[Announce-DAN] Pettition

[Doc Rosen <drdrdoc@dr.com>]

I know this has made the rounds before but  this is still going on so .....

The government of Afghanistan, is waging a war upon women.. 
>  Since the Taliban took power in 1996,women have had to wear burqua and 
>  have been beaten and stoned in public for not having the proper attire, 
>  even if this means simply not having the mesh covering in front of 
>  their eyes. One woman was beaten to death by an angry mob of 
>  fundamentalists for accidentally exposing her arm(!) while she was 
>  driving. 
>  Another was stoned to death for trying to leave the country with a man 
>  that 
>  was not a relative. Women are not allowed to work or even go out in 
>  public without a male relative; professional women such as 
>  professors, translators, doctors, lawyers, artists and writers have been

>  forced from their jobs and stuffed into their homes. Homes where a woman

>  is 
>  present must have their windows painted so that she can never be seen 
>  by outsiders They must wear silent shoes so that they are never 
>  heard. Women live in fear of their lives for the slightest misbehavior. 
>  Because they cannot work, those without male relatives or husbands are 
>  either starving to death or begging on the street, even if they hold 
>  Ph.D.s. Depression is becoming so widespread that it has reached 
>  emergency levels.There is no way in such an extreme Islamic society to 
>  know 
>  the suicide rate with certainty, but relief workers are estimating that 
>  the suicide rate among women must be extraordinarily high: those who 
>  cannot find proper medication and treatment for severe depression and 
>  would rather take their lives than live in such conditions. 
> 
>  At one of the rare hospitals for women, a reporter found still, nearly 
>  lifeless bodies lying motionless on top of beds, wrapped in their 
>  burqua, unwilling to speak,eat, or do anything, but slowly wasting away.

>  Others have gone mad and were seen crouched in corners, perpetually 
>  rocking or crying, most of them in fear. When what little medication 
>  that is left finally runs out, one doctor is considering leaving these 
>  women in front of the president's residence as a form of protest.. 
>  It is at the point where the term "human rights violations" 
>  has become an understatement. Husbands have the power of life and death 
>  over 
>  their women relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has just

>  as much right to stone or beat a woman, often to death, for exposing 
>  an inch of flesh or offending them in the slightest way. 
> 
>  Women enjoyed relative freedom: to work, to dress generally as they 
>  wanted, and to drive and appear in public alone until only 1996. The 
>  rapidity of this transition is the main reason for the depression and 
>  suicide; Women who were once educators or doctors or simply used to 
>  basic human freedoms are now severely restricted and treated as subhuman

