permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@metalab.unc.edu>]

In a message dated 9/24/99 9:22:17 AM, ReminEarth writes:

<<Subj:  Help for Women in Afghanistan

<<   Women in Afghanistan
   
    The government of Afghanistan is waging a war upon women. Since the
    Taliban took power in 1996, women have had to wear burqua and have been
    beaten and stoned in public for not having the proper attire, even if
    this means simply not having the mesh covering in front of their eyes.
   
    One woman was beaten to DEATH by an angry mob of fundamentalists for
    accidentally exposing her arm while she was driving. Another was stoned
    to death for trying to leave the country with a man that was not a
    relative. Women are not allowed to work or even go out in public
    without a male relative; professional women such as professors,
    translators, doctors, lawyers, artists and writers have been forced from
    their jobs and stuffed into their homes, so that depression is becoming
    so widespread that it has reached emergency levels. There no way in
    such an extreme Islamic society to know the suicide rate with certainty,
    but relief workers are estimating that the suicide rate among women, who
    cannot find proper medication and treatment for severe depression and
    would rather take their lives than live in such conditions, has
    increased significantly.
   
    Homes where a woman is present must have their windows painted so that
    she can never be seen by outsiders. They must wear silent shoes so that
    they are never heard. Women live in fear of their lives for the
    slightest misbehavior. Because they cannot work, those without male
    relatives or husbands are either starving to death or begging on the
    street, even if they hold Ph.D.'s. There are almost no medical
    facilities available for women, and relief workers, in protest, have
    mostly left the country, taking medicine and psychologists and other
    things necessary to treat the skyrocketing level of depression among
    women. At one of the rare hospitals for women, a reporter found still,
    nearly lifeless bodies lying motionless on top of beds, wrapped in their
    burqua, unwilling to speak, eat, or do anything, but slowly wasting away.
    Others have gone mad and were seen crouched in corners, perpetually
    rocking or crying, most of them in fear. One doctor is considering,
    when what little medication that is left finally runs out, leaving these
    women in front of the president's residence as a form of peaceful
    protest. It is at the point where the term 'human rights violations'
    has become an understatement. Husbands have the power of life and death
    over their women relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has
    just as much right to stone or beat a woman, often to death, for
    exposing an inch of flesh or offending them in the slightest way. Women
    enjoyed relative freedom, to work, dress generally as they wanted, and
    drive and appear in public alone until only 1996. The rapidity of this
    transition is the main reason for the depression and suicide; women who
    were once educators or doctors or simply used to basic human freedoms
    are now severely restricted and treated as subhuman in the name of
    right-wing fundamentalist Islam. It is not their tradition or 'culture,'
    but is alien to them, and it is extreme even for those cultures where
    fundamentalism is the rule.
   
    Everyone has a right to a tolerable human existence, even if they are
    women in a Muslim country. If we can threaten military force in Kosovo
    in the name of human rights for the sake of ethnic Albanians, citizens
    of the world can certainly express peaceful outrage at the oppression,
    murder and injustice committed against women by the Taliban.
   
    STATEMENT: In signing this, we agree that the current treatment of women
    in Afghanistan is completely UNACCEPTABLE and deserves support and
    action by the United Nations and that the current situation overseas
    will not be tolerated. Women's Rights is not a small issue anywhere and
    it is UNACCEPTABLE for women in 1999 to be treated as subhuman and so
    much as property. Equality and human decency is a RIGHT not a freedom,
    whether one lives in Afghanistan or elsewhere.
   
