"Canada's Debt to Afghanistan" and thought I would share it, as this is such a hot topic.

The article is about Sonali Kolhatkar, co-director of Afghan Women's Mission, and radio host on Los Angeles' KPFK Pacifica Radio,. She works closely with RAWA and the article also mentions Malalai Joya who spoke at the NDP convention.

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Kolhatkar also criticized one-sided North American media coverage of Afghanistan, saying that few journalists venture outside of Kabul, where the country's minimal wealth is heavily concentrated and where warlords are not in control. She also cited the little-heard-of case of Malalai Joya, an Afghan woman, who interrupted the loya jirga (a constitutional forum) to point out the Mujahideen warlords in attendance and their responsibility for the civil war that destroyed what was left of Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion. For this, and subsequent acts of bravery, she has been the victim of four assassination attempts and countless demeaning insults and death threats, but she has also received enormous grassroots support. Now a member of parliament, she often says she does not expect to live out the year. The Canadian- and US-backed Karzai administration removed funding to her security detail in March, but the North American press ignored her story in favour of a man sentenced to death for converting to Christianity, said Kolhatkar.

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Why do we so rarely hear the views of Afghani women in Canadian media? Women's rights are often given as the reason justifying the necessity of our current policies towards Afghanistan, but it seems like a lot of the most courageous and progressive women there want a very different approach.

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"Canadians need to call for an undoing of the damage," she said.

In addition to disarmament and justice for warlords and criminals, Kolhatkar said that the US, Canada and their allies must pay reparations to the people of Afghanistan.

"We need to pour just as many billions of dollars into rebuilding the country as we put into destroying it." Kolhatkar said that Afghans need "no-strings-attached reparations, not loans."

In Afghanistan, Canada's annual military budget is roughly four times as large as its aid budget.

The aid money that is being spent in Afghanistan either "goes into the warlords' pockets, because they're the ones in charge," or it goes to expensive and often misguided Western firms or NGOs.

Kolhatkar cited one instance where a foreign NGO used aid money to dig 100 wells in the Farah province. The only problem: "within a year, the wells dried up." The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a group that Kolhatkar works closely with, later went in to speak to farmers, who had begun fighting over scarce water resources. They realized that the best solution was to build a canal that would divert the water equitably through all of the villages.

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Drawing from declassified government documents and on-the-ground interviews with Afghan activists, journalists, lawyers, refugees, and students, Bleeding Afghanistan examines the connections between the U.S. training and arming of Mujahideen commanders and the subversion of Afghan democracy today. Bleeding Afghanistan boldly critiques the exploitation of Afghan women to justify war by both conservatives and liberals, analyzes uncritical media coverage of U.S. policies, and examines the ways in which the U.S. benefits from being in Afghanistan.

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[ 10 September 2006: Message edited by: EmmaG ]

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Afghan Woman Member of Parliament,
Malalai Joya, to Speak in Ottawa!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 7 pm.
Marion Auditorium (MRN AUD), Marion Hall building, 140 Louis Pasteur Street, University of Ottawa campus

Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=140+Louis+Pasteur+ottawa&z=15

We are very fortunate that Malalai Joya, Afghanistan's youngest MP, will be
speaking in Ottawa. Please join us at this event, not only to learn more
about how many of that country's most brutal warlords and drug barons have
taken control of the highest positions of power, but also to congratulate
Malalai for confronting these war criminals.

The URL for this announcement is: http://coat.ncf.ca/Malalai.htm

Malalai Joya is in Canada because she spoke at the NDP convention this
weekend. She told delegates that foreign troops have not achieved any
fundamental changes in her country and said: "If Canada really wants to
help Afghan people and bring positive changes, they must act independently,
rather than becoming a tool for implementing the policies of the U.S.
government." Malalai also supported the NDP's resolution demanding the
withdrawal of Canadian troops.

Malalai's speech at the convention: http://www.ndp.ca/page/4194

Background on Malalai:

Malalai Joya stepped onto the world stage in December 2003 when, as a young
delegate to the consitutional loya jirga (grand assembly) in Afghanistan,
she denounced the warlords that were intimidating the legitimate delegates
and manipulating the whole proceedings. The warlord chairing the session
cut off her microphone, but in her two-minute speech, Malalai managed to
question the legitimacy and legality of the process. She pointed out that
electoral laws were supposed to prevent such criminal warlords from being
allowed to attend. She went on to say that these felons should be put on
trial, not allowed to take over the country that they had all-but
destroyed. This two-minute speech changed Malalai's life. Since then,
although she has received many death threats, she continues to stand up for
the poor and powerless.

