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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The letters are delivered in the night, dropped on the doorsteps of female Kandahar professionals. The anonymous missives warn the occupants that they will “bleed” if they don't stop working...

“When I leave for work in the morning, I don't know if I will be coming home,” one working woman lamented during a Monday-morning meeting at a women's resource centre in downtown Kandahar...

The sessions are organized by Rangina Hamidi, the resource centre's director and head of Afghans for a Civil Society, a human-rights group...

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Without prejudice,the plight of Afghan women makes Canadian feminist concerns pale by comparison.What can Canadians do to help?

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Last month's assassination of activist Safia Ama Jan, the director of women's affairs for the province of Kandahar, who was gunned down outside her house as she left for work, put a chill in the hearts of female professionals. It harkened back to the time when the Taliban were in power and women were routinely beaten, mutilated and killed for disobeying their restrictive edicts. The women now say the death threats are on the rise, but local police can do nothing to protect them.

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Globe and Mail

In another article,Sarah Chayes,a resident of Kandahar who runs a women's center that manufactures cosmetics from local materials for export,has this to say about Safia Ama Jan:

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Safia Ama Jan, unfortunately, was one of those, and so her death is very emblematic indeed. She used her office to monopolize money earmarked for Kandahar women, pocketing much of it and using the rest to favour exclusively the members of her own ethnic group. Afghans currently dread interaction with officials like Safia Ama Jan. Bribes are extracted for the least administrative task; soldiers manhandle people or shake them down; principals steal humanitarian assistance earmarked for their students.

"We are like a man trying to balance on two watermelons," said Zarghona, a member of my co-operative, this summer. "The Taliban prey upon us at night, and the government preys upon us in the daytime."

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Canadian soldiers are not enough

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The Canadian women's movement appears extemely reluctant to engage the plight of Afghan women.The women attempting to better life for Afghans show such courage,how can we help?

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First: jester, you are very uninformed about what the Canadian women's movement does.

Second: your thread title is racist and highly offensive in many ways. If you don't know why, educate yourself.

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Without prejudice,the plight of Afghan women makes Canadian feminist concerns pale by comparison.What can Canadians do to help?

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Of course because violence against women isn't a problem in Canada.

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“When I leave for work in the morning, I don't know if I will be coming home,” one working woman

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Originally posted by bigcitygal:

First: jester, you are very uninformed about what the Canadian women's movement does.

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Yes,I am and I am making an effort to remedy that deficiency.

In the meantime,perhaps you can enlighten me as to how Canadians can help Afghan women?

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Second: your thread title is racist and highly offensive in many ways. If you don't know why, educate yourself.[QUOTE]

The thread title is the title of the globe article which you obviously didn't bother to read in your haste to censure my humble efforts.

Since I now am informed of your expert opinion in this matter,I will ask the Globe and Mail their point of view on the article's title and respond anon.

[QUOTE]
As for the content of your thread, there's no question that women in lawless Afghanistan are becoming more vulnerable and more at risk. I cannot say any more than that as I'm not that informed myself. The tone of your post is a highly suspect liberal-bleeding-heart "What can WE westerners do for those poor unfortunate women" bullshit. Enough already.

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Yes,I agree that you know much more about bullshit than you do about highly suspect liberal-bleeding-heart motivations.

If you could bring yourself to learn the context of the articles,it becomes self evident that the help I am inquiring about is purchasing the products Afghan women manufacture.help to create a market for their products.

So, according to you,helping unfortunate Afghan women is bullshit because it merely reinforces "highly suspect liberal-bleeding-heart" motivations?

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Originally posted by N.R.KISSED:

The same can be said for some Canadian working women in Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto or do sex trade workers, First Nations and homeless women not count. When do we call in the army to protect them?

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Nice attempt to derail the thread.I am not disputing violence against canadian women,I am asking what Canadians can do to help Afghan women?

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Enough already.

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Enough of what? Helping Afghan women market their products?

You sure are quick to condemn anything that does not fit into your narrow ideological definitions.

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Originally posted by Cueball:
The feminist movement was one of the first to draw attention too, and to lobby againsts abuse of women in Afghanistan, long before most others were even aware of the location, and general topographical dimensions of the country.

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Can I interest you in a case or two of soothing avocado cream? It'll put a great spit shine on the old turnip.

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am asking what Canadians can do to help Afghan women?

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Yes, and what can we do to assist Paraguayan women, Sierra Leonese women, Nepalese women, Korean women (north and south), Kazakh women, Moldavian women, and Canadian Inuit women?

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Nice attempt to derail the thread.I am not disputing violence against canadian women,I am asking what Canadians can do to help Afghan women?

Why is any attempt to include Afghan women in the embrace of the feminist movement regarded as such a threat to the legitimacy of their cultural relativism.

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It is impossible to derail a thread that begins with such ridiculous unfounded and offensive assumptions and premises.

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Originally posted by jeff house:

Yes, and what can we do to assist Paraguayan women, Sierra Leonese women, Nepalese women, Korean women (north and south), Kazakh women, Moldavian women, and Canadian Inuit women?

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Well,taking you seriously,Jeff,there is a chain of stores that markets the products of various cultures.The profits are directed back to the people who make the goods,mostly crafts and decor related items.

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I think sending troops would be of great help, as it would win their hearts and minds.

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I think respecting the intent of the original post and not resorting to "over the top sarcasm", as BCG is wont to say ,to press a political point "would be of great help"

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Originally posted by N.R.KISSED:

It is impossible to derail a thread that begins with such ridiculous unfounded and offensive assumptions and premises.

Feminism is opposed to violence against women everywhere it occurs. Canadian feminism supports assisting women's movements in Afghanistan such as RAWA, not engaging in American led wars that are justify through paternalistic and colonial rationalizations.

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Whaaaaat? Do you and BCG have me on speed-condemn?

How about addressing the topic on how to assist Afghan women rather than donning your hair shirt and railing away at the boogypersons of the cause de jour.

Seriously,do you really believe that buying the products these women make and thereby assisting them economically contributes to paternalistic and colonial rationalisations?

I am absolutely convinced that the cultural relativism of great minds such as yours is inspiring to Afghan women.

I hope that you can contribute something more substantial to help prevent Afghan women from expiring.

First, re the thread title: No, I didn't read your links. I certainly don't need to or want to read what the Globe and Frikkin Mail has to say about women in Afghanistan. When you use a line or headline that's someone else's words, it's helpful to put it in quotes. Please see my thread entitled "Let's Have an Open and Honest Conversation about White People" as an example.

Second, have you even heard of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan? RAWA: struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977.

Third, feminists in Canada care deeply about women locally, nationally and internationally, and their actions demonstrate this. If you began this thread as a way to gather info about this, you went about it the wrong way. Opening with a question is one suggestion.

Last, the idea that WE have to HELP women in Afghanistan is a concept that's loaded with liberal guilt and presumption of Western superiority. It's colonialist, racist and problematic. Saying this doesn't mean I'm saying "To hell with the women in Afghanistan and other countries". I'm not saying that. Nobody here is.

There are many ways that women's groups here in Canada are "helping" (This is your word. I would say "working in solidarity with". There's a big difference.) women all over the world. Your little post is not

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any attempt to include Afghan women in the embrace of the feminist movement regarded as such a threat to the legitimacy of their cultural relativism.

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[ 12 October 2006: Message edited by: bigcitygal ]