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-----Original Message-----
From:  Robert MacLellan <skyy@rocketmail.com>
To:  Rob't MacLellan <skyrocket38@yahoo.com>
Date:  Saturday, March 24, 2001 9:14 AM
Subject: This is actually tough  to read



If you decide not to forward this, please send it back to me. I  know this is
too true and so dreadful. Oprah actually had a show about this  atrocity.
This is an actual petition, and "signatures" will be lost if you  drop the
line. Please take 3 minutes out of your life to do your  part.
Madhu, the government of Afghanistan, is waging a war upon women. Since  the
Taliban took power in 1996, women have had to wear burqua and have  been
beaten and stoned in public for not having the proper attire, even if  this
means simply not having the mesh covering in front of their eyes.
One  woman was beaten to death by an angry mob of fundamentalists for
accidentally  exposing her arm(!) while she was driving. Another was stoned
to death for  trying to leave the country with a man that was not a relative.
Women are not  allowed to work or even go out in public without a male
relative;  professional women such as professors, translators, doctors,
lawyers, artists  and writers have been forced from their jobs and restricted
to their homes.  Homes where a woman is present must have their windows
painted so that she  can never be seen by outsiders.
They must wear silent shoes so that they are  never heard. Women live in fear
of their lives for the slightest misbehavior.  Because they cannot work,
those without male relatives or husbands are either  starving to death or
begging the street, even if they hold Ph.D.s. Depression  is becoming so
widespread that it has reached emergency levels. There is no  way in such an
extreme Islamic society to know the suicide rate with  certainty, but relief
workers are estimating that the suicide rate among  women must be
extraordinarily high: those who cannot find proper medication  and treatment
for severe depression and would rather take their lives than  live in such
conditions.
At one of the rare hospitals for women, a  reporter found still, nearly
lifeless bodies lying motionless on top of beds,  wrapped in their bur qua,
unwilling to speak, eat, or do anything, but slowly  wasting away. Others
have gone mad and were seen crouched in corners,  perpetually rocking or
crying, most of them in fear. When what little  medication that is left
finally runs out, one doctor is considering leaving  these women in front of
the president's residence as a form of protest. It is  at the point where the
term "human rights violations" has become an  understatement.
Husbands have the power of life and death over their women  relatives,
especially their wives, but an angry mob has just as much right to  stone or
beat a woman, often to death, for exposing an inch of flesh or  offending
them in the slightest way.
Women enjoyed relative freedom: to  work, to dress generally as they wanted,
and to drive and appear in public  alone until only 1996. The rapidity of
this transition is the main reason for  the depression and suicide; Women who
were once educators or doctors or  simply used to basic human freedoms are
now severely restricted and treated  as subhuman in the name of right-wing
fundamentalist Islam. It is not their  tradition or 'culture,' but it is
alien to them, and it is extreme even for  those cultures where
fundamentalism is the rule.
Everyone has a right to a  tolerable human existence, even if they are women
in a Muslim country. If we  can threaten military force in Kosovo the name of
human rights for the sake  of ethnic Albanians, citizens of the world can
certainly express peaceful  outrage at the oppression, murder and injustice
committed against women by  the Taliban.
STATEMENT: In signing this, we agree that the current treatment  of women in
Afghanistan is completely UNACCEPTABLE and deserves action by the  United
Nations and that the current situation overseas will not be  tolerated.
Women's Rights is not a small issue anywhere, and it is  UNACCEPTABLE for
women in 2000 to be treated as subhuman and as so much  property. Equality
and human decency is a fundamental RIGHT, not a freedom to  be granted,
whether one lives in Afghanistan or elsewhere.
