[Oct. 17 Seattle] Good talk but erroneous leaflet

[October 17 Seattle]

Theodore--

Thanks for your email and your comments.  You are correct that Dostum is not
a fundamentalist  (nor is he a communist in any meaningful sense of the
term).

I took another look at the SAIC leaflet.  There is certainly no intent to
put down the people-- it is denouncing their oppressors.  I'm sure this
could be made more clear.   To put the Afghan Shia personal status law in
perspective, marital rape was widely legal in this country (U.S.) till the
1980's.    In the U.S. sexual assault is both widespread in society and is
endemic both in prisons the military-- the same U.S. military which is
waging war on the people of Afghanistan.  Check out:
http://www.packparachute.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=147&Itemid=138

I run with a different group myself (check out http://vvawai.org).  SAIC,
VVAWAI and others are working together to build antiwar protest in Seattle
on Oct 17.
Groups and individuals in this collective/coalition are putting the demo
info on their own literature as part of building for it.  A growing variety
of views on these issues are represented.

I encourage you to work with us and help build a powerful antiwar protest.
We will be meeting
Wednesday, September 2, 7:00 p.m
Miller Community Center, small conf rm.
330 19th Avenue East, Seattle

I'm Cc'ing this to our organizer's litserv, which includes SAIC people.  If
you want to work with us, let us know.  Your comments and criticism are
always highly welcome.

--Anton Black


http://october17antiwarseattle.blogspot.com/


On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 12:20 AM, Theodore Lang <theodoreplang at gmail.com>wrote:

> I hope this message finds you well,
>
>  I had a great talk with a man who was handing out fliers on the Ave in the
> University district. After bidding farewell, I read the pamphlet he was
> handing out and was surprised with some of the errors in it. After checking
> your website, I found this to be the same leaflet:
> http://www.seattleaic.org/leaflets/us_out_of_afghanistan_and_pakistan
>
> The leaflet described that the at the end of the year sharia law would be
> passed giving husbands the right to rape their wives. Can you provide where
> in sharia that something like this is allowed? Don't confuse Afghan law with
> sharia - also, in an Islamic marriage the husband and wife both have the
> right to ask for intimacy but neither is allowed to force the other. If
> neither partner fulfills this right, both can file for divorce.
>
> In the following paragraph the leaflet went on to mention how the
> government is filled with grisly fundamentalist warlords and then it went on
> to give the example of Rashid Dostum. This is accurate except the for the
> word fundamentalist. Dostum could best be described as an opportunist and if
> he followed any political ideology it would probably be communism, based on
> his long allegiance with the Soviets.
>
> I'm sorry to say this, but when I read the pamphlet it created two
> thoughts: the US should get out and Afghans are savage disgusting people.
> War creates extremism and both of the wars they didn't ask for. I hope that
> if you publish another leaflet it will be more sympathetic to the plight of
> all Afghan people.
>
> *Insha Allah* there will be a great turnout for this protest but many
> Muslims who consider Afghans to be as close as family are turned away by
> pamphlets like these.
>
> take care,
>
> --
> Theodore Lang
> langt2 at uw.edu
> (206) 802 8796
>
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