RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of
the Women of Afghanistan, was established in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977
as an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting
for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan. The founders were
a number of Afghan woman intellectuals under the sagacious leadership
of Meena who in 1987 was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan, by Afghan agents
of the then KGB in connivance with fundamentalist band of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
.
RAWA’s objective was to involve an increasing
number of Afghan women in social and political activities aimed at acquiring
women’s human rights and contributing to the struggle for the establishment
of a government based on democratic and secular values in Afghanistan.
Despite the suffocating political atmosphere, RAWA very soon became
involved in widespread activities in
different socio-political arenas including education, health and income
generation as well as political agitation.
Before the Moscow-directed coup d’état
of April 1978 in Afghanistan, RAWA’s activities were confined to
agitation for women’s rights and democracy, but after the coup
and particularly after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in December
1979, RAWA became directly involved in the war of resistance. In contradistinction
to the absolute majority of the vaunted Islamic fundamentalist
"freedom fighters" of the anti-Soviet war of resistance, RAWA
from the outset advocated democracy and secularism.
Despite the horrors and the political oppression,
RAWA’s appeal and influence grew in the years of the Soviet occupation
and a growing number of RAWA activists were sent to work among refugee
women in Pakistan. For the purpose of addressing the immediate needs
of refugee women and children, RAWA established schools with hostels
for boys and girls, a hospital for refugee Afghan women and children
in Quetta, Pakistan with mobile teams. In addition, it conducted nursing
courses, literacy courses and vocational training courses for women.
Demonstrations against the Soviet invaders and
their stooges and later on against the fundamentalists, and unrelenting
exposure of their treason and heinous crimes has been a hallmark of
RAWA’s political activities. It was in consequence of its anti-Soviet
occupationist struggle and agitation that RAWA was marked for annihilation
by the Soviets and their cronies, while the Islamic fundamentalists
vented their wrath on our organisation for our pro-democracy, pro-secularist
and anti-fundamentalist stance. Our uncompromising attitude against
these two enemies of our people has cost us dear, as witnessed by the
martyrdom of our founding leader and a large number of our key activists,
but we have unswervingly stood, and continue to stand, by our principles
despite the deadly blows that we have been dealt.
For the purpose of propagating our views, aims
and objectives, and to give Afghan women social and political awareness
in regard to their rights and potentialities, RAWA launched a bilingual
(Persian/Pashtu) magazine, Payam-e-Zan (Woman's Message) in 1981. Publication
of this magazine is on-going and by-issues in Urdu and English for non-Persian/Pashtu
speakers.
Since the overthrow of the Soviet-installed puppet
regime in 1992 the focus of RAWA’s political struggle has been
against the fundamentalists’ and the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban’s
criminal policies and atrocities against the people of Afghanistan in
general and their incredibly ultra-male-chauvinistic and anti-woman
orientation in particular. Apart from the political challenges facing
RAWA, tremendous social and relief work amongst unimaginably traumatised
women and children lie ahead of us, but unfortunately we do not at the
moment enjoy any support from international NGOs, therefore our social
programmes are presently greatly reduced for lack of funds.
Our Standpoints
On women's rights
As Afghanistan finds itself strangled within
the grip of religious fundamentalism of all shades, human rights across
the nation are being grossly violated. In fact, the present conditions
are even worse than those of the Soviet occupation period. The nature
and range of crimes perpetrated against Afghan women by fundamentalists
has no precedence in modern history. Afghan fundamentalists and particularly
Taliban treat women as degraded souls whose only function is to satiate
men's lusts and reproduce! Had we women been facing civilized opponents,
we might have convinced them of our rights through logic and words of
reason. But as fundamentalists continue to rampage in Afghanistan, RAWA
holds that our women can never achieve their rights through the 'kindness'
of the fundamentalists. To attain meaningful freedom, our women must
continue their hard, long struggle against fanaticism and carry it through
to the end. We are of the opinion that any collaboration with the fundamentalists
will only lead to further ravaging of Afghanistan by these bandits.
