Marshall sees through sentimental journey

Feminist Peace Network founder Lucinda Marshall’s “Cup of Rancid Tea” puts “savior” Mortenson and his three cups in perspective

Edited excerpt by Carolyn Bennett

“In a country that has spent the last 10 years fighting wars we cannot win,” Marshall begins, “and which have cost so much, in every sense of the word — it is understandable that Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea describing the journey that led him to want to build schools, especially for girls, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, struck a chord.

“It was a story that many wanted to believe.  We wanted there to be a romanticized way that the white colonizer could convince the dark heathens that we would save them. We needed a Lawrence of Arabia-looking hero and Mortenson fulfilled our fantasy.…

“[T]he Mortenson story is merely a variation of the ‘we are better than everyone else therefore we must save them and show them the wisdom of our ways’ mythology that poisons so much of our public dialog.”

However, let us remember, Marshall says, “that Mortenson is hardly the first person to observe that educating children, especially girls, is a very effective way to better society.  Human rights groups have been saying this six-ways-to-Sunday for a very long time.

“If we truly bought into this theory, we would be spending a great deal more on education and a great deal less on military action.

“Women’s rights groups such as RAWA [Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan] were operating schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan long before Mortenson showed up to discuss the matter with male warlords and elders of remote villages — the very same warlords and elders who threaten RAWA [Afghan activist, feminist, leader Malalai Joya] and its work.

“RAWA  operates on very minimal funds, faces great danger, usually the disapproval of elders and warlords and only generates niche support in [the United States] while  Mortenson catches the attention of the whole country — for the simple reason that we were brought up to believe that this was the model of heroism that will save the world.”

Marshall suggests that we are in this respect delusional. Mortensen’s tea saves nothing nor will a brand of anachronistic nonsense save anything, least of all the world.

Sources and notes

 “A cup of rancid tea” (Lucinda Marshall), April 24, 2011, http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/2011/04/24/a-cup-of-rancid-tea-2/

Andy Worthington on Guantanamo files, Lucinda Marshall on Greg Mortenson” —

CounterSpin (4/29/11-5/5/11), http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4280

Lucinda Marshall

Writer, speaker Lucinda Marshall is the Director of the Feminist Peace Network (FPN) she “founded in December 2001 as a virtual ‘room of our own’ where women concerned about how the impending U.S. invasion of Afghanistan (and later Iraq) would impact women’s lives could share their thoughts and ideas for action in a safe, supportive space.”  Initially focusing on militarism, Marshall has expanded the work to address “other terrorism, the systemic global pandemic of misogyny and violence against women.” http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/about/lucinda-marshall/

“Fake feminist bona fides— HRClinton’s State Department strikes again —bans Afghan MP/women’s rights activist until pushed to lift ban”  (Todaysinsightnews.blogspot.com Friday, March 25, 2011, http://todaysinsightnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/fake-feminist-bona-fides.html

Sources and notes

“Four things you can do about Malalai Joya’s Visa Denial,” (ACTION ALERT: AWM News, Campaigns), March 18, 2011, http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/?p=1258

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)

RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977, http://www.rawa.org/index.php

Independent-minded Afghan feminist, activist, Member of Parliament Malalai Joya is a vocal defender of human rights, a passionate opponent of fundamentalism, and a fearless advocate of a civic Afghan culture. Malalai Joya is author of A Woman among Warlords: the Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice

“Speaking truth to warlords Banned Afghan MP Malalai Joya on her country’s corruption, the bravery of women and being squashed between two powerful forces,”

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2009/111909/news1.html

“U.S. Reverses Visa Denial to Afghan Activist,” March 25, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/25/headlines

Afghan Women’s Mission

The Afghan Women’s Mission was founded in January 2000 by a small group of Americans to support the humanitarian and political work of RAWA. Projects include many programs run by Afghan women including Malalai Clinic, schools, orphanages, agricultural programs, demonstrations and functions in support of women’s and human rights. We are an all-volunteer organization based in the United States.

The Afghan Women’s Mission was founded in response to the compelling need for adequate hospital facilities near Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. Their first undertaking was the re-opening of the Malalai Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. This flagship project was effectively started in late 2001. In 2005, Malalai Hospital was transitioned into Malalai Clinic in Khewa refugee camp, http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/?page_id=2

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“Terror” policy will fall, People will stand—Joya

Afghanistan’s Joya exposes entrenched policy, persisting resistance of a people invaded but unbowed
Excerpts, editing by Carolyn Bennett

Leading into the September 11, 2001-September 11, 2010, more from Afghan truth teller Malalai Joya, A woman among warlords

“We Afghans remain trapped between two enemies: the Taliban on the one side and US/NATO forces and their warlord hirelings on the other. We are feeling the squeeze and it is costing us in blood and tears. But the situation is not hopeless. I believe in the power of the people, and I know that there are millions of women and men standing and waiting—eager to play their role in history. Afghans have lost all patience with the corruption and violence that surround them, and they are just one spark away from an uprising that will once more demonstrate their power and show their thirst for freedom and justice.”