    1) Suzanne Dathe, Grenoble, France
    2) Laurence COMPARAT, Grenoble, France
    3) Philippe MOTTE, Grenoble, France
    4) Jok FERRAND, Mont St Martin, France
    5) Emmanuelle PIGNOL, St Martin d'Heres, FRANCE
    6) Marie GAUTHIER, Grenoble, FRANCE
    7) Laurent VESCALO, Grenoble, FRANCE
    8) Mathieu MOY, St Egreve, FRANCE
    9) Bernard BLANCHET, Mont St Martin, FRANCE
    10) Tassadite FAVRIE, Grenoble, FRANCE
    11) Loic GODARD, St Ismier, FRANCE
    12) Benedicte PASCAL, Grenoble, FRANCE
    13) Khedaidja BENATIA, Grenoble, FRANCE
    14) Marie-Therese LLORET, Grenoble,FRANCE
    15) Benoit THEAU, Poitiers, FRANCE
    16) Bruno CONSTANTIN, Poitiers, FRANCE
    17) Christian COGNARD, Poitiers, FRANCE
    18) Robert GARDETTE, Paris, FRANCE
    19) Claude CHEVILLARD, Montpellier, FRANCE
    20) gilles FREISS, Montpellier, FRANCE
    21) Patrick AUGEREAU, Montpellier, FRANCE.
    22) Jean IMBERT, Marseille, FRANCE
    23) pelling MURAT, Toulouse, France
    24) Anna BASSOLS, Barcelona, Spain
    25) Mireia DUNACH, Barcelona, Spain
    26) Michel VILLAZ, Grenoble, France
    27) Pages Frederique, Dijon, France
    28) Rodolphe FISCHMEISTER, Chatenay-Malabry, France
    29) Francois BOUTEAU, Paris, France
    30) Patrick PETER, Paris, France
    31) Lorenza RADICI, Paris, France
    32) Monika Siegenthaler, Bern, Switzerland
    33) Mark Philp, Glasgow, Scotland
    34) Tomas Andersson, Stockholm, Sweden
    35) Jonas Eriksson, Stockholm, Sweden
    36) Karin Eriksson, Stockholm, Sweden
    37) Ake Ljung, Stockholm, Sweden
    38) Carina Sedlmayer, Stockholm, Sweden
    39) Rebecca Uddman, Stockholm, Sweden
    40) Lena Skog, Stockholm, Sweden
    41) Micael Folke, Stockholm, Sweden
    42) Britt-Marie Folke, Stockholm, Sweden
    43) Birgitta Schuberth, Stockholm, Sweden
    44) Lena Dahl, Stockholm, Sweden
    45) Ebba Karlsson, Stockholm, Sweden
    46) Jessica Carlsson, Vaxjo, Sweden
    47) Sara Blomquist, Vaxjo, Sweden
    48) Magdalena Fosseus, Vaxjo, Sweden
    49) Charlotta Langner, Goteborg, Sweden
    50) Andrea Egedal, Goteborg, Sweden
    51) Lena Persson, Stockholm, Sweden
    52) Magnus Linder, Umea ,Sweden
    53) Petra Olofsson, Umea, Sweden
    54) Caroline Evenbom, Vaxjo, Sweden
    55) Asa Pettersson, Grimsas, Sweden
    56) Jessica Bjork, Grimsas, Sweden
    57) Linda Ahlbom Goteborg, Sweden
    58) Jenny Forsman, Boras, Sweden
    59) Nina Gunnarson, Kinna, Sweden
    60) Andrew Harrison, New Zealand
    61) Bryre Murphy, New Zealand
    62) Claire Lugton, New Zealand
    63) Sarah Thornton, New Zealand
    64) Rachel Eade, New Zealand
    65) Magnus Hjert, London, UK
    67) Madeleine Stamvik, Hurley, UK
    68) Susanne Nowlan, Vermont, USA
    69) Lotta Svenby, Malmoe, Sweden
    70) Adina Giselsson, Malmoe, Sweden
    71) Anders Kullman, Stockholm, Sweden
    72) Rebecka Swane, Stockholm,Sweden
    73) Jens Venge, Stockholm, Sweden
    74) Catharina Ekdahl, Stockholm, Sweden
    75) Nina Fylkegard, Stockholm, Sweden
    76) Therese Stedman, Malmoe, Sweden
    77) Jannica Lund, Stockholm, Sweden
    78) Douglas Bratt
    79) Mats Lofstrom, Stockholm, Sweden
    80) Li Lindstrom, Sweden
    81) Ursula Mueller, Sweden
    82) Marianne Komstadius, Stockholm, Sweden
    83) Peter Thyselius, Stockholm, Sweden
    84) Gonzalo Oviedo, Quito, Ecuador
    85) Amalia Romeo, Gland, Switzerland
    86) Margarita Restrepo, Gland, Switzerland
    87) Eliane Ruster, Crans p.C., Switzerland
    88) Jennifer Bischoff-Elder, Hong Kong
    89)Azita Lashgari, Beirut, Lebanon
    90)Khashayar Ostovany, New York, USA
    91)Lisa L Miller, Reno NV
    92)Danielle Avazian, Los Angeles, CA
    93) Sara Risher, Los Angeles, Ca.
    94) Melanie London, New York, NY
    95) Susan Brownstein, Los Angeles, CA
    96) Steven Raspa, San Francisco, CA
    97) Margot Duane, Ross, CA
    98) Natasha Darnall, Los Angeles, CA
    99) Candace Brower, Evanston, IL
    100) James Kjelland, Evanston, IL
    101) Michael Jampole, Beach Park, IL, USA