1) Giuliana D.  Black, Daly City,CA,USA 
2) Mariam Nayiny, Palo Alto,CA,USA 
3) Sunaina  Gulati-Ruh, Palo Alto,CA,USA 
4) Megan McCaslin, Palo Alto,CA,USA 
5)  Blake Hallanan, San Francisco,CA,USA 
6) Kit Henderson, Sacramento,CA,USA  
7) Sara Myers, San Francisco,CA,USA 
8) Ellen Tilden, San  Fransisco,CA,USA 
9) Vanessa Ross, San Francisco,CA,USA 
10) Jenna Shaw-  Battista, San Francisco,CA,USA 
11) Jeanne Racik, Berkeley,CA,USA 
12)  Julie Silas, Oakland,CA,USA 
13) Renee Longstreet, Tarzana,CA,USA 
14)  Susan Johnson, Encino,CA,USA 
15) Kenneth Johnson, Encino,CA,USA 
16)  Terri Treas, Los Angeles,CA,USA 
17) Amy Retzinger, North Hollywood,CA,USA  
18) Babette Crooms, Los Angeles,CA,USA 
19) Olivia Kienzel; Santa  Barbara,CA,USA 
20) Sean Dexheimer, Los Angeles,CA,USA 
21) Elio Chavez,  Jr., Pasadena,CA,USA 
22) Gregory Kastigar, Los Angeles,CA,USA 
23) Robert  Collie, Los Angeles,CA,USA 
24) Jeff Garvin, Brea,CA,USA 
25) Tricia  Allen, Sherman Oaks,CA,USA 
26) Joleen Nordstrom, Hollywood,CA,USA 
27)  Theresa Donahoe, Martinez,CA,USA 
28) Jennifer Horn, Concord,CA,USA 
29)  Roxanne Ryan, Alamo,CA,USA 
30) Miriam Tyler, San Jose,CA,USA 
31) John  Burns, San Jose,CA,USA 
32) Kristin Lynn Minick, Fort Worth,TX,USA 
33)  Jeff Neal, Marietta,GA,USA 
34) Anna Neal, Marietta, GA,USA 
35) Frances  Murley-Fort Worth,TX,USA 
36) David Murley-London,England,UNITED KINGDOM  
37) Jillian Dykhouse, Colleyville,TX,USA 
38) Bonnie  Dykhouse,Colleyville,TX,USA 
39) Nancy Williams, Colleyville,TX,USA 
40)  Georgene Farr, Sterling Heights,MI,USA 
41) Joanne Arensberg,  Riverview,MI,USA 
42) Luann Ouellette, Vermillion,SD,USA 
43) Sandie  Sullivan, Vermillion,SD,USA 
44) Troy Nelson, Minneapolis,MN,USA 
45)  Joseph Miller, Minnepolis,MN,USA 
46) Kathleen Miller, White Bear Lake,MN,USA  
47) Jerry Marquis, Mpls.,MN,USA 
48) Jul ie Stokes, Coon Rapids,MN,USA  
49) Tracy Ford, Blaine,MN,USA 
50) Sheila Lawrence, Monticello,MN,USA  
51) Brenda Kitchen, Westlake Village,CA,USA 
52) Teresa Burke, Sherman  Oaks,CA,USA 
53) Bruce Ehrlich, Sherman Oaks,CA,USA 
54) Yllania Francis,  Los Angeles,CA,USA 
55) Drew Hedin, Los Angeles,CA,USA 
56) Laura Paridon,  Laguna Woods,CA,USA 
57) Jeanie Hagedorn, Des Moines,IA,USA 
58) Sue  Christensen, Des Moines,IA,USA 
59) Sybil Finken, Glenwood,IA,USA 
60)  Luke Finken, Earth 
61) Doug Gerace, Lincoln,NE,USA 
62) Cheryl  Gerace,NE,USA 
63) Sheri Lew,CO,USA 
64) Raven Grace,Boulder,CO,USA  
65) Martha M.Mertz,EL,MI,USA 
66) Colleen R. Cooper,Okemos,MI,USA 
67)  Barbara J. Sawyer-Koch, East Lansing,MI,USA 
68) Margaret A. Meyers,  Okemos,MI,USA 
69) Mary Helen Espes, Okemos,MI,USA 
70) Maureen Kirchhoff,  Allenspark,CO,USA 
71) Bart Johnson, Err, FRANCE 
72) Sharon O'Connor,  Olympia,WA,USA 
73) Nancy Irving, Tbilisi, REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA 
74) Martha  Lindley, Seattle,WA,USA 
75) Judith Alexander, Woodinville,WA,USA 
76)  Arlene B. Hawkinson, Seattle,WA,USA 
77) Christine E. Mobley, Bothell,WA,USA  
78) Trudie Breen,CA,USA 
79) Catherine Standiford,CA,USA 
80) Beverly  Truett,AZ,USA 
81) Christine Meehan,AZ,USA 
82) Janice Gilbert, Valley  Center,CA,USA 
83) Dawna Upchurch, Anchorage,AK,USA 
84) Roxanna Groves,  Olympia,WA,USA 
85) Lynda Lynde, Helena,MT,USA 
86) Constance Gelu,  University Place,WA,USA 
87) Jodi Woolett, Tacoma,WA,USA 
88) Lisa I.  Reeves- Lynden,WA,USA 
89) Amanda James-Bow,WA,USA 
90) Kelli J. Smith,  New Port Richey,FL,USA 
91) Chris Poirier, Largo,FL,USA 
92) Mike  Carpenter, Palmetto,FL,USA 
93) Alice Pryor, Melbourne,FL,USA 
94) Ellen  Catano, Manchester,NH,USA 
95) Bevely Jennings, Cincinnati,OH,USA 
96)  Linda Feely, Norwood,OH,USA 
97) Sherry Stidham, Norwood,OH,USA 
98)  Brittany Brown, Cincinnati,OH,USA 
99) Sandy Brown, Cincinnati,OH,USA  
100)Tim Br