So this our only chance to hear her.

The talk is free. (Donations towards the work Malalai is doing to improve the situation of Afghani women will be accepted.)

It will be one hour (Malalai Joya’s talk and questions from the audience.)

Malalai Joya, to Speak in Ottawa!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 7 pm.
Marion Auditorium, Marion Hall building
140 Louis Pasteur Street, University of Ottawa

(Malalai Joya also spoke on a panel at the Forum on Women's Activism in Constitutional and Democractic Reform in February.)

[ 13 September 2006: Message edited by: writer ]

....as American forces and companies pull out of Iraq, they must ask/beg forgiveness for the tens of thousands of murders and hundreds of thousands of injuries committed by them, or because of them. They must promise to rebuild all schools, mosques, hospitals, homes, infrastructure, etc.... They must gaurantee free education up to and including university, universal healthcare, freedom of movement, thorough public transport systems, etc..... They must replace every barrel of oil stolen with hard currency. They must undo their devestaion fully and completely, and they must maintain it for at least three generations.

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Originally posted by Proaxiom:
As interesting a proposal as that is, after the pull-out of western troops, how useful is all that free education and infrastructure building when Iraq and/or Afghanistan are in the throes of full scale civil war?

And the Iraqi oil money that is to be given to factions that are fighting the civil war, what do you suppose they are most likely to spend it on?

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Well, given that the current occupation was undertaken by a virulently reactionary foreign power in order to secure control over Iraq's oil resource, can you seriously entertain the notion that the unravelling mess will EVER result in a happy outcome for the Iraqis?

So far it appears the occupation has degraded rather than bolstered what was once a functional infrastructure; any chance of that turning around in the current context?

Presumably the Iraqi oil revenues are the Iraqi peoples to do with as they see fit, rather than be sucked into the coffers of opportunistic foreign corporations.

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As interesting a proposal as that is, after the pull-out of western troops, how useful is all that free education and infrastructure building when Iraq and/or Afghanistan are in the throes of full scale civil war?

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With this question, are you referring to if we pull out now or if we pull out 5 years from now? Your question is valid in either case ^^ Mind you, I do agree that the proposal is pretty optimistic.

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And the Iraqi oil money that is to be given to factions that are fighting the civil war, what do you suppose they are most likely to spend it on?

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Well, it's currently being flowed into American weapon companies instead (and into gov't funds by lobby of course), so it's not a big tradeoff in either case But nonetheless, it is a valid concern... How could you garentee oil monies returned would be spent on non-military infrastructures and/or education. Moreover, is it our right to ensure it is... And if so, whats given us that right?

[ 19 September 2006: Message edited by: Noise ]

added:

They've got a pretty triumphant Layton pic on Joya's site with this caption:
Jack Layton, Stephen Lewis and Malalai Joya in the NDP convention.

Must admit, Jack looks on his game there.

[ 19 September 2006: Message edited by: Noise ]

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Well, given that the current occupation was undertaken by a virulently reactionary foreign power in order to secure control over Iraq's oil resource, can you seriously entertain the notion that the unravelling mess will EVER result in a happy outcome for the Iraqis?

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No, I think the average Iraqi is fucked, no matter which way things go.

My question is still valid, though.

By saying the money belongs to the Iraqi people, are you suggesting it should be dumped out of airplanes over Baghdad?

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Why can't this happen in Iraq? They're too stupid?

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If it was just a matter of Iraqi South against Iraqi North, with domestic policy issues at stake, then maybe the best way would be to let them have at it. But what is missing here is that even if the United States completely washed their hands of it, there would still be heavy foreign involvement in the Iraqi conflict. It could as easily be an Iranian puppet state that replaces the American one.

Noise:

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Was there a transcript of her talk in Ottawa?

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I've been looking for that, but I can't find one. There are a few quotes, but I'm genuinely interested in reading the whole thing.

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Originally posted by Proaxiom:

No, I think the average Iraqi is fucked, no matter which way things go.

