Today, the 8th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, WSAC stood with SDS and demanded a stop to the violence against the Afghan people. This was a national day of action, so keep an eye out for news on protests across the country! I spoke on behalf of WSAC, and my speech is copypasted below for your reading pleasure.

End Patriarchal Violence!

As we go about our lives here at the University of Minnesota, the conflict in Afghanistan may seem far away and intangible. In fact, I have heard a number of marines complain that the American public doesn’t care what is going on in Afghanistan, that the war is not real for us.
Let’s change that right now. We can realize how atrocious the violence in Afghanistan is when we understand that that violence is strongly related to the violence happening right here in the United States, not only in our streets, but also in our homes. According to statistics reported by the American Bar Association, approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the U.S. Anywhere between 3.3 million and 10 million children annually witness violence in their homes. Many of those children grow up to perpetrate the kind of violence they once witnessed, continuing the cycle of abuse.
This kind of violence is called domestic violence. Feminists in this country have successfully brought national attention to this crisis, as exemplified by the Aurora Center’s wonderful work during this Domestic Violence Awareness month of October. However, what many of us fail to understand is that domestic violence is inherently linked to the imperialist military actions perpetrated by this country! The occupation of Afghanistan by our military and the violence that occurs in our homes are related because they are both aspects of patriarchal violence.
Patriarchal violence is a useful term because it calls attention to the fact that domestic violence is a result of sexism. The violence is rooted in the masculine ideal of domination through coercion. This is not to say that only men enact patriarchal violence, but that the violent control of another weaker human is undeniably sexist. Feminist bell hooks defines patriarchal violence as violence “based on the belief that it is acceptable for a more powerful individual to control others through various forms of coercive force.” This coercive force and the reinforcement of a patriarchal system are evidenced when a mother slaps her child, or when a person rapes their partner. It is also very much evident when a country with superior military power occupies—or controls—another country.
It has been argued by many people, politicians, and even feminists, that the war in Afghanistan is in fact going to liberate the women of Afghanistan. This argument reveals a prejudiced belief that we Americans are in a culturally superior position to help, which is both bigoted and untrue. How can our military forces help the women in Afghanistan overcome their own cultural oppressions when we can’t even eliminate sexism within the military itself, with one in three female veterans reporting sexual assault while in service? How can we claim that we are creating a better world for Afghan women when our superior military force continues to widow them and maim their children? How can we say we are helping the people of Afghanistan when our bombs murder Afghan civilians everyday?
We know that when men beat their wives, it is not to protect them or to help them. It is equally absurd to say that we can help the people of Afghanistan by forcefully occupying their country. If the U.S. government really cared about the welfare of the Afghan people, they would listen when Afghan politicians warn that the increase in foreign military so called aid only worsens their situation, spurring more insurgent violence. Malalai Joya, Afghan politician and women’s rights campaigner, asserts that “democracy will never come to Afghanistan through the barrel of a gun, or from the cluster bombs dropped by foreign forces. The struggle will be long and difficult, but the values of real democracy, human rights and women's rights will only be won by the Afghan people themselves.”
In light of this statement, it is clear that the guise of helping the people of Afghanistan is only a paternalistic illusion masking the reality of patriarchal violence. The Women’s Student Activist Collective seeks to eliminate all forms of patriarchal violence, and so, we call for an end of the violence in Afghanistan as well as the violence in our homes and within our military. Just as women have the right to control their own lives, the Afghan people have the right to determine their own future without imperialistic interventions. I call for feminists and anti-war activists to stand together and oppose all manifestations of patriarchal violence. Let us stand together and say no more war!