all for their homicidal and misogynistic statements.
Despite her banishment from the parliament, Malalai Joya remains a powerful voice representing the democratic aspirations of the Afghan people, and of its long-suffering women in particular. Hers is a voice that Stephen Harper, among others, doesn’t want you to hear.
The Prime Minister visited Afghanistan the day after Joya’s suspension was announced in May. He had nothing to say about it then and Foreign Affairs Canada has never made so much as a token statement about the matter. For all the Canadian government’s rhetoric about bringing women’s rights, liberty, and freedom to Afghanistan, they are happy to leave this courageous leader of her people twisting in the wind, under constant threat of death.
The reason for this is clear: Malalai Joya’s discourse is the polar opposite of the PR spin, talking points, and embedded news reports that constitute too much of the public “debate” in Canada around the war in Afghanistan.
Don’t pass up this opportunity to hear her for yourself.
Malalai Joya will be speaking at the Saturday, October 27 StopWar rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery, starting at 2pm. She will also deliver the keynote speech at the BC Labour Against War Teach-In on Afghanistan on Friday, November 2. For registration information see bclabouragainstwar.ca. For her full schedule of public events in British Columbia see stopwar.ca.
Derrick O’Keefe is co-chair of the Vancouver StopWar Coalition.
|
Read more by this author
The Republic
print version is generously supported by the following regular advertisers:
Storm Brewing
604-255-9119
Dan's Homebrewing
692 E Hastings
Co-operative Auto Network
604-685-1393
Turk's Coffee
1276 Commercial Drive
Dutch Girl Chocolates
1002 Commercial Drive
Magpie Books and Magazines
1319 Commercial Drive
Artrageous Pictures & Framing
1256 Commercial Drive
Bouzyos Greek Taverna
1815 Commercial Drive
Magnet Hardware
1575 Commercial Drive
Uprising Breads
1697 Venables
Highlife World Music
1317 Commercial Drive
Mark's Pet Stop
1875 Commercial Drive
Abruzzo Cafe
1321 Commercial Drive
Our Community Bikes
3283 Main Street
Does Your Mother Know
Magazines Etc
2139 West 4th Ave
Kali
1000 Commercial Drive
Uncle Don
Freelance Curmudgen
on CFUR Radio, Prince George
Receptive Earth
Hemp & other Earthly delights
4168 Main Street
Geist
Magazine of Canadian ideas & culture
Momentum
Bike magazine
West Coast Seeds
Where to find the print version of The Republic:
Vancouver
Aboriginal Friendship
1607 E Hastings
Bean Around the World
10th & Trimble
Benny’s Bagels
Broadway & Larch
Big News Coffee Bar
2447 Granville
Black Dog Video
Cambie & 19th
Book Warehouse
550 Granville
632 W Broadway
2388 W 4th
Cambie Hostel
300 Cambie St
Capers Community Markets
2285 W 4th
1675 Robson
Carnegie Comm. Centre
Hastings & Main
City Square Mall
Cambie & 12th
Cuppa Joe 189-175
E Broadway
Dadabase
Broadway & Main
Danny’s Coffee
Denman & Pendrell
Denman Community Ctr
Denman & Nelson
Denman Mall
Denman & Nelson
Drive Organics
Commerical & Napier
Does Your Mother Know?
