If Karzai's re-election was a fraud, Obama's surge of troops brought just more violence. For Afghans he's the 'second Bush'

Malalai Joya in Kabul, The Guardian, November 3, 2010

One year ago Hamid Karzai was declared re-elected as president of Afghanistan, ending an election that had no legitimacy in the eyes of ordinary Afghans. The presidential election last year was a fraud, with ballot stuffing, vote buying and massive corruption reported by the world's media. Even if the independent election commission had not cancelled the planned run-off between Karzai and his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, it would have represented only a choice of the "same donkey with a new saddle". People had no incentive to participate as they knew that both main candidates would bring nothing positive for Afghan people.

A short documentary by Glyn Strong

This short film by Glyn Strong, tells the story of a young rape victim in Kabul who, against all odds, found happiness.

نقاطی از گزارش کاملا مغایر بینش و اظهارات همیشگی ملالی جویا می باشند

کمیته دفاع از ملالی جویا، ٣١ اکتوبر ٢٠١٠ – ٩ عقرب ١٣٨٩

آقای امان معاشر گزارشی از سفر اخیر ملالی جویا به کانادا بنابر دعوت سازمان ضد جنگ «ائتلاف صلح کانادا»، پوهنتون «میک گیل» در مونترال، و خانم مبل ایلمور عضو پارلمان کانادا را در بعضی سایت ها به نشر رسانیده است که صرفنظر از اشتباهات فاحش املایی، نقاطی از آن کاملا مغایر بینش و اظهارات همیشگی ملالی جویا می باشند. تا به حال «کمیته دفاع از ملالی جویا» و خود جویا تلفن ها و ایمیل های زیادی حاکی از اعتراض و تاسف و تعجب نسبت به گفته های جویا دریافت کرده اند. «کمیته دفاع» از آقای معاشر خواست تا نادرستی هایی معین در گزارش را در اسرع وقت اصلاح نماید. قرار معلوم برخی دوستان ایرانی نیز اشتباهاتی را به آقای امان معاشر گوشزد کرده اند. ولی از آنجایی که وی موفق به انجام این کار نشد، «کمیته دفاع» لازم دانست تا توضيح در باره سه نکته اساسی زير را جهت رفع ابهامات پيش آمده به آگاهی برساند.

On "Mansbridge One on One" program of CBC News netwrok in Canada

CBC, October 31, 2010

Excerpt from Malalai Joya's speech in Vancouver, Oct. 12, 2010.

By Malalai Joya, Rabble.ca, October 18, 2010

In the United States, many looked to the ballot box and hoped for real change when Barack Obama was elected President in 2008.

To be honest, I never expected that he would be any different for Afghanistan than President George W. Bush. The truth is that Obama's war policies have turned out to be even more of a nightmare than most people expected. Obama talked a lot about hope and change, but for Afghanistan the only change has been for the worse.

After almost two years of Obama, the number of U.S. troops occupying Afghanistan has more than doubled. And the number of drone attacks in Pakistan has increased. Obama's so-called surge of troops has resulted in increased Afghan civilian deaths.

While in Vancouver to make an anti-war speech, Malalai Joya talked to our reporter Zack Baddorf.

Free Speech Radio, October 18, 2010

Violence continued in southern Afghanistan over the weekend, where US and NATO forces recently launched a new military offensive. Militants are fighting back, killing two civilians Saturday in two separate bombings. On Sunday, at least eight Afghan security guards were also killed. NATO claims to have killed a number of militants, and said a detainee captured on Saturday was found dead in his cell.

Resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council at its 187th session (Geneva, 6 October 2010)

IPU, 14/10/2010

The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Ms. Malalai Joya, a member of the House of Representatives of Afghanistan, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/187/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 186th session (April 2010), Noting that, at its session held during the 123rd IPU Assembly, the Committee held a hearing with the leader of the Afghan delegation,

جویا هیچگاهی در هیچ کشوری تقاضای پناهندگی ننموده و نخواهد نمود

کمیته دفاع از ملالی جویا، ٢١ میزان ١٣٨٩ – ١٣ اکتوبر ٢٠١٠

خبرگزاری پژواک و تعدادی از مطبوعات افغانستان به نقل از امان الله پیمان نایب دوم ولسی جرگه گزارش دادند که چهار زن عضو پارلمان افغانستان به کشورهای غربی پناهنده شده اند. وی از ملالی جویا نیز از جمله غیرحاضران دایمی پارلمان که در کانادا پناهندگی گرفته نام برده است.

