The Face of Courage
It's a very young face, a female face, that of a young woman who has seen tragedy and injustice and who has determined to dedicate her very life to bringing justice, equality and the rule of law to her wretched country. Her name is Malalai Joya, a young Afghan woman who was elected to the Afghani legislature several years ago, after the ouster of the Taliban.She has risked her life repeatedly by stating publicly and in the legislature that some of Afghanistan's legendary (murderously legendary) mujahadeen leaders were criminals throughout their leadership careers under the Taliban, and now that they are reincarnated as legislators their slate has not been wiped clean; they are the same murderers now that they were back then, but they enjoy the history-cleansing effect of officialdom within the Afghani legislature.
She has been shouted at in the past, reviled, and ordered to shut up within the legislature by men who so obviously look with horror on a mere woman calling them to task. That she identifies Afghanistan's human rights abusers and past warlords in her ongoing attempts at cleansing the country's legislature of these damning elements has caused her to be the recipient of many death threats. She remains undaunted.
Only this week verbal abuse and physical violence was visited upon her, not only by male legislators but also female legislators in the 249-member lower house. Other female legislators who defend her position and her right to represent them and other Afghani women in the legislature were also attacked during this latest exchange. Ms. Joya has insisted that all of Afghanistan's human rights abusers, drug and criminal warlods be brought to justice.
Those former leaders of the mujahadeen who were loyal to the Taliban are understandably not very well disposed to a woman in a patriarchial Muslim society standing up in public and condemning their past actions and the current intentions toward their country. They would like nothing better than to silence this determined woman, by any means at their disposal.
For her part, she insists she will never stop her accusations against those whom she views as criminals, nor her activities designed to galvanize the parliament and the country to have them removed.
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, May 10, 2006
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