With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan [Hardcover]

Anne E. Brodsky (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415934923 | ISBN-13: 978-0415934923 | Publication Date: April 11, 2003 | Edition: 1st

With All Our Strength is the inside story of this women-led underground organization and their fight for the rights of Afghan women. Anne Brodsky, the first writer given in-depth access to visit and interview their members and operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, shines light on the gruesome, often tragic, lives of Afghan women under some of the most brutal sexist oppression in the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan came to Western attention in the wake of the fall of the Taliban, but its history long predates the Taliban. In 1977, in an environment hostile to women's rights and secularism, a 20-year-old woman named Meena founded RAWA to empower Afghan women and promote democracy in Afghanistan (in 1987, Meena was murdered by RAWA's opponents). Community psychologist Brodsky's groundbreaking account studies this important organization's evolution from an 11-member student group to the most powerful voice for women in Afghanistan, with thousands of volunteers. Heavily sprinkled with perceptive interviews, the book relays RAWA's story through the voices of its members and supporters, skillfully bringing to life those whose sacrifices have sustained the organization. The first writer with in-depth access to RAWA, Brodsky writes a passionate narrative of an organization that has helped its members overcome illiteracy, abuse, war and death. As Brodsky intends, RAWA emerges as a highly successful model of the resilience that, Brodsky believes, can empower women everywhere. Although RAWA's incredible story keeps the reader engaged, the book is occasionally repetitive. Brodsky also inadequately addresses one of the most fascinating aspects of RAWA-the clandestine manner in which the organization grew into a sophisticated transnational organization without infrastructure and designated leaders. However, her work stands out as a lone and important study of a remarkable organization that has transcended war, misogyny and fundamentalism and spread its message of Afghanistan's horrific history and its current reconstruction. Photos.
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Review

Heavily sprinkled with perceptive interviews. -- Publishers Weekly
[G]roundbreaking...The first writer with in-depth access to RAWA, Brodsky writes a passionate narrative...[S]tands out as a lone and important study of a remarkable organization. -- Publishers Weekly
A ring side view of RAWA, the extraordinary women's movement that is as doggedly committed to democracy as it is to dreaming of another, better world. -- Arundhati Roy
With All Our Strength is the first political history of Afghanistan told through women's eyes. Afghan women have always been depicted as the victims of war and mass destruction, but Brodsky shows us that real and powerful women live behind the veil and she has given them a voice and a history. This is the story of those defiant Afghan women who never succumbed or surrendered to extremism or despair and who want nothing more than to build peace and democracy in their county. A powerful story. -- Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban and Jihad
Anne Brodsky goes behind the headlines to look closely at a unique organization that according to popular stereotypes of Afghan women should not exist. RAWA is a militant, secular, feminist, pro-democracy movement run by women. Brodsky shows us how ordinary women, including those who are illiterate and who have experienced traumatic violence, can become powerful agents of social and political change. Combining scholarship with empathy, Brodsky produces a fascinating book. -- Katha Pollitt
The work of RAWA must stand as a model for every group that struggles against the twin evils of oppression and violence. Anne Brodsky's account reveals the boundless courage of these warrior women, who have fought for basic human dignity while the rest of the world looked away. -- Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues
Anne Brodsky writes a comprehensive history of this courageous women's organization with passion and sensitivity. Through candid interviews, RAWA members tell the history of their country through the story of their organization's 26-year struggle against the extreme forces on the left and the right. This book is a testament to not only the legacy of RAWA, but to Brodsky's own commitment to this organization and its unflinching advocacy for women's rights and secular democracy in Afghanistan. -- Sunita Mehta, editor of Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future
RAWA is a reminder...that truth and justice do eventually prevail. They have been a source of inspiration to hundreds of young Afghans and to the women's groups in Pakistan. Their struggle has been long and under immense pressure, yet their resolve has never wavered. -- Asma Jahangir, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, UN Special Rapporteur
Author Anne E. Brodsky destroys the myth that Afghani women have placidly accepted the oppression and torture of fundamentalist rule. -- Real Change
The author does an excellent jobproviding the reader with a perspective on RAWA's day-to-day activities and the challenges its members face...With All Our Strenght provides a useful introduction to RAWA's history, philosophy, and inner workings. -- American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (April 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415934923
• ISBN-13: 978-0415934923
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Nonfiction > Activism
  • #86 in Books > History > Asia > Afghanistan

