Fw: This is actually tough to read

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-----Original Message-----
From: Robert MacLellan <skyy@rocketmail.com<
To: Rob't MacLellan <skyrocket38@yahoo.com<
Date: Saturday, March 24, 2001 9:14 AM
Subject: This is actually tough to read

If you decide not to forward this, please send it back to me. I know this is
too true and so dreadful. Oprah actually had a show about this atrocity.
This is an actual petition, and "signatures" will be lost if you drop the
line. Please take 3 minutes out of your life to do your part.
Madhu, 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 restricted
to 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 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 bur qua,
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) Sara Myers, San Francisco,CA,USA
8) Ellen Tilden, San Fransisco,CA,USA
9) Vanessa Ross, San Francisco,CA,USA
10) Jenna Shaw- Battista, San Francisco,CA,USA
11) Jeanne Racik, Berkeley,CA,USA
12) Julie Silas, Oakland,CA,USA
13) Renee Longstreet, Tarzana,CA,USA
14) Susan Johnson, Encino,CA,USA
15) Kenneth Johnson, Encino,CA,USA
16) Terri Treas, Los Angeles,CA,USA
17) Amy Retzinger, North Hollywood,CA,USA
18) Babette Crooms, Los Angeles,CA,USA
19) Olivia Kienzel; Santa Barbara,CA,USA
20) Sean Dexheimer, Los Angeles,CA,USA
21) Elio Chavez, Jr., Pasadena,CA,USA
22) Gregory Kastigar, Los Angeles,CA,USA
23) Robert Collie, Los Angeles,CA,USA
24) Jeff Garvin, Brea,CA,USA
25) Tricia Allen, Sherman Oaks,CA,USA
26) Joleen Nordstrom, Hollywood,CA,USA
27) Theresa Donahoe, Martinez,CA,USA
28) Jennifer Horn, Concord,CA,USA
29) Roxanne Ryan, Alamo,CA,USA
30) Miriam Tyler, San Jose,CA,USA
31) John Burns, San Jose,CA,USA
32) Kristin Lynn Minick, Fort Worth,TX,USA
33) Jeff Neal, Marietta,GA,USA
34) Anna Neal, Marietta, GA,USA
35) Frances Murley-Fort Worth,TX,USA
36) David Murley-London,England,UNITED KINGDOM
37) Jillian Dykhouse, Colleyville,TX,USA
38) Bonnie Dykhouse,Colleyville,TX,USA
39) Nancy Williams, Colleyville,TX,USA
40) Georgene Farr, Sterling Heights,MI,USA
41) Joanne Arensberg, Riverview,MI,USA
42) Luann Ouellette, Vermillion,SD,USA
43) Sandie Sullivan, Vermillion,SD,USA
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) Jul ie Stokes, Coon Rapids,MN,USA
49) Tracy Ford, Blaine,MN,USA
50) Sheila Lawrence, Monticello,MN,USA
51) Brenda Kitchen, Westlake Village,CA,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,USA
63) Sheri Lew,CO,USA
64) Raven Grace,Boulder,CO,USA
65) Martha M.Mertz,EL,MI,USA
66) Colleen R. Cooper,Okemos,MI,USA
67) Barbara J. Sawyer-Koch, East Lansing,MI,USA
68) Margaret A. Meyers, Okemos,MI,USA
69) Mary Helen Espes, Okemos,MI,USA
70) Maureen Kirchhoff, Allenspark,CO,USA
71) Bart Johnson, Err, FRANCE
72) Sharon O'Connor, Olympia,WA,USA
73) Nancy Irving, Tbilisi, REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA
74) Martha Lindley, Seattle,WA,USA
75) Judith Alexander, Woodinville,WA,USA
76) Arlene B. Hawkinson, Seattle,WA,USA
77) Christine E. Mobley, Bothell,WA,USA
78) Trudie Breen,CA,USA
79) Catherine Standiford,CA,USA
80) Beverly Truett,AZ,USA
81) Christine Meehan,AZ,USA
82) Janice Gilbert, Valley Center,CA,USA
83) Dawna Upchurch, Anchorage,AK,USA
84) Roxanna Groves, Olympia,WA,USA
85) Lynda Lynde, Helena,MT,USA
86) Constance Gelu, University Place,WA,USA
87) Jodi Woolett, Tacoma,WA,USA
88) Lisa I. Reeves- Lynden,WA,USA
89) Amanda James-Bow,WA,USA
90) Kelli J. Smith, New Port Richey,FL,USA
91) Chris Poirier, Largo,FL,USA
92) Mike Carpenter, Palmetto,FL,USA
93) Alice Pryor, Melbourne,FL,USA
94) Ellen Catano, Manchester,NH,USA
95) Bevely Jennings, Cincinnati,OH,USA
96) Linda Feely, Norwood,OH,USA
97) Sherry Stidham, Norwood,OH,USA
98) Brittany Brown, Cincinnati,OH,USA
99) Sandy Brown, Cincinnati,OH,USA
100)Tim Br