‘Seeds of Terror’: Gretchen Peters

Gretchen Peters spent five years travelling the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan researching her book ‘Seeds of Terror: How Heroin is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda’. As a journalist based in Karachi, Peter’s had been reporting on the region, first as a journalist for The Associated Press and then for ABC television.

In Seeds of Terror, she details the opium trade in the area, asserting that Afghanistan is now a ‘narco-terror’ state akin to Colombia, and that there is a clear nexus between the Taliban, al Qaeda and the drugs trade. More mafioso than mujahideen, their efforts fund them to the tune of $500 million a year. This interview with Gretchen about the book appeared in the New Statesman: http://www.newstatesman.com/non-fiction/2009/10/drugs-trade-taliban-opium

Gretchen Peters will be discussing ‘Seeds Of Terror’ and the situation in Afghanistan with Lyse Doucet, presenter and correspondent for BBC World Service at The Frontline Club on 4th November. For more information: http://frontlineclub.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=40ae3724a83aa32a4fd0b7c5d&id=c76da9762e&e=d4ee6d5e0d

Photo: John Moore

No Recourse, No Safety Action: Abused women failed by UK system

Many women come to the UK in the hope of improving their lives. They may come on temporary work permits, student visas or commonly, spousal visas, ie, they marry a British citizen and are awaiting their leave to remain in the UK to be granted by the Home Office. However, having this ‘insecure’ immigration status means that if a woman experiences domestic violence from her partner, she cannot access public funds like housing benefits or income support, benefits a woman needs in order to stay in a refuge if she is fleeing abuse. This leaves thousands of women and children every year trapped in violent relationships, with no choice but to stay with an abusive partner or leave and face homelessness and destitution. Women often report that they’re forced into ’sofa-surfing’/prostitution in return for a bed for the night. You can read Ayan’s story here, who experienced just this: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1120&catID=9

In March 2008, Southall Black Sisters and Amnesty International released a report which highlighted the crisis for women with No Recourse to Public Funds. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11227#Download. The UK government pledged to find a solution and yet 18 months later, there has still been no action.

The No Recourse to Public Funds campaign is seeking an exemption to the no recourse rule, and for funding to be made available to specialist women’s services so they can provide safety and support to women fleeing violence. On Wednesday November 4th, Amnesty International UK is leading on a mass lobby of parliament that will bring activists together to urge the UK government to protect all women from violence and abuse in the UK.
For more information: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/events_details.asp?ID=1378

Murder for ‘Honours’ Sake: Rana Husseini Events

‘You can write a bad cheque in Jordan and get a longer sentence than for killing a woman in the name of honour’ says Jordanian journalist, Rana Husseini.
Award-winning Husseini began investigating so-called honour killings in 1994 after reporting the story of a murder for her newspaper The Jordan Times. Shocked by the fact that the girl’s ‘crime’ was being raped by her brother, Husseini discovered that 25 girls or women are murdered each year in Jordan for reasons that range from rape to chewing gum or laughing in the street. Over 5000 women worldwide are murdered in this way every year.

In her book Murder in the Name of Honour, Husseini examines cases of women whose murders were deemed necessary to restore the honour of a family and will be speaking at two London events this week about so called ‘honour killings’.

Amnesty International: 7th October: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/events_details.asp?ID=1226
The Frontline Club: 8th October: http://frontlineclub.com/events/2009/10/media-talk-murder-for-honours-sake.html

Gun Crime: ‘Ill be crying for the rest of my life’

On average in the UK, 2-3 people are murdered every day and over the past 10 years, violent crime has risen by 77%.  However, there are reports that support for those affected by crime remains scarce, in particular for those dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

Iffat Rizvi’s daughter Sabina was murdered in 2003 after getting caught up in a dispute about a car, she was just 25 years old. Despite repeated requests for help to deal with the trauma, Iffat was told there wasn’t any. Her husband, Pete, died a year after Sabina’s murder, unable to cope with the grief.

For more on Iffat’s story: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1266&catID=6

“The authorities deny us electricity, but it’s not the authorities who are getting burnt every day.”

In 2001, the Durban authorities in South Africa, prohibited the supply of electricity to temporary settlements, the return of an apartheid era legislation. People living in shacks are forced to use paraffin stoves, and there are on average 10 shack fires a day, with over 200 people a year losing their lives. Zodwa Nsibande, an activist in the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement, who campaigns for decent housing for shack dwellers, lives in the Kennedy Road settlement. She was burnt badly in a stove accident in 2006.

