March 8: Malalai Joya in Madison!

How can a country improve when 50% of its population are silenced? It is like a bird with only one wing.
-- Malalai Joya, who the BBC called "the most famous woman in Afghanistan"

Celebrate International Women's Day with Afghan parliamentarian and noted human rights activist Malalai Joya!

Wednesday March 8, at 6:30 pm
Great Hall, UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St
Malalai Joya speaks on "Afghan Women's Resistance to War and Fundamentalism"
$5 donation suggested at the door

Malalai Joya has devoted herself to furthering women's health and literacy in Afghanistan. She became internationally known when, at the 2003 Loya Jirga assembly, she denounced violent warlords who -- although they had neither repented nor been held responsible for past crimes -- were seeking power in the new government. For her bravery, Malalai has been both widely celebrated and targeted with death threats. Her strong support among the Afghan people was demonstrated by her being overwhelmingly elected to Afghanistan's parliament last year.

The BBC News website, Afghan Women's Mission, and Malalai Joya Defense Committee have more information about Malalai's life, activism and current goals.

The March 8 International Women's Day celebration will also include spoken word performances by Katrina Flores and Tracie Gilbert, and music and dancing by the Omulu Capoeira Group. For more info, call 608-257-7230.

Organized by Madison Women for Peace: A Code Pink Affiliate and the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua, welcomed by WORT 89.9 fm, and cosponsored by the UW Center for South Asia, Campus Women's Center, and Eunice Wagner Foundation.

Malalai Joya will also speak at 12 pm on March 9, on "Women's Role in Nation Building: An Afghan Experience," at the UW Center for South Asia, 206 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Dr, Madison. For more info, email rweiss@wisc.edu.