I also responded to this chain letter a couple of years ago. One Afghani
woman, whom I personally know, provided me with a different perspective,
which put me in my place for acting without understanding all issues
involved critically. Before going any further, I'd like to stress that
I'm not a fan of the Taliban. I'm merely saying that things are not
always black and white as we'd like them to be.
I'm including her message here for your information. To protect the
woman's privacy and personal safety, I've withheld her identity from the
message.
Sincerely,
Hien Hoang
================
Thanks for forwarding me this. This must be the 20th time I've been
forwrded this petition. Yes, the Taliban have placed restrictions on
women, but I think this petition is filled with inaccuracies and
exaggerations. That veil that they claim the Taliban have imposed has
been worn by women in Afghanistan for centuries. The petition ignores the
politcal economy, the war and poverty against which the Taliban have
risen, and the raping, murder, and mutilation of women and girls by the
(some US-supported) factions ousted by the Taliban. This campaign
reflects the interests of a class of women whose position was tied to the
ousted government, for throughout these 20 years of war, less than 2% of
the women in Afg were literate. The only ones who could get advanced
degrees and Ph.Ds in Afg were the ones who collaborated and received
education during Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, and it's this class that has
been displaced. The Taliban only came into being in 1994--they couldn't
have been responsible for all of the conditions which have caused Afghan
women so much misery.
Other interests which benefit from this representation of Taliban
Afghanistan are the Opposition funded by Russia, Iran, India, France, and
Israel amongst others. And Prestident Clinton after bombing and killing
women and children in Afghanistan in August 1998 for Osama bin Laden also
castigates the Taliban for women's rights violations. In fact the Feminist
Majority which initiated this campaign, has been lobbying for sanctions
against war-ravaged poverty-stricken Afghanistan. These unilateral and US
sanctions have been imposed by on Afg by Bill Clinton over the Osama
issue, but it also helps him and his wife garner the political
contributions of NOW and the Feminist Majority which are huge PACs.
On Mon, 12 Feb 2001, Philip Dunlap wrote:
> Anna Coote wrote:
> >
> > Dear Friends,
> >
> > Please do not ignore this email. I am sorry if you have already received
> > it, but I really felt I could not refuse to send it on to you.
> > This is something that we as women and men and essentially as human
> > beings
> > need to support - I don't know if this is going to help but take 3
> > minutes
> > out of your life to do your part.
>
> Oh no - not again... Sara Bande has graduated from Brandies University
> some time ago, this message has been on God knows how many lists and I
> have commented several times on this piece of spam.
>
> This was the work of a well-meaning but misguided sophomore at Brandeis
> Univ - one of my alma maters - several years ago. I knew the fellow who
> ran the IT department so I phoned and checked.
>
> This chain letter had completely disabled the computer system at the
> University when first sent out and as a consequence of receiving > 10000
> messages a day, the young lady was chastised and all mail to her address
> automatically deleted.
>
> Spamming this chain letter further does little but clog bandwidth - the
> address to which it goes ([log in to unmask]) was destroyed long ago
> and the message goes only to the nether reaches of computer hell.
>
> Despite your feelings on Afghanistan (and my wife and I have lived and
> worked there, so we have some) your time and the time of others is worth
> more that the value of forwarding a message that will never be received.
>
> Phil Dunlap
>
>
>
> Philip G. Dunlap, D.O., M.P.H., Ph.D.
> 4 Bailey Hill Road
> Natick, MA, 01760, USA
>
> Senior Independent Consultant
> The Hawthorn Group
>
> [log in to unmask]
> (508) 650-9097 - voice
> (508) 650-9152 - fax
> (617) 633-9208 - cell
>
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