Human Rights

Fasting for solidarity

by Mary Beth Polley

As gender apartheid in Afghanistan increases, new reports are emerging that Afghan women are turning to suicide to escape life under the rule of the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist government. Unable to attend school or work, Afghan women remain prisoners in their own homes; they're allowed outside only if they're completely covered by a burqua and under the supervision of a male relative. With little access to health care or the outside world, they are at the mercy of their male relatives and government agencies such as the Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Since the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan in 1996, human-rights activists around the globe have led protests and awareness movements. Newtonville resident Becky Hull has organized another: as a sign of solidarity with Afghan women, Hull will restrict her diet to a single food from April 30 to May 6 and hopes to get millions of people to join her modified fast.

Hull, who is supported by the Feminist Majority Foundation, a national coalition of activists, will e-mail information about the fast to people throughout Massachusetts and the country this week. Participants are asked to sign a petition in support of the Afghan women and to send Hull a postcard describing their fast. In return, they will receive a symbol of remembrance, a piece of a burqua, to wear during the fast.

E-mail Hull at BeckyHu@webtv.net or visit the Feminist Majority Foundation Web site at www.feminist.org.