Afri was privileged to host a meeting of Voices for Creative Nonviolence members Maya Evans and Ewa Jasiewicz in Dublin last evening. Maya and Ewa were part of a peace delegation to Kabul, where they lived and worked with the Afghan peace volunteers. They gave unique eye witness accounts of the experience of people in Afghanistan from a grassroots perspective, based on their time spent with refugees, street children, widows, activists and civil society groups. Though disturbing in its content, it is very important to hear these perspectives – rarely heard in our mainstream media. They outlined the utter devastation caused by the US led war and its impact on people and the environment. They also gave eye-witness accounts of people and families torn apart as a result of assassination by drones. One of their creative nonviolent responses is a campaign entitled “Fly Kites, Not Drones”. Kite-flying is a national pastime in Afghanistan, but nowadays, unfortunately, when children look towards the skies in Afghanistan they sometimes see death-dealing drones, rather than dancing, colourful kites. Our photo shows Afri intern, Ali Hanaf, wearing one of the “Fly Kites, Not Drones” t-shirts.
Report by Afri Co-ordinator Joe Murray