OUSU WOMEN¹S PICNIC AND RAWA APPEA

> Denied access to education, health care, employment, travel and legal
> recourse, and subject to domestic slavery, custodial violence and sexual
> crime, the women of Afghanistan have endured decades of desperate poverty and
> the horrors of war and fundamentalism. RAWA was established in Kabul in 1977
> as an independent political/social organisation of Afghan women fighting for
> peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and social justice. RAWA campaigns on
> behalf of some of the most tyrannised women in the world.
>
> The founding leader of RAWA, Meena, was brutally assassinated in 1987. RAWA
> supporters have faced imprisonment, torture and death to alert the world to
> conditions in Afghanistan. Yet RAWA continues to involve an increasing number
> of Afghan women in their inspirational campaign of non-violent resistance to
> political repression, as well as providing urgently needed education and
> health facilities for refugee women and children.
>
> RAWA has achieved much coverage in the international media and has won many
> prestigious awards, including the International Alfonso Comín Award (2003),
> the Asian Human Rights Award (2001), the French Republic¹s Liberty, Equality,
> Fraternity Human Rights Prize (2000) and a gift from Amnesty International
> (1995).
>
> RAWA is always in need of funds and publicity. Today the organisation is also
> in need of 'films with progressive and anti-fundamentalist themes (preferably
> with sub-titles in Persian or, if not available, in English) and also books,
> reference books, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, periodicals, etc.' for a
> resource centre for anti-fundamentalist education. This is the perfect
> endeavour for Oxford University students to support: assisting the cause of
> female education, sharing the resources of our inheritance to promote
> universal human rights, and providing intellectual and moral sustenance for
> RAWA's heroic efforts on behalf of the women of Afghanistan.
>
> Collecting such material, as students come to the end of their courses, should
> be fairly easy, as well as being an imaginative alternative to the usual
> appeals for funds. Students will have the opportunity to dispose of some of
> their books in a worthy cause, and the picnic will help to pay for the
> postage. RAWA are also in need of many small size video (mini-DV cameras are
> preferred) and photo cameras to be able to film and photograph the atrocities
> against women in Afghanistan.
>
> OUSU Women¹s VP Catherine Wallis explained, ³We are delighted to be able to
> support women¹s education and other human rights in such a practical way. As
> women students ourselves, the plight of the women of Afghanistan has an
> immediate resonance with the members of OUSU Women¹s Campaign and collecting
> these resource materials seemed an innovative and exciting way to help out.
> RAWA has done a lot of good work over the past few years and we would like to
> show solidarity with them in this and promote their aims in any way we can. I
> would really encourage everybody to get involved!²
>
> Emma Jones, who is bringing a motion to OUSU Council in support of RAWA, said,
> ³Support for RAWA is an expression of solidarity with some of the world¹s most
> suffering women in their brave work for a better future. As Oxford students,
> it is important to look out of the ivory tower, and recognise that there are
> some countries in which a woman¹s right simply to exist as her own person is
> denied. RAWA has a motto, ŒYou are not free until all women are free¹. No one
> (especially the next generation) can afford to be complacent about female
> equality, while the women of Afghanistan continue to be denied the most basic
> human rights.²
>
> Women's Campaign is hoping to organise collections of resources in Colleges
> from next week. Those coming to the picnic should meet at 5.00 on Monday at
> St. John¹s College in the Lodge.
>
> For further details please email  women@ousu.org or contact Emma on
>  emma.jones@keb.ox.ac.uk