Rawa
New Internationalist 357
June 2003
|
Anyone who doubts that women’s demand for democracy can be revolutionary need look no further than Afghanistan and its feminist poet, Meena Kishwar Kamal. Giving voice to the deprived and silenced women of Afghanistan at the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Meena campaigned against fundamentalism and the governing ‘Russian puppet regime’, and spoke out for democracy, peace and freedom. After 10 years – just before her 31st birthday – she was assassinated. The organization she founded in 1977 – the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) – regards her as a martyr and still holds fast to her core values. ‘Since Meena was murdered, we don’t let our senior members appear at press conferences or in public. We younger women do the representation. If anything happens to us our work will not be stopped, just damaged.’ I’m speaking with Marina, a 22-year-old woman, at her present home in Islamabad, Pakistan. She’s part of RAWA’s foreign office, staffed by a group of young Afghan women – multilingual and computer literate – who move every six months to protect their work and members. They present the more public face of RAWA from Pakistan while the organization’s main policy-makers continue to live and work underground in Afghanistan. ‘RAWA is trying to achieve democracy – secularism,’ she says. ‘We respect Islam. But while any fundamentalist force rules Afghanistan – whether it be Taliban or Jehadis (such as the Northern Alliance) – democracy and secularism cannot be achieved.’ Advert For RAWA, the political starts with the social. As Marina explains: ‘In order to achieve the political, you have to be with the people. RAWA has mobile health teams working in 8 of the country’s 30 provinces. They have teams providing food, clothes and water in an emergency. Afterwards, when our members come back, they are given a very warm welcome. The people know you; they trust you; you have a place in their hearts.’
‘In some parts of Afghanistan, especially where Pashtun tribes are living [Taliban troops were overwhelmingly Pashtun], few women come to the courses because their families oppose it. Sometimes we have to start the course completely underground so that no-one in the village knows about it except the women who attend. This does not mean that this is the way for every village. Of course not! In poor villages, economy… income… is the main thing. Our members help set up a carpet-weaving factory or an embroidery workshop; a chalk-making factory or a poultry farm. The women of the village go there: they tell you what they want – we can prepare them there for literacy classes. Out of every 10 women, you will filter 2 who will be interested in the political. These are the roots of our organization. If the roots are strong, the stem can grow better.’ And what about RAWA’s attitude to men? ‘We are not extremist feminists. Men can carry the message.’ Marina tells me about her father and male friends: detailing the support that they give so that she can do her RAWA work. ‘Please don’t print those details though. It is the political, not the personal, that is important.’ As for the claim by Western media that US intervention has helped liberate Afghan women, Marina is scathing. ‘Two women have been selected as ministers in the Cabinet of our country’s interim Government. The liberation of women does not mean two women in government.’
|
© Copyright 2003 New Internationalist Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. |
This article is from
the June 2003 issue
of New Internationalist.
- Discover unique global perspectives
- Support cutting-edge independent media
- Magazine delivered to your door or inbox
- Digital archive of over 500 issues
- Fund in-depth, high quality journalism