“The unjust and criminal occupation of Afghanistan and its puppet regime cannot last forever.


The use, abuse, and destabilization of Afghanistan by great powers and neighboring countries cannot last forever.


The domination of our country by warlords, Taliban, and their so-called intellectual lobbyists cannot last forever.


The impunity of war criminals—whether sitting in the Parliament or Kabul or at the ranch in Texas—cannot last forever.


The subjugation of women as second-class citizens cannot last forever.


The unpunished rape, abduction, murder, and mistreatment of women and girls cannot last forever.


The government and NGO corruption and embezzlement, the drug running and profiteering, all of which deny Afghans basic services such as health care and education, cannot last forever.


The terrorizing of honest journalists and the silencing of dissenting voices through violence and intimidation cannot last forever.


The suppression of the democratic and progressive people and parties in Afghanistan cannot and must not last forever.”

Entrenched policy experienced firsthand

“The people of Afghanistan can see very clearly that the warlords are supported and protected by the United States and other foreign troops. They could not continue their fascist agenda for even one day without the backing of the United States and NATO …

“Intervening against countries where governments take action against U.S. corporate interests is the policy of every president. It is, after all—militarism —imperialism—that has given the United States a dominant position in the world. Without war its empire will have no future. American foreign policy, in reality, is set; the job of the president is simply to implement it.

“If we look at the historical record, the policies of U.S. governments have been very consistent for decades. War making has been the policy of every president.…

“… Recent world events prove that ‘exporting democracy’ is just a hoax behind U.S. foreign policy.… Some of the closest allies of the United States are anything but democratic. In the Middle East, two key pillars of U.S. influence in the region are the dictatorship in Egypt and the fundamentalist monarchy in Saudi Arabia. When we analyze this record, it should not be too surprising to see the type of antidemocratic figures that the United States is propping up in positions of power in Afghanistan…

“Although the U.S./NATO forces say they are staying in Afghanistan to hunt down bin Laden and a resurgent Taliban, they might consider beginning their search in Kabul. … The new Afghan government is not only a photocopy of the Taliban, but some of the prominent figures from that former regime have been recycled and repackaged and now hold positions of power.”

This goes to show that the United States “has been less interested in destroying the Taliban than in cultivating ‘our Taliban,’ the ‘good Taliban,’ or any other ‘good’ fundamentalists who will serve their interests.…”

With a situation like this, “our country cannot stand on its own feet and will remain dependent on foreign troops.” The policy of the U.S. government “is to keep us in this situation [and] if things continue on this course, I believe the foreign powers could even lead us toward the breakup of our country along ethnic lines.… [Afghans] must fight against the disintegration of our national unity. We do not want to lose our Afghanistan.”


Terror inside out

“There are all kinds of terror in the world [Afghanistan in the past thirty years has been subjected to every kind of atrocity in the name of socialism, religion, freedom, democracy and liberation, now in the name of a ‘war on terror’ ],” Joya writes. “We live every day of our lives in the terror of endless war.”

“The ‘war on terror’ today serves as an excuse for war and intervention. As in the past, when many democratic governments were overthrown and replaced with dictatorships in the name of ‘fighting communism,’ so it is today with the language of ‘fighting terrorism.’…

“This so-called war on terror is in fact an extremely dishonest policy.” The only way this war needs to last decades is if the real purpose is for the United States and its allies to establish permanent bases to serve their strategic aims.

“To our people, the idea that the United States, with all its military might, technology, and power, could not have already defeated these medieval-minded groups—assuming that was the real American war aim—is like a bad joke. Instead, it looks like they are playing a game of cat-and-mouse in order to justify keeping their military in Afghanistan…

“What is important for the world is not whether the president is black or white, but what his ideas and his actions are. You cannot eat symbolism, and for us [U.S. President] Obama will only become a symbol of an unjust policy of war and domination if he continues down the path he has chosen to follow.”

“I believe only the people in the United States and other countries, once they understand their responsibility, can change this situation.…”


People unbowed

Afghans are more than just a handful of warlords, Taliban, drug lords, and lackeys. I have a country full of people who know what I know and believe what I believe, Joya writes.

That we Afghans can govern ourselves without foreign interference

That democracy is possible here but can never be imposed at gunpoint


That the blood of millions of freedom-loving martyrs runs through our veins, and their memories live on in every corner of our country


That Afghan women have been at the forefront of our struggle throughout our proud history [and] they inspire us to pick up the flag and carry on the struggle for justice and freedom.


It is a battle we will never surrender.”