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The women beyond the burqa, May 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (Hardcover)

This is a timely and important illustration of the history of the struggle of the women of Afghanistan. Brodsky describes a "cosmopolitan" Afghanistan that many Westerners are unaware once existed. Once, a society where 40% of all medical doctors were women, Afghanistan disintegrated into a feudal society dominated by the Soviet occupation in the late 1970's and various fundamentalist regime changes (including the Taliban) throughout the next 20 years.

Brodsky's book is a powerful response to the influx of burqa-dominated books that hit the market last year in the wake of 9/11. While books on the subject of Afghan women over the past year have focused primarily on the burqa as the ultimate image of oppression, Brodsky's book expands this narrow view as she depicts the life and death struggles of women who have fought (and continue to fight) a slow but persistent battle to gain basic human rights in a fundamentalist society that views them as worth half that of a man. In fact, Brodsky shines some light on the history of the burqa noting that in some cultures it is a woman's choice whether or not to wear burqa - a topic not adequately addressed by other books currently on the market.

Set in motion prior to the events of 9/11, Brodsky began this project in early 2001 with the goal of documenting the struggles of RAWA through the scope of resilience studies. As the U.S. led attack on the Taliban brought heavy media attention to Afghan women, Brodsky picked up the pace of her research and has produced a timely book that will attract a wide range of educated, politically conscious readers.

With All Our Strength opens with a riveting (if revolting) depiction of the execution of a 35 year-old women in a sports stadium in Kabul. Accused of murdering her husband, Zarmeena is led to the stadium in burqa where she is forced to kneel before the assembled city and is executed. Her execution is portrayed as a warning to the women of Kabul. RAWA members managed to videotape the execution in secret - had they been discovered, their fate would have no doubt been the same.

And so goes this appalling account of life in Afghanistan. Though the history is somewhat repetitive at times, Brodsky's strength lies in effectively balancing Afghanistan's history with personal accounts of RAWA members and succeeds in creating an engaging and informative narrative that will leave readers demanding action.

A book you should read and pass on. The website also provides invaluable information - though you should be prepared for a very graphic encounter.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brodsky does RAWA an enormous service, September 4, 2003

By 

Roz Light (Leucadia, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (Hardcover)

I have been a supporter of RAWA for four years, and thought I knew a lot about the organization, until I got my hands on this book. All of the questions that I have had over the years have been answered here, and then some! Brodsky's analysis and background information fill in the gaps for me in ways that nothing else has to date. I have read many books on Afghanistan, Afghan women, and even the other recent books that focus on RAWA, but this book is my best source yet. For anyone interested in helping this magificent organization, this book is a MUST read. I have given this book to family members and friends as gifts so that they may understand why RAWA is so important to me. I urge everyone who is even remotely concerned with women who resist to read this book. You will not be able to help but love RAWA and their spirit of resistance and strength. I thank Anne Brodsky for this enormous gift of information. Her contribution is truly in the spirit of RAWA, and I cannot encourage enough people to read it and to help these valiant women in their life-changing, tremendous work. If ever an organization deserved the attention of people all over the world, this is the one!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on RAWA and Women in Afghanistan, August 12, 2003

By 

Joya (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (Hardcover)

While there are a couple other books about RAWA, this one really stands out. It is thoughtful, thorough, well documented, and very readable, with excellent interview excerpts and stories. It explains a great deal that has never been available before about this amazing, all-volunteer, indigenous, pro-democracy, afghan women's group and how they have been able to build such an effective organization under such terrible circumstances in Afghanistan. RAWA has sometimes been mis-characterized, and this book corrects those misconceptions as well as discussing why it is sometimes depicted wrongly. It also very well describes the various facets of RAWA's work and organization, as well as the human side of their work and lives. Therefore, in addition to being an engrossing and useful account of RAWA, it tells and important and usually neglected slice of recent Afghan history...that of women. The book and RAWA itself are also an excellent example of organizing for change that could be useful across the globe. Worth reading!