WUNRN
Afghanistan - International
On March 8, 2008, International
Women's Day,
at 10 AM, Afghan Women Unite for
Peace
In Kandahar,
one of the most violent provinces in Afghanistan,
women are gathering for peace because they are tired of watching their family
and friends killed in senseless acts of violence. Women in Kabul and
every otherprovince of Afghanistan will
express their solidarity with the Kandahar women by reading a message of
peace at their International Women's Day gatherings on March 8th.
Elsewhere in the world, Bpeace (The
Business Council for Peace) is mobilizing international support for the Afghan
women by circulating an on-line petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/afghanpeace. The petition
will be presented as a display of international support to the brave women of Kandahar and
to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and
the United Nations.
The Afghan
women have taken their cue from two ordinary women in Ireland who,
in the 1970's, grew angry because Irish were killing Irish. These women
went door to door and convinced women to march for peace. They later won
the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Today we
drove by the site of the third suicide bomber in three days,” says Rangina
Hamidi, one of the organizers of the Kandahar gathering.
“We are ready to follow in the footsteps of our Irish sisters. For the past
seven years Afghans have celebrated March 8th with cheap gifts given to women
to honor them. This year, the women in Kandahar loudly
say the best gift for us is peace in our country."
Rangina Hamidi
will be in New York City March
2 to 6, 2008. For more information contact: Marla Gitterman,mgitterman@bpeace.org ,
212-696-9696 or Laurie Chock, lauriechock@optonline.net ,
(914) 591-4052.
Also
on March 8th in Annandale, Virginia, the women of the DC Metro
Afghan Community, supported by the Embassy of Afghanistan, are gathering to
express their support of the Afghan women. Contact: Zarmina Hamidi, Zaro78@yahoo.com , 703-729-3528 / 571-236-0388
or Stoorai Ayazi, Mena96@comcast.net, 703-430-0906 / 571-277-0218.
For further information about the
petition, the events in Kandahar, and additional events in the metro Washington
DC/Northern Virginia area, please go to:
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