DEC09/

JAN10

TORTURE. CORRUPTION.
FRAUD. OPPRESSION.
Will this be Canada’s legacy in Afghanistan?
 “THE u.S. and canada
cannOT GivE uS dEmOcRacy”
Suspended Afghan MP Malalai Joya speaks in Toronto
In a recent article for In These Times,
Noam Chomsky spoke of her as one of
the “truly worthy choices” for the Nobel
Peace Prize. At age 31, suspended Afghan
MP, Malalai Joya, already has more than a
decade of experience resisting oppression
and injustice. From her teen years spent
in refugee camps, she has been working
towards grassroots social development by
helping provide education and health care
to war-torn people. For her years of work
she has recently been dubbed, “the bravest
woman in Afghanistan.” she spoke on No-
vember 18 at the Trinity-St. Paul’s United
Chuch in Toronto.
Joya is currently touring Canada,
speaking to audiences across five provinc-
es about the state of Afghanistan – eight
years into the US-led NATO intervention
within the region. As she promotes her re-
cently published book, A Woman Among
Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an
Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice,
Joya urges solidarity from the democrati-
cally minded people in the West to halt
the ill-conceived attempts at liberating
her people and giving them democracy.
With conviction and courage she reminds
us, “no nation can donate liberation to
another nation.”
Malalai Joya came to prominence
internationally in 2003, when she decided
to speak out against the presence of “crim-
inals” and “warlords” at the Loya Jirga
– the national convention that approved
the constitution of Afghanistan. In 2005,
at the age of 27, she was the youngest
member to be elected to the Wolesi Jirga
(National Assembly of Afghanistan) as a
representative of her home province of
Farah. Since then, Joya has repeatedly
faced persecution in her work. Apart from
being suspended from the parliament in
2007 for her outspoken criticism of the
country’s top officials, Joya has survived
four assassination attempts. While in
Afghanistan, she is always escorted by
bodyguards and is forced to sleep in safe
houses. Out of concern for his safety, she
refuses to name her husband. Joya is not
her real name; yet, there is no hesitation
when she speaks. Addressing an audience
of more than 400 people, Joya was ada-
mant that, “liberation and democracy will
not come from the barrel of a gun.”
The event included other speak-
ers who welcomed Joya on her return to
Toronto and thanked her for speaking.
vicki Obedkoff, a minister from Trinity-
St. Paul’s, york University student Nila
Zameni, American war resister kimberly
Rivera and New Democratic Party MP,
Olivia Chow, all spoke before Joya. Chow
reminded the audience that it was Joya’s
address at the 2006 NDP national con-
vention that led the party to overwhelm-
ingly pass a resolution calling for an end
to the war in Afghanistan. It was that
same message to end war and occupation
that Joya impressed upon the audience.
Joya told the audience how she was
initially hesitant to write her book. She
PHOTO: AFGHANkABUL/FLICkR
By Iftekhar Kabir
found her struggles to be commonplace Parliament, as it is now constitutionally history when she asks for the immediate
amongst the Afghani people. But her co- mandated. However, these women have withdrawal. She believes that her people,
author – Canadian activist, documentary internalized the oppression. To them, “the “who have never accepted occupation,”
filmmaker and writer, Derrick O’keefe Taliban is their father and the Taliban is should have the opportunity to rebuild
– convinced her to tell the stories, as it their brother,” so they do not challenge the their own society.”
would allow her to “write about the lives cycle of oppression and stand up for their “We know what to do with our own
of others who struggle.” These are the rights or those of other women. “your destiny. Our freedom is our own responsi-
people Joya felt were neglected by main- government lies that they brought democ- bility.” She tells the audience, “if you want
stream media. She felt the world, if truly racy and women’s rights to Afghanistan. to help us then raises your voices against
concerned about the people of Afghani- The U.S. government and its allies have your governments. Raise your arms in
stan, needed to support the work of these pushed us from the frying pan into the solidarity with my people.”
“activists and democratically minded fire.” This pride is not deluded by naiveté,
people who work for social justice.” To truly help the people of the region, as she makes clear during the question
She believes what the world mostly Joya believes the international forces need and answer period. Joya realizes that the
gets are the stories of the horrors in Af- to leave immediately. According to her, withdrawal of the troops does not mean
ghanistan, such as the brutalities perpe- “the people of Afghanistan are fighting that peace will be established. As she says,
trated against the women and children. two enemies … the occupation forces who “I cannot tell you how long it [peace] will
The US-led intervention within the region bomb from above and the Taliban who kill take.” yet, she is adamant that it can only
is premised on bringing democracy to and torture on the ground.” She feels that come through a patient labor that her
the Afghan people and ensuring human “the casualties of both are the innocent people have to perform. She reiterates
rights, especially the rights of women people,” and that “the NATO led forces that “ the US and Canada cannot gift us
and children. Instead, Joya finds these must leave” because “it is much easier for democracy.”