"کمیته دفاع از ملالی جویا" این اظهارات پارلمان افغانستان در مورد جویا را که از زبان آقای پیمان بیان شده اند دروغ محض و توطئه خوانده شدیدا تقبیح میکند.

"This war is a disaster for both the Afghan and the Canadian people," Joya says.

By Canadian Boat to Gaza, Rabble.ca, October 12, 2010

Malalai Joya, the woman the BBC has called "the most famous in Afghanistan", is in Vancouver to headline a benefit evening for the Canadian Boat to Gaza tonight: Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7pm at W2 Storyeum, 151 W. Cordova. The event at W2 will also feature Victoria-based Gaza flotilla activist Kevin Neish, as well as live music and other speakers. A share of the proceeds will also go to support a free medical clinic in Farah, Afghanistan.

Joya asked Canadians to join antiwar organizations.

By Lea Storry, Postmedia News, The Vancouver Sun, October 11, 2010

Malalai Joya, an outspoken critic of the war in Afghanistan and the youngest woman elected to that country's parliament speaks at the University of Calgary on Sunday October 10, 2010.
Photograph by: Gavin Young, Calgary Herald

CALGARY — The youngest woman ever elected to Afghanistan's parliament told a Canadian audience Sunday that the NATO occupation of her homeland is supporting a puppet government and making Afghanistan a haven for terrorists and drug-trafficking.

Malalai Joya, an outspoken critic of NATO and the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, was invited to speak at the University of Calgary on Sunday by the Afghan Canadian Students' Association.

On her first visit to Calgary, the 32-year-old said Afghanistan called on Canadians to support the fight for a lasting democracy in Afghanistan.

Malalai Joya was invited to speak at the University of Calgary by the Afghan Canadian Students' Association. Calgary, Canada. 10/10/2010

Tory Ansuwan, Co-Founder FAREopp.ca, Demotix News, 11/10/2010

Malalai Joya is an Afghan politician who has been called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan." As an elected member of the Wolesi Jirga from Farah province, she has publicly denounced the presence of what she considers warlords and war criminals in the parliament. She is an outspoken critic of both the Taliban as well as the present Afghan government of Karzai and its western supporters.

Emotions filled the room as Malalai Joya (this petite and seemingly quiet woman) gathered her notes from the previous television interview and made her way to the lonely desk I was anxiously waiting at.

Joya is starting on a speaking tour of Canada, underlining the need to support democratic groups in Afghanistan

The Canadian Press, October 6, 2010

OTTAWA - Malalai Joya, a rights activist and former Afghan MP, says U.S. President Barack Obama's policies in Afghanistan are as bad as those of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

She says Obama's surge of troops into her country has made things worse for ordinary Afghans.

Joya says Canada has been following the wrong policy for nine years, going along with what she calls American war crimes.

Young woman like Malalai Joya can daily confront so powerful enemies

Toni Álvarez, Catalunya, September 2010
Translated from Catalan by Maria Romano

It is well known that women have been, again and again, the main figures in the armed conflicts that have occurred in the course of modern history (a well as in not so modern history).

Most of the times, women have been triple victims, as mothers, partners or just by themselves. Sometimes, they have also been decisive opponents to the wars that were slaughtering them.

Joya came to world attention with her scathing short speech at the historic Loya Jirga assembly in 2003

By Habib Shaikh, The Saudi Gazette, September 27, 2010

Someone once said “Speak so that I may see thee.” But at times, especially when one speaks about bringing to light the misdeeds of those in power, there is no end to threats urging that person from speaking.

“Afghanistan today is without a doubt the most dangerous place to be born,” Daniel Toole, UNICEF’s regional director for South Asia, reportedly told a news briefing in Geneva in November last year. It is also a dangerous place to grow up in as one learns from Malalai Joya’s experiences and the book ‘Raising My Voice,’ in which she talks “about the plight of the Afghan people from the perspective of a member of my country’s war generation” using her “personal “experiences as a way to tell the political history of Afghanistan, focusing on the past three decades” of what she calls “oppressive rule.”