April 15: Malalai Joya and Eve Ensler

South Asia Solidarity Initiative and War Resisters League in association with Center for Place Culture & Politics at CUNY present

An evening with Malalai Joya featuring Eve Ensler:
Women Facing War in Afghanistan, and the Need for U.S. Solidarity

April 15, 7 - 9pm

CUNY Graduate Center, Recital Hall
(Ground floor, 365 Fifth Ave at 34th St)
[BDFV & NQRW trains to 34th St, 6 train to 33rd]

This event is free and open to the public.
There may be a FULL HOUSE so arrive early to guarantee admission!

Everyone is encouraged to make a donation to support the cost of Ms. Joya's tour, her health clinic in Farah Province, and her office in Kabul.
The donations should be made at the following link
(Please be sure to indicate "Malalai Joya" in the "order comments" section).

Copies of Ms. Joya's memoir will be available for sale at the event.
RSVP on Facebook:

For more information: prachi@southasiainitiative.org

As the U.S.-NATO occupation of Afghanistan approaches its 10th anniversary this year, the U.S. anti-war movement is in dire need of clarity and momentum. The Afghan people still face overwhelming oppressive obstacles to creating movements toward social justice and self-determination -- obstacles empowered by the context of foreign intervention and war. Please join us for a rare opportunity to hear from the one of the most courageous voices for justice and peace in Afghanistan, Malalai Joya. She will be joined by the acclaimed U.S. artist and activist Eve Ensler, to discuss the experiences and resilience of women (and all people) in Afghanistan -- and what people in the U.S. can do to raise their voices and support their struggles.

Speakers:

Malalai Joya is the youngest person to have been elected to Afghanistan's parliament, and an outspoken activist against military occupation and for women's rights in her country. She has been called the most famous and bravest woman in Afghanistan by BBC News. She was selected among the "heroes" for the Time 100 [TIME magazine, 2010] -- and she was just selected among the top activists of the world's Top 100 Women by the UK Guardian newspaper. Her memoir, "A Woman Among Warlords," was just published in paperback by Simon&Schuster, with a new chapter on Afghanistan in the Obama era. She just wrote a piece for the Guardian on the U.S. soldiers' "kill team" and atrocity photos, a story that has returned U.S. news attention to Afghanistan this March-April.*

Joya was supposed to arrive in the U.S. on March 18 to start a nationwide speaking tour, but at the last minute her visa was denied. A quick mobilization of media attention, activist petitioning and pressure on the State Department turned it around! [See articles in TIME magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle.] She arrived in the U.S. on March 25, joining Noam Chomsky to address a crowd of over a thousand people at Harvard. Having spoken all across the U.S, her tour concludes in New York City on April 15 at this event.

Eve Ensler is an acclaimed playwright, performer and activist. She is the award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Eve's work, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around The World (2010), made the New York Times' best-seller list. She is the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised over 80 million dollars for the cause. Ensler has traveled to Afghanistan, and built relationships of solidarity with activists for justice and peace there.

*Afghans for Peace, a group of Afghan youth leaders against the occupation based in US and Canada, has started a Petition and a "Video Response" project to the "Kill Team" photos.

Please show your support for their organizing for justice by:

1. Signing the petition to Stop War Crimes Against Afghan Civilians

2. Sharing your feelings by posting a "Video Response" to this video created by Afghans for Peace:

A WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE ACTION ALERT

A WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE ACTION ALERT

Please join the War Resisters League in supporting its members and allies who are part of this historic international delegation against the Israeli siege on Gaza. Put pressure on the Egyptian government to open up the Gaza-Egypt border and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed!

From The Gaza Freedom March Steering Committee:

UPDATE
December 21, 2009

We are determined to break the siege
We all will continue to do whatever we can to make it happen

Using the pretext of escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us yesterday that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege, that we do not feel threatened, and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,300 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now. We both agreed to continue our exchanges.

Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we've encountered-and overcome--before. No delegation, large or small, that entered Gaza over the past 12 months has ever received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.

Our efforts and plans will not be altered at this point. We have set out to break the siege of Gaza and march on December 31 against the Israeli blockade. We are continuing in the same direction.

Call the Egyptian embassy and ask your elected official to call on your behalf. Contact your local media/press to tell them you are going to Gaza. Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world must hear from us and our supporters (by phone, fax and email) over the coming crucial days, with a clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.

Contact your local consulate here:

Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo
Ahmed Azzam, Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg

In the U.S., email Omar Youssef at the Egyptian Embassy, omaryoussef@hotmail.com

War Resisters League
339 Lafayette Street | New York, NY 10012
212.228.0450 | wrl@warresisters.org

APRIL 26: WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE CELEBRATES GRACE PALEY, ACTIVIST

Paley with magaphone
It is the responsibility of the poet to be a woman to keep an eye on the world and
cry out like Cassandra but be listened to this time.
­Grace Paley



War Resisters League Tribute to Grace Paley, Activist
Saturday April 26, 2:00 - 5:00 PM
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South

In short, declared Paley, it is the responsibility of the poet to be an activist.
It was a responsibility she fulfilled all her life.

On April 26, the War Resisters League, ­which was Paley’s political home for many years­, will celebrate her activism with many of her friends, colleagues, and family.

Poet-activist-priest-Fr. Dan Berrigan,
actor-activist Vinie Burrows,
activist-poet Melanie Kaye Kantrowitz,
longtime activist David McReynolds,
the vocal ensemble Harmonic Insurgence,
and other surprise guests

will share tales of Paley's protests and arrests in the service of peace and justice and read from her work about politics and making change, including the Women’s Pentagon Action Unity Statement she drafted.

CONTACT: Liz Roberts - (212) 228-0450


(Endorsed by and produced in collaboration with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.)