Malalai Joya: The Afghan people are `squashed between two powerful enemies'

Film by Nomad Collective

October 18, 2009 – Malalai Joya: “Now, my people are squashed between two powerful enemies. From the sky, the occupation forces are dropping bombs, even using cluster bombs and white phosphorus and killing innocent civilians in the name of combatting the Taliban. On the ground, the Taliban and also the Northern Alliance fundamentalists continue their fascism against men and women of my country.

“So we are fighting right now against two powerful enemies: external enemy and internal enemy. With the withdrawal of the external enemy, the occupation forces, it would be much easier to fight against one enemy instead of two. But there's no question that, for this difficult and prolonged struggle, we need the helping hands of democratic-minded people of Italy, democratic-minded and peace-loving people of the US, justice-loving anti-war movements around the world. They must not leave us alone. Support the democratic-minded men and women of my country.''

[Thanks to MRZine. Malalai Joya is a former MP from Afghanistan. Her autobiography, A Woman among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice (co-written with Derrick O'Keefe), has just been released. She will be on a book tour in the United States from late October to early November. A transcript of a documentary about Joya, A Woman among Warlords, can be downloaded at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/files/2008/06/awomanamongwarlords.pdf.]