Why the U.S. Should Exit Afghanistan 

A Talk by Sonali Kolhatkar

Host & Producer of KPFK’s Uprising 

Friday, January 16^th, 7:30 PM

At the

Harry Bridges Institute

350 W. 5th Street, Suite 209, San Pedro 90732
Information: 310 548 3333 - jaclin1@pacbell.net

January 14, 2009

300th Friday Night

"Vigil to End the War"

Hi Everybody: This Friday Evening at  SPNPJ’s 300th Friday Night "Vigil to End the War" we are collecting new and serviceable used shoes that will be donated to US Vets-Villages at Cabrillo, located in the former US Naval Housing Quarters in Long Beach that houses 500 formerly homeless Vets and provides services to their families. Join us with your shoes or a donation at 1st and Gaffey from 5:00-7:00 PM.  Instead of throwing shoes at Bush we are putting them to good use.

Jack Finley

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San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice presents:

Why the U.S. Should Exit Afghanistan
With

Sonali Kolhatkar

Host and Producer of
“Uprising Radio” on KPFK

Friday, January 16^th, 7:30 PM
 Harry Bridges Institute
350 W. 5th Street, Suite 209
San Pedro 90732
Information: 310 548 3333

Details: There is handicap parking and an elevator to the second floor.
 The event is free. Donations are appreciated

What happened to the “good war”. How will President-Elect Barrack Obama’s help or hurt the search for peace. What is President- Elect Obama’s Afgahnistan policy?

Please join us for this discussion and short film. We are proud to announce that Sonali Kolhatkar host and producer of  KPFK’s Uprising Radio will be the presenter for the evening. “Uprising Radio” airs daily on KPFK from 8 to 9:00 AM weekdays.

Our speaker, Sonali Kolhatkar is a member of the Afghan Women’s Mission and a supporter of RAWA, the Revolutionary Alliance of Woment of Afghanistan.

What is RAWA?
It was founded in Kabul in 1977 by Meena Keshwar Kamal, a student activist who was assassinated on February 4, 1987 for her political activities. RAWA supports non-violent strategies. The organization aims to involve women of Afghanistan in both political and social activities aimed at acquiring human rights for women and continuing the struggle against the government of Afghanistan based on democratic and secular, not fundamentalist principles, in which women can participate fully. RAWA also strives for multilateral disarmament.
Much of RAWA’s efforts in the 1990s involved holding seminars and press conferences and other fund-raising activities in Pakistan. RAWA also created secret schools, orphanages, nursing courses, and handicraft centers for women and girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. RAWA also secretly filmed women being beaten in the street in Afghanistan by the religious police, and being executed. RAWA activities were forbidden by both Taliban and Northern Alliance.
RAWA was highly critical of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, emphasizing casualties among the civilian population. They continue to charge that the current government led by President Hamid Karzai has no support in most areas of Afghanistan, and that fundamentalists are enforcing anti-woman laws as they were under the Taliban.

Recently RAWA started its mission inside Afghanistan and organize some of its events in Kabul. They marked the International Women’s Day in Kabul on March 8, 2006, March 9, 2007 and March 8, 2008.
On September 27, 2006, a RAWA member for the first time (perhaps in the whole history of RAWA) appeared in a round table of a local Afghan TV channel called TOLO TV. She had a debate with a representative of a hard line fundamentalist group. She named the top leaders of the Islamic groups and termed them "war criminal and responsible for the ongoing tragedy in Afghanistan". Tolo TV censored the audio of any sections where names were called.

"Each of us needs a little RAWA"  Arundhati Roy