Malalai Joya: a victim of Canadian hypocrisy
Special to Canadian Dimension May 21, 2008
Prior to the recent extension of Canada’s war in Afghanistan, a common argument was rained down on critics. We stood accused of opposing women’s rights, and positive reconstruction projects for education and housing.
In a place like Afghanistan, merely asserting these things packs a punch. The fragile country has the lowest GDP per capita in the world. The UN notes that 70% have no access to safe drinking water, 88% have no access to reasonably sanitary living conditions, and 25% of children don’t live beyond the age of 5.
Who would oppose improving this horrifying situation? For war boosters, championing womens’ rights and reconstruction made perfect sense. It was a brilliant tactic to marginalize dissent.
Or so the boosters thought until May 21, 2007. On that day, something happened that tore the “humanitarian” label off this war, and Canada’s support for its apparent lofty values. Malalai Joya, one of sixty-eight Afghan women MPs, was ejected from parliament under a cloud of controversy.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Afghanistan the next day, but said nothing of the incident. Pro-war spin doctors have been in “issue management” mode ever since — and to great success. Joya’s expulsion has barely been mentioned beyond her country.
What was Joya’s crime? In a televised interview in March 2007, she referred to the Loya Jirga (Afghanistan’s parliament) as a “stable”, and likened several of her colleagues to barnyard animals.
Canadians may well be non-plussed by such words. On the surface, they resemble the gutterball politics that happens here all too often. In 2006, many will recall, Defense Minister Peter MacKay was accused of referring to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach as a dog.
But the context behind Joya’s remarks was important. By the time of her expulsion, Joya had run afoul of US and Saudi-backed warlords who, according to Human Rights Watch, hold several top posts in President Hamid Karzai’s government. What’s worse, an estimated 60% of all Afghan MPs have connections to these warlords.
In 2005, Joya demanded the warlords be brought to justice for crimes committed during Afghanistan’s civil war in the early to mid 1990s. During this period, tens of thousands died as rival warlords ravaged Kabul with armaments purchased from foreign providers.
When Joya first raised this issue in parliament, she was pelted with water bottles. Warlords screamed “be quiet!”, and “rape her!” — but Joya gave no quarter. In the face of such barbarism, she continued to speak out. She has survived four assassination attempts since. Her supporters call her the bravest woman in Afghanistan.
Joya has visited Canada several times, speaking to packed out halls. She has recounted the stories of Afghans who suffer, and others reaping the spoils of the NATO occupation. She speaks of women selling their children so the rest of their family can eat. She fumes about riches stolen from “reconstruction” funds, and mansions built by warlords in Kabul. She laments the over 1000 people who starved to death in her country’s bitter winter this year, and the million pounds of bombs dropped on Afghanistan in 2007.
Most importantly, she accuses NATO of “pushing Afghans from frying pan into the fire” — a metaphor to explain why support for the Karzai’s warlords is even worse than the West’s previous support for the Taliban.
The one-year anniversary of Joya’s expulsion is an important reminder of who Canada is really supporting in Afghanistan. In March 2007, months before Joya’s ouster, the Loya Jirga passed an amnesty for all combatants during Afghanistan’s civil war, effectively insulating warlords from legal prosecution. Is this the democracy Canada’s troops are being sent to defend?
It’s time to set the record straight. Set against its frothy talk on womens’ rights, our federal government cuts funding to Canadian womens’ groups, blocks efforts to create a Canadian public childcare system, attacks abortion rights through proposed Criminal Code amendments, and sanctions the muzzling of outspoken women in Afghanistan.
We now have a name to answer the pro-war devotees of womens’ rights. That name is Malalai Joya, and she is a victim of Canadian hypocrisy.
Joel Davison Harden is a member of the Ottawa Peace Assembly, a city-wide coalition of community groups opposed to Canada’s complicity in the so-called “war on terror”. He is an unabashed Malalai Joya fan.