so-called forces of democracy are nego- us to fight one enemy.”
tiating with “warlords” and “druglords,” Joya speaks from a proud sense of
and legitimating their corrupt
practices. The NATO-backed
alliance is brandishing “crimi-
nals in suits” as moderates
and as proponents of democ-
racy. As Joya says, “they have
established a puppet regime,
full of people who are photo-
copies of the Taliban.”
Referring to a Human
Rights Watch report, she
noted, “since 2001 65,000
civilians have died in Af-
ghanistan, while only 2,000
Taliban fighters have been
killed.” The daily lives of the
people of Afghanistan are
progressively being mired in
“corruption, poverty, injus-
tice, violence and joblessness.”
“My people have no faith
in these puppets and their
government.”
Speaking on the state of
women, Joya brought up the
Shia family law. President
Hamid karzai signed this
law, which restricts women
from refusing to have sex
with their husbands, and
does not allow them to visit a
doctor without the husband’s
permission. Joya pointed out
that now, under “so-called
democracy,” people can legiti-
mately perpetuate misogyny.
She told the audience of an
incident where a young girl
had been raped by the son of
an MP. He was not brought
to justice. The MP was able to
create documents that altered
his son’s age to less than 18,
rendering him ineligible for
prosecution under Afghan
Law.
Joya points out that
there are some women in
ryerson free press December 2009/January 2010 7
OPINION
kick THE TORiES wHilE
THEy’RE dOwn
By Shawn Whitney
PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN Harper has had a remarkably easy ride over the past two
minority governments. He’s been incompetent on the economy and undermined the popu-
lation’s faith in their H1N1 plans. He’s been mean-spirited and taken every opportunity
to attack the arts, Muslims, the unemployed, et cetera. He’s lied, broken promises, had a
government that has gone against the sentiment of the vast majority of Canadians on the war
in Afghanistan and climate change. He had Maxime Bernier as Foreign Affairs Minister, the
incompetent dolt who leaves classified government documents at his girlfriend’s house, and
Rona Ambrose as Environment Minister, though she had no knowledge or qualifications for
the job.
How does he survive? It’s not anything to do with his ability to keep his people under
control. This is a useful myth. If anything, the Stalinist-like paranoia of this government
should itself be an easy target for the opposition parties and media. Nor is it about his par-
ticularly skillful ability to spin the government’s message in a way that connects with people.
He’s just not personable.
No, it’s the result of a politically weak opposition in parliament.
I’ll admit that I’m not one of those people who thinks that the NDP should link up with
the Liberals to unite “progressives.” I think for the NDP, trying to differentiate themselves
would be a disaster. And it would be counter-productive to the needs of the vast majority of
the population.
The Liberals are a party of business, like the Tories, though they are, in their language,
more pragmatic, consensus-builders, etc. than the latter. But we shouldn’t forget that it was
the Liberals that sent our troops to Afghanistan. And it was the Liberals, under Chrétien and
Martin who slashed social spending to eliminate a deficit created in no small part by cuts to
taxes for corporations and the wealthy under Tory Brian Mulroney. And, of course, the leader
of the Liberals is notorious for having supported torture by the US government to gain infor-
mation from “suspected terrorists.”
However, this perfect storm of timidity and political consensus - disguised behind oc-
casional bouts of oppositional fervour over silly technical side-issues (like Bernier’s forget-
ting his briefcase) – couldn’t last forever. Sooner or later, they would be hoisted on their own
petard – just as with enough manure and rain, something eventually must sprout.
The prisoner scandal appears to be that thing. Even with lickspittle, Tory-toad colum-
nists Rosie DiManno and Christie Blatchford working overtime to justify every inhumanity stephen harper, scumbag
the Tories and their military enforcers implement, the Opposition has finally found some-
thing that they can nail the Tories on. And the Tories’ attempt to smear a man of obvious abil- comes their way. The social movements, the union movement in particular, need to be taking
ity, commitment and honour, has blown up in their faces. They are now fighting a rearguard this opportunity to put the boot in to the Tories - over EI, social spending, Afghanistan, Omar
action to try and prevent a public inquiry on the prisoner torture issue. They have clearly lost khadr, climate change and more.
the initiative and everything they now do simply looks like cover-up and back-pedaling. If we miss this chance, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves for several more years of
This breach in the Tory fortress and sense of purpose and momentum by the Opposition Tory government, including the possibility of a majority next time around. And that is a pos-
- with the Liberals having to hide Ignatieff to be able to take advantage of this opportunity - sibility just too depressing to consider.
could help to reinvigorate not only the anti-war movement, but also other broadly anti-Tory
forces across the country. This moment won’t last forever – that’s for certain. And the Oppo- This article originally appeared on RedBedHead, a blog by Toronto artist and activist Shawn
sition has demonstrated an uncanny ability to discover ways of missing any opportunity that Whitney, on December 1, 2009: http://redioactive.blogspot.com