“With the help of peace-loving people around the world, I know that the Afghan women and men are ready to do their part to stop this cycle of misery and build a better future. The ‘war on terror’ is a dead end for the people in the Middle East, in Central Asia, and in the West. Only a great, united movement of people can put an end to this foolish policy.”

“Our enemies can cut down the flower, but nothing can stop the coming of the spring.…”

“Our fight for independence has gone on for centuries, and it will continue because it is a just and dignified struggle.”

“A river is made drop by drop. It is a long struggle but if we unite for justice and democracy, our people will be like a flood that no one can stop.


Social activist and politician Malalai Joya was born in Afghanistan’s remote Farah Province. She grew up in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan and is the youngest person ever to be elected to the Afghan Parliament. She was suspended from that Parliament in 2007 for continuing to denounce warlords and their cronies in government. In that year, Joya received a nomination for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.


Source
Her book A Woman among Warlords: The extraordinary story of an Afghan who dared to raise her voice (2009 with Derrick O'Keefe), excerpts from pages 196-210

WEEKEND NEWS

Afghanistan
Ten people died Saturday in Kandahar and more than a dozen suffered wounds in two separate attacks. Among the dead were police officers and civilians including a child [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/201094161033100180.html].

Hundreds of Afghans have been unsuccessful in withdrawing money from the country’s largest bank, amid concerns that it could collapse. “The panic was sparked by reports that Kabul Bank has lent millions of dollars to members of the political elite, who used the money to make risky investments”  [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/20109592512818877.html].

Neighboring Pakistan
Sixty-five people died after a suicide bomb exploded in a Shia Muslim procession Friday in the Pakistani city of Quetta. More than 150 people suffered wounds. In the past three years, more than 3,660 people have died as a result of “a series of suicide attacks and bomb explosions, many of them carried out by the Taliban and other al-Qaeda-linked fighters”  [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/2010948413333315.html]

Afghan independent spirit Joya inspires …

Independence, honesty, international solidarity for good
Excerpt, minor editing by Carolyn Bennett

Afghan social activist, politician Malalai Joya

Party
In a meeting with progressive MPs, Malalai Joya says a Finnish member of the European Parliament asked about the name of her party. “I told her that my party has no name,” Joya says, “but it is a powerful party whose members are the helpless, barefoot, and hungry people of my country; … they are the ordinary people of Afghanistan. …

“They are most loyal to me and have never abandoned me. If I am still alive today, it is because of the support of this strong party, which is not in power now.”

Priorities
“…I do not want to encourage the idea prevalent in the West that the burqa is the only or the most important problem facing Afghan women.

“Without security or a justice system that protects women from rape, without employment, food, and basic services, the issue of the burqa is secondary.”

People united for good
“My goal abroad has always been the same as when I am inside Afghanistan: to unite people and to build power to destroy the domination of the warlords and the Taliban, and to end the occupation of our country.

“My wish is that this international solidarity will build strength and unity, and that when people become aware, they will rise like a storm that brings the truth.

“One voice—or even many isolated voices—is powerless; but when we weave our voices and our efforts together, we can become unbreakable.

“This movement we are weaving must come from struggles in every corner of the world:

Our voice of resistance in Afghanistan

The cries of agony of the children of Palestine

The tears for democracy denied in Burma

The young freedom-loving students of Iran

The struggle of men and women in Turkey

from whom I hear inspiring stories of bravery and courage

in the face of horrible torture and killings

in the Turkish prisons

The endeavors of Venezuela, Chile, Cuba,

Bolivia, and progressive movements in other American nations

The fight of African people for just and free societies

“Our sufferings—and enemies—are the same…. Our happiness is the same.” Malalai Joya

Source
A Woman among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice by Malalai Joya and Derrick O'Keefe (2009), pages 172, 175-176

East-West Governments brandishing religion against —

Editing, re-reporting by Carolyn Bennett
People’s reasons for secularism, against veiled or blatant State Religion

“Religion is a private issue unrelated to political issues and government,” writes Afghan social activist and politician Malalai Joya. She is speaking mainly about Afghanistan and Islam but her thoughts have relevance for many countries, governments and religions of the east and west.

“Too often extremists invoke [religion] to justify crimes against the people. … Politicians invoke [religion] rather than focusing on policies they will implement.

“People have [religion] in their hearts and minds. They don’t need those who are a shame to [their religion] to impose their rules on them in the name of [religion]. They don’t need religion in their government and they do not need anyone — certainly not politicians — to guide them in their faith.

“Instead of this dangerous conflation of religion and politics …what we [need is] a secular government, one that [will] remain distinct from religion, which is a matter of personal faith.” Contrary to claims of fundamentalists, “secularism is not to be feared.” Secularism means simply “a separation of religion from politics;” and so defined, secularism “safeguards and guarantees the rights of citizens to freedom of religion and belief.”