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I guess that's easier than actually addressing the point. Yes, thanks to the intervention of a sociopathic foreign power Iraqi civil society is in tragic disrepair. Yes, from our perspective it seems an impossible task to mend it. Since it is more than a matter of complete indifference to the average Iraqi whether they manage a return to functionality I suppose it is they who should be trusted with the task – and not some imposed foreign puppet infrastructure. Until they are given actual power, cynical vapourings about their supposed incompetence are meaningless.

“My question is still valid, though.”

No, your question is still irrelevant. A path to peace in Iraq will be determined by the Iraqi people and it will no doubt involve a range of constructive social programs rather than the wholesale dismantling of same, witness the rise of Hezbollah in the vacuum of south Lebanon.

“By saying the money belongs to the Iraqi people, are you suggesting it should be dumped out of airplanes over Baghdad?”

Considering the Iraqis invented human civilization at a time when we in the west huddled in caves roasting meat and gathering wild berries it is conceivable they might muster a more sophisticated approach. Unless, of course, they are as intractably stupid as you suggest.

The involvement of any neighbouring states is principally their business and not ours.

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No, your question is still irrelevant. A path to peace in Iraq will be determined by the Iraqi people and it will no doubt involve a range of constructive social programs rather than the wholesale dismantling of same...

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How nice it must be to live in a world where constructive social programs are simply a matter of funding, and the question of whether it is possible to implement them is 'irrelevant'.

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Until they are given actual power, cynical vapourings about their supposed incompetence are meaningless.

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Until who is given power? The Shiites, the Sunnis, the Kurds?

It it cynical to think that the people who are currently killing each other in huge numbers right now won't, in fact, lay down their weapons and have a big group hug as soon as the Americans vacate?

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The involvement of any neighbouring states is principally their business and not ours.

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So, speaking as a Canadian, should I say the involvement of America in Iraq's affairs is principally their business and not ours? Or is lack of geographical proximity the reason the US is wrong to be there?

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Considering the Iraqis invented human civilization at a time when we in the west huddled in caves roasting meat and gathering wild berries it is conceivable they might muster a more sophisticated approach. Unless, of course, they are as intractably stupid as you suggest.

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Not sure where the 'stupid' thing came from. Sumerians, Akkadians, Elamites, etc weren't Iraqis just because they happen to have inhabited the same parcel of land.

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I was unaware the Taliban had a significant presence in Iraq.

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That last part was talking about Afghanistan, in response to Noise's post.

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Originally posted by Proaxiom:

That last part was talking about Afghanistan, in response to Noise's post.

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From: Dresden, Germany | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged

Let Iraq deal with Iraq's resources, and social problems. Who are any of you western white christian people to tell the Shiite's, the Sunni's, the Kurds what to do with money, religion, health, etc..?

Stop meddling. My 'proposal' is ideal and immature certainly, but it makes the point that the Iraqi people deserve at least what we have stolen from them. Was Iraq once not a sovereign nation?

If some other nation wants to try to run Iraq, such as Iran, let them. Same goes for Afghanistan. If China wants that mess, great, less dead Canadian soldiers to uselessly mourn.

[ 20 September 2006: Message edited by: zak4amnesty ]

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Was Iraq once not a sovereign nation?

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Sort of, but Iraq was never founded by the citizens of Iraq. Guess who put Iraq together?

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Let Iraq deal with Iraq's resources, and social problems. Who are any of you western white christian people to tell the Shiite's, the Sunni's, the Kurds what to do with money, religion, health, etc..?

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Perfectly stated. I still don't understand why we feel in nessacary to enforce our "Superior" values upon others.

That aside... When you say give 'Iraq' repriations (or Afghanistan for that matter), which faction are you going to make these repriations to? How would you determine that your distributions of repriations just doesn't further interfere with the situation? In theory I very much like your idea... The practicality needs to be hammered out.

Still no luck finding any transcripts of the Ottawa talk. Theres alot of Joya hate sites out there ^^

Added:

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Considering the Iraqis invented human civilization at a time when we in the west huddled in caves roasting meat and gathering wild berries it is conceivable they might muster a more sophisticated approach.

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Not to take away from your point, leave them to determine their own future as they are as capable as we... Your example is just a lil off.

[ 20 September 2006: Message edited by: Noise ]