Countering Violence and Building People Power in Afghanistan
Thu, Oct 14, 2021 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Tickets ($0-$28.16) here.
A webinar discussing historical grassroots activism and nonviolent campaigns and movements in Afghanistan and potential for use now.
About this event
This interactive webinar is co-sponsored by Solidarity 2020 and Beyond, Waging Nonviolence, and Nonviolence International and will feature Jamila Raqib, Zaher Wahab, Kathy Kelly and Stellan Vingthagen, with Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh, as moderator. Based on Afghan history and context, as well case studies in similar countries, the panelists will share their perspectives on the history, present, and future of root causes of violence, grassroots organizing, peacebuilding, everyday resistance, and strategic nonviolent action in Afghanistan. Webinar participants will also have ample time to contribute to the discussion and ask questions of the panelists. Together, we will increase our knowledge of the recent past and current situation in Afghanistan and how people can build agency, locally led campaigns and action for change, and counter violence and build a thriving peaceful community and country in the future. This webinar will also be relevant to other nonviolent activists in countries facing violent conflict and serious human rights abuses trying to create inclusive, just, and equitable societies.
Panelist Bios:
Jamila Raqib is a specialist in the study and practice of strategic nonviolent action and the executive director of the Albert Einstein Institution, which works to advance the research and application of nonviolent action worldwide. For more than 15 years, she worked closely with the late Dr. Gene Sharp, the world’s foremost scholar of the field of strategic nonviolent action. She was born and raised in Afghanistan and most recently traveled to Jalalabad spending time with family and the community in 2019.
Zaher Wahab is an Afghanistan academic who served as senior advisor to the Minister of Higher Education in Afghanistan 2002-2006 and as a visiting researcher-professor in a master’s degree program for teacher education faculty from Afghanistan’s 16 teacher training colleges 2007-2010. Between 2002 and 2012, he spent about four months annually in his home country, while teaching at Lewis and Clark College in the United States. He then moved back to full-time and founded two MA programs at the American University of Afghanistan.
Kathy Kelly is a US peace activist and author who made over two dozen trips to Afghanistan from 2010 – 2019, living with Afghan Peace Volunteers in a working-class neighborhood in Kabul. She and her companions in various peace team delegations believe that where you stand determines what you see. Kelly lived with families in Baghdad throughout the 2003 Shock and Awe invasion and during the first weeks of the U.S. occupation. Kelly is now campaigning for an international treaty to ban weaponized drones.
Stellan Vinthagen is Professor of Sociology and the Inaugural Endowed Chair in the Study of Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Resistance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he directs the Resistance Studies Initiative. He is also Editor of the Journal of Resistance Studies, and Co-Leader of the Resistance Studies Group at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has participated in numerous nonviolent civil disobedience actions, for which he has served a total of more than one year in prison.
Moderator Bio:
Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh is the founding director of Solidarity 2020 and Beyond. She is an expert on peace building, social justice movements and strategic nonviolent action. She has traveled to 75 countries to provide training and education, capacity building, and solidarity with grassroots activists. She is a Rotary Peace Fellow and previously director at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, Peace Brigades International-USA, and Commission on the Status of Women. Katherine has been a consultant for the Global Fund for Women, Women Peace in Afghanistan, and the Afrikan Youth Movement, and worked in Palestine/Israel.
This webinar is a fundraiser to raise funds to go directly to the field to grassroots Afghan groups organizing for the rights of Afghan women, youth, and minorities. Ticket prices are set to raise these funds and additional donations are greatly appreciated for this very important work!