"Beneath the Veil" was filmed long before the attacks of Sept. 11, and, according to RAWA members, the situation in Afghanistan has since become more dire. Because the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan have closed, the Afghan people are now trapped in their own country -- enduring the oppressive rule of the Taliban while waiting for U.S. bombs to drop from sky. RAWA, meanwhile, says it is running out of money and can't afford to educate, feed and treat the millions of refugees massed along the border. The Pakistani police, which are sympathetic to the Taliban, regularly target RAWA members; and since communication with Afghanistan has been cut off, the RAWA members in Pakistan know little about what is happening to their members across the border.
In a telephone interview from Islamabad, a 26-year-old member of RAWA, identified only as "Fatima," spoke about RAWA's work in Pakistan and Afghanistan, its position on war and the Northern Alliance, and its "uncompromising attitude" toward fundamentalism. A seven-year veteran of the group's dangerous brand of activism, Fatima is a member of the RAWA political committee that has been trying to rally both Afghan women and the international media to its agenda.
What is your life story, and what do you do for RAWA?
I'm from Kabul. I started to work with RAWA when I was 19 years old. There has been war in our country for more than 23 years; my generation was born with war, we've experienced just crimes, just blackness, just sorrow in our country. We never saw happiness or democracy. I lived in shock, because every day there were tragic stories in my neighborhood around me.
When I was young I decided to do something about this. A lot of young girls commit suicide because they are helpless and hopeless. But some, like me, choose the way of struggle. We accept that we want to serve our people -- that this is the best way to bring justice to our country.
When I was 20 years old, I left Afghanistan; my job for RAWA was to come here to Pakistan and work in the refugee camps. I had to cross the border often and go back into Afghanistan to organize women for demonstrations; and to bring RAWA's publications into Afghanistan. We would go secretly and without documents -- no one asks you for them because you are a woman. I wear the burqa then, because this is the only visa required for women to enter Afghanistan for women. When I cross the border, no one can know that I am in RAWA.
Why do you use the pseudonym "Fatima"?
We all use different names all the time, because we have a lot of security problems. Our leader Meena and her bodyguards were assassinated in Pakistan in 1987 by the Islamic fundamentalists and the KGB. Our members are always attacked and injured -- we receive death threats by e-mail and letters and telephone, telling us to stop what we are doing or they will kill us. So we are working clandestinely in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan we are half-secret.
Have you ever been personally attacked by the Taliban?
I was flogged three times in the streets, for stupid reasons. They will flog women that don't have the veil on, or aren't with their male relative, or are talking to a male shopkeeper, or are out on the streets during the evening. There are always people sobbing in the streets because they are being beaten. This is normal.
In Pakistan in 1999, I was injured at a RAWA demonstration. Pakistan is one of the countries that officially recognizes the Taliban government; so when we take our anti-Taliban slogans into the streets, they try to stop us. During the demonstration, we were fighting -- we wanted to go in front of the United Nations building; but the Pakistani police wanted to stop us. During the fighting, they beat me and broke my hand.
What has been RAWA's most crucial activity in Afghanistan?
We teach hundreds of women and children in the underground schools in Afghanistan. For children, we teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, Persian, science, social studies and the history of Afghanistan; also, the geography of the world. For women, we just teach them two main subjects -- mathematics and Persian. When our women go to the shops, they don't know how to pay the shopkeeper and get change, because they haven't had an education.
We also bring in video cameras to expose the crimes of the Taliban. It's risky work. We filmed the execution of the women that you saw in "Beneath the Veil." Also, we've filmed hangings in Kabul and several other cities, taken pictures of Afghans who have had their hands cut off for stealing, or their necks cut. There are photos on our Web site.
We make a hole in the burqa and film through it. That's why the quality of our films is very bad; it's very difficult. No one has ever been caught doing it; but execution is the only punishment if you get caught, especially if the Taliban knew we were RAWA.