    102) Diane Willis, Wilmette, IL, USA
    103) Sharri Russell, Roanoke, VA, USA
    104) Faye Cooley, Roanoke, VA, USA
    105) Celeste Thompson, Round Rock, TX, USA
    106) Sherry Stang, Pflugerville, TX, USA
    107) Amy J. Singer, Pflugerville, TX USA
    108) Milissa Bowen, Austin, TX USA
    109) Michelle Jozwiak, Brenham, TX USA
    110) Mary Orsted, College Station, TX USA
    111) Janet Gardner, Dallas, TX USA
    112) Marilyn Hollingsworth, Dallas, TX USA
    113) Nancy Shamblin, Garland. TX USA
    114) K. M. Mullen, Houston, TX - USA
    115) Noreen Tolman, Houston, Texas - USA
    116) Judy Bechtel, Merced, CA - USA
    117) Delores Iliff, FL, USA
    118) Nicole Propper, FL, USA
    119) Bonnie LaChance, FL, USA
    120) JoAnn Blades, FL, USA
    121) Pam Blades, FL, USA
    122) Louise Campbell, FL, USA
    123) Marcy DeSanto, FL, USA
    124) Donald Blades, FL,USA
    125) Tom LaChance, FL, USA
    126) Craig Huff, GA, USA
    127) Karen Huff, FL, USA
    128) Paul Jarrell, Wadsworth, OH - USA
    129) Ian Austin, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    130) Germaine Maxwell, POS, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    131) Phyllis Serrao, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    132) Max Serrao, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    133) Lynn Waldron. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    134) Cheri Alves-Branker, British Columbia, CANADA
    135) Lori Underwood, British Columbia, Canada
    136) Monique Gallant, British Columbia, Canada
    137) Shannon Robertson, British Columbia, Canada
    138) Maria Duran, British Columbia, Canada
    139) Esther Essinger, California, USA
    140) David Joel Rippner, California, USA
    141) Susan Donald, SOUTH AFRICA
    142) Thea Rhiannon, Portland, Oregon, USA
    143) Kathleen Moneymaker, Portland, Oregon, USA
    144) Jasmin Moneymaker, Olympia, Washington, USA
    145) James E. Vegher, Portland, Oregon, USA
    146) John W. Grigsby, MD, Portland, Oregon, USA
    147) Elizabeth MacDonell, Portland, Oregon, USA
    148) Lisa Domenico, Portland, Oregon, USA
    149) Jenny Stern-Carusone, Portland, Oregon, USA
    150) Jud Stern-Carusone, Portland, Oregon, USA
    151) Marcia Walsh, Lakeport, California, USA
    152) Catherine L. Kendall, Kings Beach California,USA
    153) William F. Griffin, Kings Beach,California,USA
    154) Kit Hixon, Concord, MA, USA
    155) Margaret Hixon, Concord, MA, USA
    156) Tafi Cole, Houston, TX, USA
    157) Connie Anderson, Houston, TX, USA
    158) Yvette Crosby, Houston, TX USA
    159) Kimberley Markley, Tanzania Africa
    160) Laura De La Garza, Austin, TX  USA
    161) Mary Lehmann, Austin TX USA
    162) Eduardo Suárez, NYC, USA
    163) Sally Roesch Wagner, Fayetteville, NY USA
    164) Elayne Clift, Saxtons River, VT USA
    165) Deborah C. Fort, Washington, DC USA
    166) Wynette Kimbrel
    167) Doug Sinning, Oviedo, FL USA
    168) Victor Zeno, Oviedo, FL  USA
    169) Sharon Skellie, Lawrenceville, GA USA
    170) Cheryl Hedgespeth, Colorado Springs, CO USA
    171) Annette Storesund, Des  Moines IA  USA
    172) Rose Lunn            ,Philadelphia, PA USA
    173) Janice Collins  , Philadelphia, PA. USA  
    174) Nancy Felix, Texas, USA
    175) Paula Purdy, Texas, USA
    176) Julie San Miguel, Texas, USA
    177) Jeana Savage, Texas, USA
    178) Toni Bartz, Texas, USA
    179) Lavada Savage, Bonn, Germany
    180) Julie Burger, Texas, USA
    181) Deborah S. Cody, USA
    182) Robert E. Reeves, USA
    183) Kathrin Woodlyn Bateman
    184) Dan Hemenway, Florida, USA
    185) Lawrence F. London, Jr., North Carolina, USA
 
PLEASE COPY this email on to a new message, sign the bottom and forward it
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   more than 200 names on it, please e-mail a copy of it to:
   
             <sarabande@brandeis.edu (Send after every 100 names.)
    Even if you decide not to sign, please be considerate and do not kill the 
chain.
>>