DON'T LET THE TALIBAN RETURN
Salon Broadsheet 2006/09/08
Afghanistan's "vice and virtue" police
For every heartening sign of progress in the rebuilding of Afghanistan (the reopening of Kabul University, the dramatic increase in the number of Afghan kids in school) there's also ample evidence of the country's continuing problems (violence and suicide bombings on the rise, insufficient funds for rebuilding and the abuse of child brides). And women's rights are often treated as a measure of the country's progress. Which is why this week's news that Afghanistan may reinstate the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice -- a much-feared Taliban institution that frequently punished women -- is so distressing.
According to Reuters Alertnet, the so-called vice and virtue police "enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law and beat women for 'offenses' such as showing their wrists or ankles, wearing nail varnish or going outside their home without a male relative. Women were also stopped from attending school, working, or being seen by a male physician, while women doctors and nurses were banned from working."
The wire service notes that the vice squad wasn't just bad news for women; Afghan men could also be beaten for trimming their beards.
The country's Parliament is widely expected to approve the proposal; proponents of the plan claim that the revived department will serve a different function than the morals police of old, with a new focus on drug and alcohol prevention. Still, the Afghan Women's Network is protesting the move, asking the government not to backslide on women's rights. "We are demanding a firm and binding commitment from our government that this department, should it become a reality, make an active, substantial and public commitment to the continued freedom and development of the women in Afghanistan," the organization said in a statement. Let's hope some of the people in power are listening.
-- Page Rockwell
Don't ignore this!
I very much do NOT want to see Taliban tactics returning. This needs monitoring. The Afghan feminist groups there deserve our awareness and support. Remember the Afghan women!
-- J.Hy
Contact
I would hope that by now, large chunks of the Afghan population, particularly those with some decision-making power, would have had contact with outsiders, be they soldiers or support personnel or aid workers and all the other categories. Would this not help them realize that, perhaps, their lifestyle really is not ideal?
We'll see.
-- Skoot
Why the silence?
I don't think it's an accident that we don't see many people responding to this article here, but I'm still disappointed in the apparent lack of interest. It's not "sexy" or "exciting" to talk about oppression, or to think about something other than satisfying our jaded appetites for cheap thrills. Here is a real issue that needs attention, yet we ignore it here--but then, our politicians ignore it too. Our government supports the current government in Afghanistan, yet the Taliban is re-emerging as a formidable power. What was the point of sending our troops there if the same extremists return to their old jobs? These conditions under the "vice and virtue" laws and enforcement are nothing less than brutal dehumanization of women and girls, and we must pressure the powers-that-be (our government, UN, EU) to pressure the new Afghan government to back off from reinstituting this system. Afghanistan will never rise from the rubble of its past as a terrorist training playground as long it continues its politics of rendering as invisible Afghan women and girls. We as women and men who believe in social justice and freedom have a vested interest in the dismantling of the Taliban's weapons against their own people--and this weapon needs to be smashed.
-- Cherie Ann Turpin
Vice Police
These guys project their own desires and banned feelings upon luckless women. To think, they are back again. Depression and suicide rates must be rising among women. It's bad for little children too, to see their mothers so disrespected. Even without the Taliban, its no bed of roses for Afghan women over there. Now this is even worse.
What is hard is that I know American servicewomen who were recalled to duty and made to go to Afghanistan. Are these 'vice cops' going to beat them too?
The status of women in these totalitarian situations is heartbreaking. I support the Afghan women!
-- nolacaliente
Go to Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan www.rawa.org and support them - and rage, sisters
Afghanistan's "vice and virtue" police
For every heartening sign of progress in the rebuilding of Afghanistan (the reopening of Kabul University, the dramatic increase in the number of Afghan kids in school) there's also ample evidence of the country's continuing problems (violence and suicide bombings on the rise, insufficient funds for rebuilding and the abuse of child brides). And women's rights are often treated as a measure of the country's progress. Which is why this week's news that Afghanistan may reinstate the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice -- a much-feared Taliban institution that frequently punished women -- is so distressing.
According to Reuters Alertnet, the so-called vice and virtue police "enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law and beat women for 'offenses' such as showing their wrists or ankles, wearing nail varnish or going outside their home without a male relative. Women were also stopped from attending school, working, or being seen by a male physician, while women doctors and nurses were banned from working."
The wire service notes that the vice squad wasn't just bad news for women; Afghan men could also be beaten for trimming their beards.
The country's Parliament is widely expected to approve the proposal; proponents of the plan claim that the revived department will serve a different function than the morals police of old, with a new focus on drug and alcohol prevention. Still, the Afghan Women's Network is protesting the move, asking the government not to backslide on women's rights. "We are demanding a firm and binding commitment from our government that this department, should it become a reality, make an active, substantial and public commitment to the continued freedom and development of the women in Afghanistan," the organization said in a statement. Let's hope some of the people in power are listening.
-- Page Rockwell
Don't ignore this!
I very much do NOT want to see Taliban tactics returning. This needs monitoring. The Afghan feminist groups there deserve our awareness and support. Remember the Afghan women!
-- J.Hy
Contact
I would hope that by now, large chunks of the Afghan population, particularly those with some decision-making power, would have had contact with outsiders, be they soldiers or support personnel or aid workers and all the other categories. Would this not help them realize that, perhaps, their lifestyle really is not ideal?
We'll see.
-- Skoot
Why the silence?
I don't think it's an accident that we don't see many people responding to this article here, but I'm still disappointed in the apparent lack of interest. It's not "sexy" or "exciting" to talk about oppression, or to think about something other than satisfying our jaded appetites for cheap thrills. Here is a real issue that needs attention, yet we ignore it here--but then, our politicians ignore it too. Our government supports the current government in Afghanistan, yet the Taliban is re-emerging as a formidable power. What was the point of sending our troops there if the same extremists return to their old jobs? These conditions under the "vice and virtue" laws and enforcement are nothing less than brutal dehumanization of women and girls, and we must pressure the powers-that-be (our government, UN, EU) to pressure the new Afghan government to back off from reinstituting this system. Afghanistan will never rise from the rubble of its past as a terrorist training playground as long it continues its politics of rendering as invisible Afghan women and girls. We as women and men who believe in social justice and freedom have a vested interest in the dismantling of the Taliban's weapons against their own people--and this weapon needs to be smashed.
-- Cherie Ann Turpin
Vice Police
These guys project their own desires and banned feelings upon luckless women. To think, they are back again. Depression and suicide rates must be rising among women. It's bad for little children too, to see their mothers so disrespected. Even without the Taliban, its no bed of roses for Afghan women over there. Now this is even worse.
What is hard is that I know American servicewomen who were recalled to duty and made to go to Afghanistan. Are these 'vice cops' going to beat them too?
The status of women in these totalitarian situations is heartbreaking. I support the Afghan women!
-- nolacaliente
Go to Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan www.rawa.org and support them - and rage, sisters