Afghan women books: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1403960178/qid=1032462418/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/104-0542221-4589534?v=glance%26s=books%26n=507846
http://www.womenforafghanwomen.org/ --- In cia-drugs@yahoogroups.com, "muckblit" <muckb...@...> wrote: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs/message/46745 > > http://www.kathleenfoster.com/ (video preview) > > A call for unity is usually a ploy to to divide and conquer by framing an > issue narrowly to divide resistance into two camps, one that will narrow its > focus and the other that will not. Naomi Klein notices that a call to narrow > focus to human rights has been used to divide off and isolate those who see > wider class issues of gentricide and genocide. Bill Fletcher in his history > of the US labor movement, Solidarity Divided, reveals that a call to unity in > the labor movement was a cynical ploy to curtain off and isolate and destroy > those who would not abandon other than economic issues. Similarly, Lenore > Daniels here mentions the above Afghan women's issues documentary video in > context of talking about a call to unity for a US economic meltdown truth > commission as once again deploying a call for narrowing focus as a tactic to > divide off and curtain away and destroy those who want a broader South > African style truth commission to expose more historical errors than merely > economic ones, such for example as 911 false flag ops and New Orleans Katrina > opportunistic gentricide, and, what did US involvement in Afghanistan mean > for women there, since 2001 when the US liberated poppies not women, but > historically, at least as far back as 1979, or even 1964? > > Bush's war on terror mccarthyism is another example of a call to unity > narrowing focus to frame two groups, the fooled and the unfooled, in order to > shutter away the unfooled for cloistered abuse and destruction, burying their > issues in favor of liberating Geronimo's bones and procaliming the second > advent of Brittany's belly button. > > -Bob > > http://blackcommentator.com/314/314_ror_afghanistan_financial_crisis.html > > I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in > rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to > draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. > > -Martin Luther King, Jr. "Beyond Vietnam" > > A published list of the wealthiest entertainers (film stars and athletes), > was fine. A published list of the wealthiest politicians was fine. A > published list of the wealthiest Americans was fine. A published list of the > wealthiest corporations, the Fortune 500, was "priceless." The lists were > signs of the American Empire's growth and prosperity. Then some names > appeared on more than one list. The number of zeros beside some names grew > and grew. It was transparent! In the evenings, U.S. citizens and citizens > anywhere in the world sat in awe as television showed "estates" (mc-mansions) > with multilayered homes with an unimaginable number of rooms, maids and > caretakers. Oprah came along and made it even more acceptable to more people > to visit a bathroom the size of an average U.S. home. Airports made space for > "private" jets. The number of zeros attached to "bonuses" exceeded the zeros > of the up and coming millionaire. Multi-billionaires with multi-million > dollar bonuses - too much for just a few! > > What's the U.S. to do when the CEOs and "hot shot" consultants of Wall Street > reflect back to North Americans its own creed: money is all that matters? > > Senators Patrick Leahy and Sheldon Whitehouse claim they want to change the > creed. They now want to know the truth! Senators Leahy and Whitehouse are > calling for a truth and Reconciliation Hearing in the U.S. > > Leahy: "The citizens of this country have said we should have change. And we > should. But we also know the past can be prologue for the future unless we > set things right." > > His proposal for a commission to examine the previous administration would > come to "understand how policies were formed and exercised. I do this to make > sure the mistakes are not repeated," said Leahy. > > I hear the moans of my ancestors! > > Whitehouse: "We have to learn the lessons from this past carnival of folly, > greed, lies, and wrongdoings so that the damage can, under democratic > process, be pointed out and corrected. If we blind ourselves to this history, > we deny ourselves its lessons - lessons that came at too painful a cost to > ignore. THOSE lessons merit disclosure and discussion We may have to face > the prospect at looking with horror at our own country's deeds." > > They want hearings to reveal the "wrongdoings" and the wrong doers. They want > to look into the past to understand how the U.S. came to this financial > crisis. Senators Leahy and Whitehouse, beyond the average American citizens > themselves, see in the previous administration and in the former CEOs of Wall > Street culprits of the financial collapse of the Empire's growth. How did > these seemingly decent white American men do this to the U.S. modus operandi, > to capitalism! > > Well, senators, these guys simply did what they were encouraged to do. Their > climb to the stratosphere of wealth was cheered, awarded, and legislated as > the standard business goal for Americans long before King Bush's reign. The > senators, however, see "scapegoats" for American policies and lifestyles of > greed. Scapegoats, Senators Leahy and Whitehouse, help Americans deny > themselves the lessons of history. Scapegoats allow individuals to disengage > themselves from the collective. > > In the meantime, two-thirds of Americans support President Obama's decision > to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan! The fight for freedom and > democracy must continue in Afghanistan. > > Capitalism funds imperialist ventures such as regime change, torture, > rendition, and wars to bring freedom and democracy to others. The individual > taxpayer has an institutional stake in violence and this collective violence > is evident of a moral crisis. Senators Leahy and Whitehouse want to > "understand" the "wrongdoings" that brought about the financial crisis. Think > there's any connection? > > Look again: > > There's a woman in her burqa, sitting on the ground, surrounded by men, > agitated and angry. One man picks up a stone and throws it toward the woman's > head. She leans forward. The other men pick up stones, large chunks of > stones. The woman falls flat one the ground. She is dead. > > Thanks to a CIA funded campaign in support of the mujahideen against Russia, > writes Michael Parenti, the Taliban ("an extremist strain of Sunni Islam") > took over most of the country. Until 1999, "the U.S. government was paying > the entire annual salary of every single Taliban government official." A CIA > funded campaign allowed the Taliban to unleash a "religious reign of terror," > condemning "forms of `immorality'" particularly devastating to the pursuit of > freedom by women and girls. Afghani women must wear the burqa now. Despite > Laura Bush's claim that the U.S. is committed to the freedom of Afghani > women, oppression continues. "Outlawed from social life, deprived of most > forms of medical care, barred from all levels of education, and any > opportunity to work outside the home," women and girls in Afghanistan are > between a rock and a hard place: the U.S. war doctrine to rid Afghan of > "terrorists" and the Taliban's strict interpretation of Muslim law. > > According to Kathleen Foster, documentary filmmaker, Afghan Women: A History > of Struggle, before the rise of the CIA funded Taliban, "Afghanistan had a > very progressive movement." > > There was a big movement of communist people, various Marxists, socialists, > and eventually a takeover by the communists. And women's rights at that point > were one of the major - one of the major thrusts. And women were becoming - > were getting educated. They were deciding their own destiny, no more forced > marriages, and so on and so forth. > > Under the mujahideen, who were "allied with the wealthy landowners" and > funded by the CIA, a class struggle began. "Women started to lose their > rights totally," Foster explained. "Schools were bombed. People who had any > contact with the government, like government officials, like teachers, and so > on and so forth, were killed. Women were raped." > > The history of the U.S. is such that any hint of a "progressive movement," > any hint that the oppressed and excluded is determined to correct > "wrongdoings" under a "democratic process," sends the capitalists in > Washington to confer with the bankers on Wall Street. A hat is passed around > and money flows to the wrong side of freedom. Politicians supply the > rhetoric: The U.S. takes the moral highroad! Communist "terrorists" then; > Taliban "terrorists" now! > > What lessons can Americans learn from this mess of "wrongdoings"? What > lessons has this nation ever learned about its "past carnival of folly"? > > A young U.S. soldier dressed in desert camouflage speaks to the camera. "We > try to help them out with little projects," he tells Frontline. "But they > don't want our help." The they are the Afghanis. They are - the Afghanis - > "so backward." > > BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Lenore Jean Daniels, PhD, has > been a writer, for over thirty years of commentary, resistance criticism and > cultural theory, and short stories with a Marxist sensibility to the impact > of cultural narrative violence and its antithesis, resistance narratives. > With entrenched dedication to justice and equality, she has served as a > coordinator of student and community resistance projects that encourage the > Black Feminist idea of an equalitarian community and facilitator of > student-teacher communities behind the walls of academia for the last twenty > years. Dr. Daniels holds a PhD in Modern American Literatures, with a > specialty in Cultural Theory (race, gender, class narratives) from Loyola > University, Chicago. >