2139 W 4th
Duthie Books
2239 W 4th
East End Food Co-Op
1034 Commercial
Elysian Room
1778 W 5th
Food Stop
Commerical & Venables
Gemeral Store
312 Cambie St
Gold Coin Laundry
B-way & Waterloo
Granville Island
Public Market
Grind
4124 Main
Higher Ground
Broadway & Vine
Il Mercato
1641 Commercial
Joe's Café
1150 Commercial
Laughing Bean
Hastings & Penticton
Lugz
2525 Main Street
Magpie Magazines
1319 Commercial
Our Town Cafe
245 E Broadway
Pacific Central Station
Bus Depot
People's Co-op Books
1391 Commercial
Polonia Sausage
Nanaimo &Hastings
Rebound Health
Hastings & Kamloops
Receptive Earth
Main & King Edward
Rhizome Cafe
317 East Broadway
Simon Fraser
Downtown Foodfair
Soma
2528 Main Street
Sweet Tooth Cafe
Nanaimo & Hastings
Turk's Coffee
1276 Commercial
UBC
Student Union Building
Union Food Market
810 Union
Uprising Breads Bakery
1697 Venables
Vancouver Community College
250 W Pender
Vancouver Public Library
350 W Georgia
1661 Napier
2425 MacDonald
370 E Broadway
West Vancouver
Capers
2496 Marine Dr
West Vancouver Library
1950 Marine
Duncan
Community Farm Store
330 Duncan St
Victoria
Bean Around the World
533 Fisgard
Munro’s Books
1108 Government
University of Victoria
Graduate L0unge
Victoria Public Library
735 Broughton
Powell River
River City Coffee
4801 Joyce
Local Loco’s Music & Arts Cafe
Flying Yellow Breadbowl
4698 Ewing
Powell River Library
4411 Michigan
Kaslo
Blue Belle Bistro
302 Fourth
SunnySide Naturals
404 Front
Nanaimo
Nanaimo Public Library
Harbourfront Br
Port Place Shopping Ctr
650 S Terminal
The Green Store
Port Place
Mermaid’s Mug
357 Wesley St
Nelson
Mountain Pass Imports
402 Baker
Toronto
Moonbean Cafe
30 St. Andrew St
Future Bakery
483 Bloor St West
Oakville Peace &Ecology Centre
148 Kerr
|
The Republic of East Vancouver masthead
The Republic of East Vancouver supports no party, advocates
for no cause, represents no group, serves no master, and considers
problems with no preconceived notions. We hope to afflict the comfortable,
both materially and intellectually, and comfort the afflicted—of
both kinds as well, and we are trying to do both things at the same
time.
Publisher, Editor
Kevin Potvin
Managing Editor
Kara Foreman
Copy Editor
Janis Harper
Website
Chris Lavigne
Advertising
Chris Richmond Kevin
Potvin
Support
Dan Crawford, John Daigle,
Jack Etkin, Janis Harper, Carl Johnson, Hilary Jones, Chris King,
James Mecham, Albrecht Meyers, Peter Miller, James Pope
Contributors in this and recent issues
Bruce Alexander, Dan Adleman, Toby Alford, Kevin Annett, Santo Barbieri, Bob Broughton, Mike Bryan, Stephen Buckley, Matthew Burrows, Maria Calleja, Ron Carton, Chad Christie, Joshua Corber, Dan Crawford, Gail Davidson, Eric Doherty, Joe Donaldson, Lorena Jara Patty Ducharme, Shadia Drury, Taivo Evard, Reed Eurchuk, Farnaz Fassihi, Thomas Feakins, Anthony Fenton, Reza Fiyouyzat, Andrew Gordon Fleming, Ryan Fugger, Sasha Gagic, Matt Goody, Guy Hawkins, Spencer Herbert, John Irwin, Nick Istvaniffy, Junius, William Kay, Mike Keep, Kate Kennedy, Donald Kropp, Chris LaVigne, James Lindfield, Brian Lindgreen, Karen Litzke, Keith MacKenzie, Michael McLaughlin, Sonya McRae, Rafe Mair, Sonia Marino, Jennifer Matsui, Michael Millard, Isaebel Minty, Michael Nenonen, Wendy Nylund, Derrick O’Keefe, Stephen Osborne, Sean Orr, Evan Augustine Pederson III, Stephen Peplow, Kim Peterson, Kevin Potvin, Mary Rawson, Andrea Reimer, Erin Riley, Phil Rockstroh, Becky Scott, Jason Scott, Chris Shaw, Jeff Steudel, Alex Tegart, Scott Turner, Elbio Grosso Trentini, Patrick Vert, Chris Walker, Sean Wilkinson, Brad Zembic
For comments or suggestions, please contact the
Republic Webmaster
|
