"AFGHANISTAN AND BEYOND" MARKS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY AT MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE: FORUM TO EXPLORE WOMEN'S ACTIVISM BEFORE AND AFTER SEPTEMBER 11

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass.—A slate of speakers that includes Afghan exiles and international activists who have recently completed fact-finding missions to Afghanistan will take part in a two-day forum, "Afghanistan and Beyond: Women's Activism in Times of War," March 7 and 8 in Gamble Auditorium at Mount Holyoke College. The forum, which coincides with International Women's Day, will explore the dilemmas that activists in the arenas of women's rights, human rights, and antimilitarism confront in the world that has emerged since September 11. The event is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible.

On March 7 at 7:30 PM, keynote speaker Radhika Coomaraswamy, special rapporteur on violence against women for the United Nations Human Rights Commission, will address the promise and peril of women's human rights. Coomaraswamy has traveled extensively since her UN commission began in 1994, documenting the condition of women all over the world, including in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Says Karen Remmler, codirector of the Weissman Center, "in organizing the forum we invited women who have insights that aren't being reported in mainstream media. There has been much discussion about the oppression of women under the Taliban, but little talk about the fact that long before September 11 women's groups and organizations [within Afghanistan and around the world] have been addressing the situation of women in Afghanistan."

The forum is sponsored by the Five College Women's Studies Research Center, the Weissman Center for Leadership, and the Crossing Borders: Rethinking Area Studies Initiative, which is funded by the Ford Foundation. For more information, contact Karen Remmler codirector of the Weissman Center for Leadership, at 413-538-3066; or Amrita Basu, director of the Five College Women's Studies Research Center, at 413-538-2986.

The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, March 7
7:30 PM
Opening Remarks: Beverly Daniel Tatum, acting president, Mount Holyoke College; Amrita Basu, director, Five College Women's Studies Research Center
Moderator: Karen Remmler, codirector, Weissman Center for Leadership
Keynote: "The Dilemmas of Women's Human Rights: Afghanistan and Beyond," Radhika Coomaraswamy, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women for the United Nations Human Rights Commission and director, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Friday, March 8
9:15–10:45 AM
Plenary One: Women's Activism in Afghanistan
This plenary explores the response by women's groups to the tumultuous history of Afghanistan from the period of Soviet occupation to the present. Under discussion will be women's responses both to Soviet and to U.S. influence and, later, to the repressive Taliban regime and women's responses to the Taliban's collapse and to the war that brought about its demise.
Moderator: Nafisa Hoodbhoy, journalist, Ford Associate at the Five College Women's Studies Research Center and producer for WFCR radio
Panelists: Nasrine Abou-Bakre Gross, U.S. representative to NEGAR: Support of Women of Afghanistan; Tahmeena Faryal, member of RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan; and Roxanne Euben, Department of Political Science, Wellesley College

10:45–11 AM
Break

11 AM –12:30 PM
Plenary Two: Transnational Women's Activism
This plenary explores the efficacy of varied forms of transnational activism. Panelists will analyze tensions among transnational groups around universal human rights. To what extent do women's groups in the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States differ in assessing certain universal rights for women?
Moderator: Ali Mirsepassi, professor of sociology and Near Eastern studies, Hampshire College
Panelists: Valentine Moghadam, 2001–2002 Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow, director of women's studies, and associate professor of sociology, Illinois State University; Zoya Hasan, professor of political science, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Dehli, India; Simona Sharoni, executive director, The Consortium on Peace Research, Education, and Development (COPRED) and the Peace Studies Association (PSA); Marie-Aimee Helie Lucas, founder and coordinator, Women Living under Muslim Law

12:30–2 PM
Lunch

2–3:45 PM
Plenary Three: Democracy in Times of War
This session focuses on the challenges women have faced in seeking inclusion in peace negotiations. This raises important questions about women's relationship to democratic processes that are governed by states. Panelists will examine challenges to democratic rights in the U.S. during this time of war and reflect on ways in which North American activists and scholars can support women's participation in the democratic processes in Afghanistan.
Moderator: Lucas Wilson, associate professor, African American studies and economics, Mount Holyoke College
Panelists: Sunera Thobani, assistant professor of women's studies, University of British Columbia; Mervat F. Hatem, professor of political science, Howard University; and Shala Haeri, director of women's studies, Boston University

3:45–4 PM
Closing Remarks:
Lorna Peterson, executive director, Five Colleges, Inc., Amrita Basu, and Karen Remmler