For more on this story, click on the link: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1245&catID=9

For more information on Abahlali baseMjondolo, click on the link: http://www.abahlali.org/

‘Speak To Us, Not At Us’: South Africa’s Shack Dwellers

12 million South African’s live in shack dwelling communities, often with no running water, sanitation, or electricity. In preparation for the 2010 World Cup, in 2007 the KwaZulu-Natal province passed the infamous ‘Slums Act’ which seeks to ‘eradicate’ informal settlements by 2014. Thousands are at risk of forced eviction to out of town ‘transit areas’.

The Abahlali BaseMjondolo movement was established in 2005 to promote the rights of shack dwellers in and around Durban and last November the movement challenged the constitutional legality of the ‘Slums Act’. The outcome is due later this month. Mnikelo Ndabankul moved into the Foreman Road settlement in 2001 and is an active member of the ABM. For more on this story: click on the link: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1237&catID=9

Guy’s Story….

‘My brother – could use a little mercy now,
He’s a stranger to freedom,
He’s shackled to his fear and his doubt.
The pain that he lives in,
It’s almost more than living will allow.
I love my brother, he could use some mercy now.’

For more on Guy’s story…
http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1181&catID=3

Poem by Mary Gauthier

‘UK Asylum System is a Form of Torture’

Almost half of those seeking asylum in the UK are women, many of whom have fled violence and persecution with their children. Over 40% of women in the asylum system say they are victims of rape or sexual violence. In leaving behind their homes, countries and often families, women show remarkable courage, but often find when arriving in Britain they are further traumatized by the asylum process.

Farhat Khan had to flee Pakistan due to domestic violence and the threatened forced marriage of her young daughters. She claimed asylum in the UK, but it took 7 years to be granted limited leave to remain. She still lives with the threat of deportation. This interview with Farhat was published in the Guardian Weekly: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1189&catID=6

The Testimony Project is an online community which gives voice to women seeking asylum  as well as providing information and support. As Farhat said: ‘I can speak and tell my story, but I’m only one woman. There are thousands more women seeking asylum in UK, isolated and alone, whose voices go unheard’.

For more information, click on the link: www.testimonyproject.org.uk

Rana Husseini: Murder in the Name of Honour

                                                                                         Photo: Dan Morgan

Rana Husseini’s book, ‘Murder in the Name of Honour’ tells the personal stories of tragedy behind so-called ‘honour killings’ which claim the lives of at least 5,000 women and girls every year. In Jordan, where Rana works as a journalist, 25 women are killed each year and despite the taboo surrounding the issue, she’s been writing for the Jordan Times and campaigning about so-called ’honour killings’ since 1994. In 1998 Rana was awarded a Reebok Award for Human Rights for her work.

Rana’s book explores this cultural atrocity and describes her battle to change legislation as well as exposing  other countries that allow killers who claim to have murdered in the name of ‘honour’, to walk free. 

This interview was published in The New Statesman:
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/07/honour-jordan-book-woman

Murder in the Name of Honour is published by www.oneworld-publications.com

Malalai Joya: The Bravest Women in Afghanistan?

Afghan politician Malalai Joya has been called the ‘the bravest woman in Afghanistan’. Joya, born during the Russian invasion, grew up in the refugee camps of Pakistan and Iran. When she returned to Afghanistan under Taliban rule, she became politically active setting up a covert school for girls and becoming the Director of the Organisation of Promoting Afghan Women’s Capabilities . She was elected to Parliament in 2005.

Joya is one of the few to have spoken out against the Karzai government and was banned from office by a majority vote of parliament after calling it a sanctuary for ‘warlords and theocrats’. Joya has survived five assassination attempts but remains determined to highlight abuses against women and to represent the victims of Afghanistan’s endless cycle of violence.

Joya will be discussing her new autobiography Raising My Voice, her ongoing work promoting human rights in Afghanistan, its politics and the coming election at the Frontline Club on Tuesday.

For more information: http://frontlineclub.com/events/2009/07/special-event-malalai-joya-in-conversation-with-jon-snow.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/25/afghanistan-occupation-taliban-warlords