>  in the name of right-wing fundamentalist Islam. It is not their 
>  tradition or 'culture,' but it is alien to them, and it is extreme even 
>  for those cultures where fundamentalism is the rule. Everyone has a 
>  right to a tolerable human existence, even if they are women 
>  in a Muslim country. If we can threaten military force in Kosovo the 
>  name of 
>  human rights for the sake of ethnic Albanians, citizens of the world 
>  can certainly express peaceful outrage at the oppression, murder 
>  and injustice committed against women by the Taliban. 
> 
>  STATEMENT: 
>  In signing this, we agree that the current treatment of women 
>  in Afghanistan is completely UNACCEPTABLE and deserves action by the 
>  United Nations and that the current situation overseas will not be 
>  tolerated. Women's Rights is not a small issue anywhere, and it is 
>  UNACCEPTABLE for women in 2000 to be treated as subhuman and as so much 
>  property. 
>  Equality and human decency is a fundamental RIGHT, not a freedom to be 
>  granted, 
>  whether one lives in Afghanistan or elsewhere. 
> 
>  1) Giuliana D. Black, Daly City, CA, USA 
>  2) Mariam Nayiny, Palo Alto, CA, USA 
>  3) Sunaina Gulati-Ruh, Palo Alto, CA USA 
>  4) Megan McCaslin, Palo Alto, CA USA 
>  5) Blake Hallanan, San Francisco,Ca. USA 
>  6) Kit Henderson, Sacramento, CA USA 
>  7) Kara Myers, San Francisco,CA 
>  8) Ellen Tilden, San Fransisco, CA 
>  9) Vanessa Ross, San Francisco,CA 
>  10) Jenna Shaw- Battista, San Francisco, CA 
>  11) Jeanne Racik, Berkeley,CA 
>  12) Julie Silas, Oakland, CA 
>  13) Renee Longstreet, Tarzana, CA 
>  14) Susan Johnson, Encino, CA 
>  15) Kenneth Johnson, Encino, CA 
>  16) Terri Treas, Los Angeles, CA 
>  17) Amy Retzinger, North Hollywood, CA 
>  18) Babette Crooms,Los Angeles, CA 
>  19) Olivia Kienzel; Santa Barbara, CA 
>  20) Sean Dexheimer, Los Angeles, CA 
>  21) Elio Chavez, Jr., Pasadena, CA 
>  22) Gregory Kastigar, Los Angeles, CA 
>  23) Robert Collie, Los Angeles, CA 
>  24) Jeff Garvin, Brea,CA 
>  25) Tricia Allen, Sherman Oaks, CA 
>  26) Joleen Nordstrom ~ Hollywood,CA 
>  27) Theresa Donahoe - Martinez,CA 
>  28) Jennifer Horn - Concord,CA 
>  29) Roxanne Ryan - Alamo, CA 
>  30) Miriam Tyler- San Jose CA 
>  31) John Burns- San Jose CA 
>  32) Kristin Lynn Minick- Fort Worth TX 
>  33) Jeff Neal- Marietta, GA 
>  34) Anna Neal- Marietta, GA 
>  35) Frances Murley-Fort Worth, TX 
>  36) David Murley-London, England, UK 
>  37) Jillian Dykhouse, Colleyville, TX 
>  38) Bonnie Dykhouse,Colleyville,TX 
>  39) Nancy Williams, Colleyville, TX 
>  40) Georgene Farr, Sterling Heights, MI 
>  41) Joanne Arensberg, Riverview, MI 
>  42) Luann Ouellette, Vermillion, SD 
>  43) Sandie Sullivan, Vermillion, SD 
>  44) Troy Nelson, Minneapolis, MN USA 
>  45) Joseph Miller, Minnepolis, MN USA 
>  46) Kathleen Miller, White Bear Lake, MN USA 
>  47) Jerry Marquis, Mpls. Mn. USA 
>  48) Julie Stokes, Coon Rapids, MN USA 
>  49) Tracy Ford, Blaine, MN USA 
>  50) Sheila Lawrence, Monticello, MN USA 
>  51) Brenda Kitchen, Westlake Village, California,USA 
>  52)Teresa Burke, Sherman Oaks, CA,USA 
>  53) Bruce Ehrlich, Sherman Oaks, CA USA 
>  54) Yllania Francis, Los Angeles, CA USA 
>  55) Drew Hedin, Los Angeles, CA USA 
>  56) Laura Paridon, Laguna Woods, CA USA 
>  57) Jeanie Hagedorn, Des Moines, IA USA 
>  58) Sue Christensen, Des Moines, IA USA 
>  59) Sybil Finken, Glenwood, IA USA 
>  60) Luke Finken, Earth 
>  61) Doug Gerace, Lincoln, NE USA 
>  62) Cheryl Gerace, NE 
>  63) Sheri Lew, CO 
>  64) Raven Grace, Boulder, CO 
>  v65) Martha M..Mertz,EL, Michigan 
>  66) Colleen R. Cooper, Okemos, Michigan 
>  67) Barbara J. Sawyer-Koch, East Lansing, MI 
>  68) Margaret A. Meyers, Okemos, Michigan 
>  69) Mary Helen Espes, Okemos, Michigan 
>  70) Maureen Kirchhoff, Allenspark, CO 
>  71) Bart Johnson, Err, France 
>  72) Diane Roberts, Encinitas, CA 
>  73) Lisa Margolin-Feher, Solana Beach, CA 
>  74) DeeDee Taft, Tiburon, CA 
>  75) Maureen Groper, San Anselmo, CA 
>  76) Jessica Groper, New York, NY 
>  77) Rachel Webster, New York, NY 
>  78) Dan Webster, Spokane, WA 
>  79) John Brennan, Spokane, WA 
>  80) Noreen Brennan, Spokane, WA 
>  81) Paul McDonnell, Spokane, WA 
>  82) Diana Lowry-Pembleton, Spokane, WA 
>  83) Emagene Warren, Cottonwood, ID 
>  84) Susan Stanton, Seattle, WA 
>  85) Marilyn Cass, Kirkland,WA 
>  86) Jeanie M. Robinson, Bothell, WA 
>  87) Carol R. Mundt, Shelby, MT,USA 
>  88) Sandra Toigo, Missoula, MT, USA 
>  89) Megan Garr, Glasgow, Scotland,UK 
>  90) Genevieve Walsh, Utrecht, Nederlands 
>  91) Kristin Moore, Lancaster,England 
>  92) Ali Schloegel, Fort Worth, Texas 
>  93) Carrie Worley, Ft. Worth,Texas 
>  94) Liz Deering, Fort Worth, Texas 
>  95) Sara Flynn Fletcher, Roanoke, VA 
>  96) Stormy Hendershott, Sewanee, TN 
>  97) Allison McCue, Sewanee, TN 
>  98) Catherine McCue, Plano, TX 
>  99) Nancy Knurek, Charleston, WV 
>  100) Grace West, Charleston, WV 
>  101) Paige Dean, Sarasota, FL 
>  102) Cindy Christo, Sarasota, FL, USA 
>  103) Kelly Romano, Orlando, FL, USA 
>  104) Joyce Jezewski, Blasdell, NY USA 
>  105) Nancy Calderon, Roslyn, NY USA 
>  106) Amy Coopersmith, Centerport, NY USA 
>  107) Rita Hall, Tucson, AZ USA 
   108) Martin Hall, Tucson, AZ USA 

>  DIRECTIONS: PLEASE COPY this email on 
>  to a new message, sign the bottom 
>  and forward it 
>  to everyone on your 
>  distribution lists. If you receive this list With 
>  more than 300 names on it, 
>  please e-mail a copy of it to: 
>  sarabande@brandeis.edu Even if you 
>  decide not to sign, please be 
>  considerate and do not kill the petition. Thank 
>  you! 

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