On the UN role
RAWA believes that the United Nations has not
been able to address the problem properly. If the UN can send a large
number of peace-keeping forces to places like Cambodia and Bosnia, why
should it not be adopting a similar policy in Afghanistan? It is all
the more important to have large peace-keeping forces in Afghanistan
where most fundamentalist groups owe their power to the support of foreign
countries. It is very unfortunate that UN activities are limited only
to negotiating with fundamentalists, and it is very apparent that the
UN is not willing to take any steps that would annoy them. We advocate
that the UN view Afghanistan as the homeland of the Afghan people, and
not as the property of a few armed militia. The UN should take into
account the will of the people of Afghanistan and must not proceed according
to the whims of the fundamentalists. On Zahir Shah As a matter of principle,
RAWA is not a monarchist organization. However, the majority of Afghan
people whole-heartedly support the former king. That is why RAWA prefers
Zahir Shah to the other self-styled jehadi and Taliban leaders.
On resolving the Afghan crisis
RAWA sees the presence and activities of armed fundamentalist bands
as the root cause of the current disaster in Afghanistan. Therefore,
we believe that the only way to restore stability and find a solution
to the Afghan crisis is by fully disarming all the armed groups and
their accomplices. This is possible only by a peace-keeping force not
including troops from countries that have involved themselves in the
Afghan infighting and that might support any bandit groups. The same
peace-keeping force should supervise the convening of the Loya Jirga
(Grand Assembly) and the formation of a government based on democratic
values and comprised of neutral personalities. This government should
be assigned the task of holding free and fair elections within a period
not exceeding one year. It is only upon the completion of this task
and the establishment of a national security force free from the clutches
of fundamentalists that the job of peace keeping would be over.
The government we want
Our concept of government in Afghanistan is very simple: It should be
based on democratic values and it should ensure freedom of thought,
religion and political expression while safeguarding women's rights.
It is an obvious fact that fundamentalists of all types use thename
of Islam to justify and legitimize their violent madness.
Therefore, RAWA stands for a separation of religious
and political processes in Afghanistan. Though the fanatical groups
label secularism as a 'communistic' idea and term it a 'faith of the
infidels,' RAWA firmly believes that only a government with secular
orientation can thwart the nefarious designs of these reactionaries
from the Dark Ages. It is only a secular government that can prevent
the religion of Islam from being used as a retrogressive tool in the
hands of fanatics. The people of Afghanistan have been Muslims for the
past several centuries and will not allow gangs of rapists, murderers
and traitors to teach them their faith with a stick once again. The
Islamic hejab (veil)
We believe that aside from their inhuman misogynistic
ideas, Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan have no plans for socioeconomic
reconstruction. Nor do they have a decent concept for the country. Therefore,
since their seizure of power, the fundamentalists have had to employ
a fig leaf of irrelevant and artificial issues such as the "Islamic
veil," put forward as vital priorities.
Like every other oppressive means by which they
wish to achieve their aims, the fundamentalists want to use the Koran
as a bogey, even though wearing the veil has not been explicitly commanded
in the Koran. We will never allow the fundamentalists to define and
decree what women should or should not wear.
They have no right to impose the veil upon us.
As far as we are concerned, we will NOT wear the veil as far as security
and social discretion allow us, for we regard rejection of the veil
as a symbolic form of resistance and defiance of the fundamentalists.
To wear, or not to wear, the Islamic veil is a completely personal issue
and no one has the right to interfere with this decision or impose the
veil upon us. We believe wearing the veil is a cultural issue, not a
religious one.
The fundamentalists want to paint this issue
in religious hues and by forcing women to wear the veil, unleash their
misogynism through terror and oppression. Their ultimate objective is
to keep women under their absolute power, in the status of chattel.
http://www.rawa.org