Another reason against State Religion —
Governors’ ole time religion persists at war

Rich natural resources, oil and waterways, mercenary and military industries, foreign interference and exploitation RELIGION

REGION USA: AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ and beyond

“The U.S. fiasco in Iraq and Afghanistan has exposed the limits of the superpower’s military capacity to win wars — let alone hearts and minds — in faraway lands. … Western wars in Eastern lands have spread chaos and exposed its [the superpower’s] weaknesses. Yet in addition to hundreds of military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military continues to deploy its forces in more than 100,000 structures, in over 700 bases, in more than 100 countries around the world.” Al Jazeera was reporting in an episode of its  “Empire” program that began last Wednesday.

In an estimated 400 bases, there are now more than 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan (from 100,000 Americans to three Austrians).

The U.S. State Department decision to hire and deploy a private army of some 7,000 additional mercenaries in Iraq — added to an estimated 200,000 private contractors already deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan — further militarizes its diplomatic presence in the region.

Unaccountable private contractors are carrying out other cover operations, complicating U.S. missions and rules of engagement.

Although the covert operations are defended as less costly in terms of ‘collateral damage’ or human losses, their use comes in addition to — not instead of — military operations. “‘Terrorismologists’” call this, “using the ‘scalpel’ in addition to — not instead of — the ‘hammer.’”

As of September 2010, 50,000 U.S. soldiers in more than 100 military bases will remain in Iraq.

Afghanistan last week
Twenty-one “fighters” died and four NATO soldiers suffered wounds in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. Also on Saturday the “NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said its forces had mistakenly killed two private security contractors after one of its patrols came under fire from fighters in Wardak province, west of the capital, Kabul.” http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/08/201082832726175137.html

Iraq last week
Eight members of the government-backed Awakening Council (Sahwa) militia died Thursday in eastern Iraq. The attack on the U.S.-organized Sunni force came after a spate of bombings and shootings, mostly targeting security forces, left at least 50 Iraqis dead on Wednesday. Wednesday attacks also left at least 15 dead and 58 wounded in the north of Baghdad, and at least ten people dead in southern Iraq’s Wasit province. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/201082682343489618.html

Nigeria last week
Twelve and more people died in separate incidents in recent weeks in this country’s north ahead of expected January presidential, legislative and state elections. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100828/twl-nigeria-politics-violence-4bdc673.html

Pakistan since the monsoons
Fifteen thousand and more people have died. An estimated 72,000 children have been affected by severe malnutrition in the flood-affected areas and are at high risk of death.

Seventeen million and more people have been significantly affected by the floods and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.

More than 175,000 people have fled Pakistan’s southern city of Thatta, leaving it virtually empty, as flood waters threatened to submerge the city's outskirts. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/08/201082873211738615.html

Somalia last week
Eleven civilians died in Friday night clashes in south Mogadishu when “Islamist insurgents continued whittling away areas controlled by government forces.” http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100828/twl-somalia-unrest-4bdc673.html

Yemen last week
Thirty-three (est.) people died in clashes between alleged “Al-Qaeda militants and the army in Loder, in northern Abyan.” http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100829/twl-yemen-unrest-qaeda-4bdc673.html

How many (est.) in two-theater

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD?

Casualty sites reporting

August 29, 2010 (accurate totals unknown)

• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003

[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 188]

Wounded 31,911-100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides [estimated] 18 a day

Latest update on this site August 24

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

• Iraq Body Count figures

97,461 – 106,348

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

• ICasualties IRAQ: 4,416 U.S., 4,734 Coalition

AFGHANISTAN: 1,256 U.S., 2,040 Coalition

More sources

A Woman among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice by Malalai Joya and Derrick O'Keefe, pages 97-98

Excerpted from PDF excerpt from A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice by Malalai Joya and Derrick O'Keefe published by Scribner 2009, ZNet: The Spirit of Resistance Lives, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, By Malalai Joya and Derrick O'Keefe Saturday, December 5, 2009, www.zcommunications.org/a-woman-among-warlords-the-extraordinary-story-of-an-afghan-who-dared-to-raise-her-voice-by-malalai-joya.pdf


“In Afghanistan, democratic-minded people have been struggling for human and women’s rights for decades. Our history proves that these values cannot be imposed by foreign troops. … No nation can donate liberation to another nation. These values must be fought for and won by the people themselves. They can only grow and flourish when they are planted by the people in their own soil and watered by their own blood and tears.” [Malalai Joya]


Al Jazera’s Empire program “U.S. wars: People vs. Generals” (Marwan Bishara in Imperium on August 25, 2010, episode runs Wednesday-Sunday, August 25-29) http://blogs.aljazeera.net/imperium/2010/08/25/us-wars-people-vs-generals