wHO dO yOu bEliEvE?

Tories and Generals, or Malalai Joya, Afghan MP?
By Shawn Whitney
well, It seems that the
Tories have recognized that their
own ship of lies is sinking like
the Edmund Fitzgerald. They
spent the better part of the week
attacking Richard Colvin. Then
they set the attack dog generals
on them, including master pitbull,
General Rick Hillier. They all
denied that anyone knew anything
about anything - which makes one
wonder what qualifies them to lead
anything more complicated than a
lemonade stand.
Well, now the Tories have
changed their tune alright. Now
they knew right from the very start
something was amiss. Huh? Were
they just testing us all week? Feed-
ing us the big lie to see how gull-
ible we are, and then, when they
can hold a straight face no longer,
they shout: “psych!”?
Somebody should have told
their generals that this was the
plan, because their story was still
the old one, right up till the last
minute. Then, suddenly, whooomp,
everything was different. As De-
fense Minister, Peter Mackay put
it: “Obviously there were concerns
about the state of prisons,” he said.
“There were concerns about allega-
tions. There were concerns about
information found in reports.
There were concerns.”
I also have concerns about
Peter Mackay, but they are a little
different than his concerns. I’m
concerned that he’s going to give
himself whiplash.
Perhaps he read or listened
to the CBC interview with Malalai
Joya, the former Afghan MP -
thrown out of the Afghan Parlia-
ment for raising embarrassing
questions about the human rights
records of our “democratic allies.”
On November 19, Joya stated un-
equivocally that this was not news
to people living in Afghanistan:
“What [Colvin] has been
saying is what I’ve heard from my
people,” she said. “Many of the
victims are women and children
detainees who have been raped,”
she said. “It’s not new for our
people.”
What is clear is that were
it not for pressure from people
outside of the Tory government,
with their paranoia, they would
have hidden everything forever.
The only real concerns that Mac-
kay and his ilk had was that it
would get out that what we were
(and are) creating in Afghanistan
is a corrupt torture regime. The
key difference between them and
the Taliban is that the former are
willing to do our bidding almost
without question. In return for
obedience, we’ll let them torture
whoever they want.
This article originally appeared
on RedBedHead, a blog by Toronto
artist and activist Shawn Whitney,
on November 28, 2009: http://re-
dioactive.blogspot.com

