The Difference Between a Campaign and a Movement

I love Gloria Steinem.

She spoke at the Barrymore Theater yesterday. It was wonderful, after all the electioneering our little swing state has been inundated with, to hear someone speaking from a movement perspective. Here's an excerpt:

This is not going to end with this election... We are going to get rid of the Electoral College, state by state, the way Colorado is doing it so finally we have one person, one vote. ... We're going to take the media back. We're going to use the people's media, the internet and anything else that we've got. But we're also going to go [to mainstream media outlets] in delegations every, every week and say, "You're doing wrong. We're taking your advertisers away. This is what we want you to do. This is a list of story ideas that are positive." We're going to get the FCC regulations back. And finally, finally, we're going to get our country -- you know, it really isn't back. Let's face it. It hasn't been that long since only property-owning white guys could vote, alright? It took a hundred years to get women of all races and men of color to be counted as citizens and human beings. If it took a hundred years to get an identity, and we're now seeking equality, we can understand that we're probably thirty years into another hundred years.

Just a few moments from a truly inspiring speech.

In other news, you might have read that a new report, done by Johns Hopkins University medical and social scientists and based on a survey of 1,000 Iraqi households located across the country, found that as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians may have died due to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. However, many descriptions of the study (like this one) don't include the finding that "most of the dead were women and children killed in military activity, particularly air strikes" (emphasis added).

Another reason why war is a women's issue...

And, of course, it's particularly important to get active this week:

• Vote Tuesday November 2nd! See how to register to vote in Wisconsin (which you can do at the polls, the day of the election) here.
  
• Organize and rally (if needed) to demand every vote be counted, on Wednesday November 3rd! More info here and here.
  
• Bush or Kerry: Bring the Troops Home Now! rally Saturday November 6th, starting at 1 pm, UW Library Mall.

As we've said at many a meeting, Madison Women for Peace is in it for the long haul.

Afghanistan is NOT a success!

According to George Bush, the U.S. is "spread[ing] liberty" across Afghanistan. During last week's presidential debate, he claimed:

Ten million citizens have registered to vote. It's a phenomenal statistic. They're given a chance to be free, and they will show up at the polls. Forty-one percent of those 10 million are women.

Which does sound pretty good, until you look at Human Rights Watch's recent report, based on interviews with hundreds of people across Afghanistan:

Pronouncements by Afghan and international officials boasting that 40 percent of registered voters are women ignores the likelihood that tens of thousands of women have been registered more than once (some believing their voting card would entitle them to benefits or food rations), and masks regional variation in the figures, including data from some southern provinces showing that less than 10 percent of those registered are women.  Several election officials in Kabul acknowledged to Human Rights Watch in late September that the number of Afghans expected to vote on October 9 could range as low as 5 to 7 million.

Now we have an answer to the question: What's worse than using women's rights as a pretense for offensive military action?
Yes, it's: Ignoring the continued plight of Afghan women to claim victory, for partisan political gain.

To mark the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on October 7 (and to debunk more of the lies likely to fly around Afghanistan's presidential election October 9), Women for Peace will hold a "walking protest" on Thursday, October 7 starting at noon at the King Street side of Capital Square. Put on something pink and join us! We'll hand out Afghanistan fact sheets to passers by and leave more information at our local Congressional offices.

Check out our press release, our opinion piece and our fact sheet (PDF file, 990 kb) - and join us on Thursday!

- Diane

PS - Check back with Human Rights Watch tomorrow, when they're releasing another Afghanistan report - "specifically focusing on women’s participation in the election and civil society in general."