Democracy Now: We turn now to a voice from Afghanistan. Zoya is a member of the radical underground organization called RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under Taliban rule. more...

Afghan Women’s Mission: Afghan Women’s Mission is pleased to announce a nation-wide tour of Zoya, a member of RAWA in October 2009, exactly 8 years after the start of the US war. Zoya will share the message of RAWA in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Iowa, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Francisco. more...

If we glance back at history, US governments have never brought “peace” and “democracy” in any country. It has only forced war on countless countries, causing destruction, killing and disasters. Afghanistan is no exception. Everyone knows that the so-called “war on terror” of the US and allies is just a fake. It is an open secret today that all of the terrorist bands in Afghanistan and region, from Osama to Al-Qaeda, Taliban and Mujahideen warlords are products of the Cold War-era White House. more...

As the government of Afghanistan, under the watchful eye of Washington, prepared for its second national election since the U.S. invasion of 2001, we sat down with Shazia, a Kabul resident and member of the powerful organization RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. We wanted to ask her about the current situation in her country, and the experiences of women under the regime of Hamid Karzai and his American backers. more...

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to talk with Shazia Shekib (an alias), a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She was in the US to speak at the Veterans for Peace National Convention and share her on-the-ground perspective on the war in Afghanistan. We talked about RAWA’s take on the US strategy for Afghanistan, and the debate in the US about how to best serve women’s rights in Afghanistan. more...

AlterNet: The U.S. invasion has been a failure, and increasing the U.S. troop presence will not undo the destruction the war has brought to the daily lives of Afghans. As humanitarians and as feminists, it is the welfare of the civilian population in Afghanistan that concerns us most deeply. That is why it was so discouraging to learn that the Feminist Majority Foundation has lent its good name -- and the good name of feminism in general -- to advocate for further troop escalation and war. more...

RAWA is an organisation that defends women’s and human rights and advocates for a fully democratic and secular government in Afghanistan. Shazia (not her real name) lives in Kabul and teaches English, translates RAWA publications for the international media and visits rural Afghanistan as a reporter for RAWA’s magazine, Payam-e-Zan (Message of Women). During her recent speaking tour in Australia she spoke to Green Left Weekly’s Katherine Bradstreet. more...

That was the blunt message to Australia _ and the US _ on Sunday from Shazia Shakib, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). Shazia Shakib (not her real name, to protect her) on Sunday in Hobart gave a first-hand account of the struggle for human rights, democracy and secular values in her country, a nation ravaged by war and religious fundamentalism. more...

The Revolutionary Association for the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) is a group dedicated to help women suffering harsh gender inequality in the Middle East. The political group was formed in 1977. Shazia Shakib from RAWA is in Australia to raise support for the plight of women in war-torn Afghanistan. Featured in story: Shazia Shakib. more...

For 30 years, through Soviet occupation, Taliban rule, the American invasion and the current reign of warlords, RAWA has continued the struggle for democracy, human rights and secularism. RAWA runs health clinics, schools and adult education centres. The Taliban prohibited the education of girls and are still destroying schools and murdering teachers who dare to continue teaching. more...

Shazia is a spokesperson for the clandestine and underground movement known as RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Hated and banned in Afghanistan, RAWA operates through a well-organized network of women throughout Afghanistan and in Pakistan. The group is fiercely anti-fundamentalist, and abhors the use of Islam as an excuse for the continued persecution of women. For the past 30 years it has called for a democratic and secular government in Afghanistan. But it’s a call that continues to fall on deaf ears. more...

RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, has been campaigning for democracy and better human rights for women in that country for more than 30 years. Shazia Shakib is the alias of a member of RAWA in Australia at the moment, whose real name we’re not using for her protection on return to Afghanistan. She says that while many people in the West think that women in Afghanistan are now free, in reality the few rights they have are under threat. more...

Upon hearing of the recent change in Shiite law in Afghanistan, one that stipulates that a wife "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires," V-Day reached out to long time V-Day activist and representative of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, (RAWA) Zoya for her comments on behalf of RAWA and the women of her country. more...

In June, 2008, the Afghan activist Zoya of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) testified to the Human Rights Commission of the German Parliament (Bundestag) in an effort to persuade the German government to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. At that time Elsa Rassbach, a U.S. citizen living in Germany, interviewed Zoya in Berlin. This is the first release of the interview in English. more...

The US invaded Afghanistan to fulfil its geo-political, economic and regional strategic interests and to change Afghanistan into a strong military base in the region. Since Afghanistan is the heart of Asia, it would serve as a strong base for controlling surrounding countries like Pakistan, China, Iran and above all the Central Asian Republics. Additionally, as a superpower, it continues to occupy Afghanistan to combat rising powers like Russia and China, who are becoming greater rivals for the US in the economic, military and political fields. more...

WW4 Report: The co-educational schools that the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) runs for Afghan refugees in Pakistan are under attack from Pakistan's new Taliban movement. This statement from RAWA was forwarded to us by the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan (SAWA-Australia), April 21. more...

The Daily Gleaner: The auditorium of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre was filled recently with people coming together to support a longtime prominent women's group in Afghanistan, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). more...

The Fredericton Peace Coalition, the UNB/STU University Women’s Centre, NB RebELLEs-Fredericton, and CUSO-VSO joined together to host Fredericton’s third Annual Benefit for the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan (RAWA). RAWA began in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1977 under the leadership of Meena, an activist who was eventually assassinated for her advocacy against Afghanistan’s fundamentalist forces. more...

The News: Members of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) here on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest against representatives of Afghanistan in ‘Peace Jirga’ held in Islamabad. RAWA, a democratic and anti-fundamentalist organisation, condemned the assembly, “which is not at all related to our people and their immediate demands for peace and stability.” more...

Sharifa and Shams are siblings living in a RAWA orphanage. Sharifa was four and Shams was two when their father was killed by Taliban in 1998 in Yakawlang in Bamyan, a beautiful historical province of Afghanistan. Only Sharifa remembers hearing the news of her father’s death. Her mother became ill and died soon afterwards. more...