PHOTO: TEDDyBOy/FLICkR ryerson free press December 2009/January 2010 11

 Why canada mUSt
lEavE afGHaniSTan nOw
‘The bravest woman in Afghanistan’
talks about peace, justice and women’s rights
malalai Joya addresses delegates at the 28th annual national General meeting of the canadian federation of students in Gatineau, quebec.
malalaI JOya was just 27 years old when she became
the youngest person ever to be elected to Afghanistan’s par-
liament. That was in 2005. Four years later, she is also an au-
thor, a teacher, a peace activist, a women’s rights campaigner
and a survivor of multiple assassination attempts.
Joya was recently in Canada to promote her memoir, A
Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an
Afghan Who Dared to Speak Out, and to appear at numerous
peace events across the country.
In May 2007, Joya was suspended from parliament, a
result of her relentless criticism of Afghanistan’s corrupt,
warlord government. To this day, Joya continues to face death
threats, and must sleep in safe houses. She is constantly
aware of her enemies, both inside and outside of parliament.
Joya shares these experiences as she meets and engages
audiences across Canada. The topic of her speaking tour hits
hard, since the first deployment of Canadian troops joined
American soldiers in Afghanistan in early 2002. Military
leaders still claim that the purpose of the mission is to re-
build Afghanistan, assist development and provide security.
But Joya sees things differently: “These occupation
forces, they are victims of the wrong policy of their own gov-
ernment that sent them to a bad, costly war. Democracy will
never come by war, by cluster bomb or by the barrel of a gun.”
In May this year, over 150 civilians were killed by US air
strikes in Afghanistan; most victims were women and chil-
dren. Eleven bodies are still missing. In September, another
200 civilians were bombed.
Between NATO air strikes from above and the dangers
of warlords and drug lords on the ground, the people of
PHOTO: FEDERICO CARvAJAL
By Haseena Manek
Afghanistan are caught in the middle of a bloody war that
is supposedly being waged for their own liberation. At least
that’s the line according to NATO leaders, including Stephen
Harper.
Joya has also been fighting for women’s rights in Af-
ghanistan, from the early days of the Taliban until now. She
says: “The situation of women was, without a doubt, the best
excuse for the US government to occupy our country—under
the banner of women’s rights… But they pushed us from the
frying pan into the fire.”
Afghan women face more hardship today than in 2001
when the war began. They have less security, and largely only
enjoy human rights on paper. They are the primary victims of
NATO’s bombing campaigns, and are often threatened with
rape and murder by the warlords.
This is far from the image of women’s rights in Afghani-
stan peddled by the Canadian government and NATO lead-
ers. For instance, one article on NATO’s website describes a
meeting between 13 female members of the Wolesi Jirga (Af-
ghanistan’s lower house of parliament) and NATO officials,
citing “the progress made in recent years to integrate Afghan
women at all levels of society” and “the current historic politi-
cal empowerment of women in Afghanistan, with 68 women
parliamentarians in the Wolesi Jirga…”
It is true that the percentage of female parliamentarians
in Afghanistan is higher than in Canada, but Joya explains
how many of these women either support the warlords or
have no real power. “Most of them have only a symbolic role…
They are just a show-piece.”
During one of Joya’s appearances in Toronto, she asked
ryerson free press
Canadians for their “helping hand, [their] honest, practical,
helping hand.” She went on to say that this helping hand does
not mean nearly a decade of foreign occupation, or the farce
of democracy in the Afghan government. “There is a huge
difference,” says Joya, “between ordinary people and policy-
makers […] between the people and their government.” It is
the people Joya calls for support, not the military.
“As a great people, as anti-war people, as human beings
… [you] should raise [your] voice against the wrong policies
of [your] government.”
There are many ways that people in the West can sup-
port the people of Afghanistan, and none of them require
ammunition, says Joya. International solidarity, educational
support and moral support are just three examples of what
Afghans need and seek from allies in Canada. In her memoir,
after describing three decades of turmoil in Afghanistan,
Joya says that the last thing the Afghan people need is more
war.
“Education is the key to our emancipation” says Joya.
The job of Canadians, she continues, is to learn, to educate
themselves and each other, and to become aware of the real
situation in Afghanistan.
NATO troops, including Canadian soldiers, are sent
to war in the name of democracy, says Joya. But Canadians
must recognize that the war in not about democracy, which
can only come about through the struggle of the people of
Afghanistan themselves.
“The US government, Canada and NATO: they play
chess with the destiny of my people… If they left us a little bit
in peace, then we would know what to do with our destiny.”
December 2009/January 2010 15
 REmEmbER
dEcEmbER 6TH
December 6, 2009 is the twentieth anniversary of the Montreal massacre,
where 16 women were killed at École Polytechnique. To mark the anniversary,
and to call for an end to all forms of violence against women, the Canadian
Federation of Students created this poster. Here, Malalai Joya holds it up, fol-
lowing her presentation to delegates at the most recent general meeting.

The names of the women are written around the poster that reads “United
against violence against women:”

Geneviève bergeron maryse leclair

hélène colgan annie st.-arneault
nathalie croteau michèle richard
barbara daigneault maryse laganière
anne-marie edward anne-marie lemay
maud haviernick sonia Pelletier
barbara maria klucznik annie turcotte

PHOTO: FEDERICO CARvAJAL ryerson free press December 2009/January 2010 19