Dear Aafia,
They say that since you’ve been imprisoned, you’ve been asking for books on nature. For a long time, after I read that, I was haunted by the idea. You see, I’ve been spending a large part of my life these days considering ‘nature’ and ‘the outdoors’ and the relationship women of color in particular have to them. But the thing is, this is not the relationship I wanted to know about–imprisoned and dreaming of a time when you used to be able to smell real air, cold air.
Dreaming…
You lived on Boston right? Did you love the snow? Would you be laughing right now, as your kids slide down the huge snowy hill in the back of your apartment complex? Or would you be scared to go outside with them?
I don’t know.
But I wish more than life that I had the opportunity to know. And since wishes seem to be the only thing that can make it to you without hurting you–I send the following to you.
2.2
I offer every fruit and flower
And every kind of healing medicine;
And all the precious things the world affords,
With all pure waters of refreshment;2.3
Every mountain, rich and filled with jewels;
All sweet and lonely forest groves;
The trees of heaven, garlanded with blossom,
And branches heavy, laden with their fruit;2.4
The perfumed fragrance of the realms of gods
and men;
All incense, wishing trees, and trees of gems;
All crops that grow without the tiller’s care
And every sumptuous object worthy to be offered;2.5
Lakes and meres adorned with lotuses,
All plaintive with the sweet-voiced cries of water birds
And lovely to the eyes, and all things wild and free,
Stretching to the boundless limits of the sky…
~The Way of the Bodhisattva
~Shantideva
I wish for you your children, safe and sound and free, and the continued protection of body and heart by your mind. I wish for you a day when your mind no longer needs to protect you.
I send you love
love
love
love
and pray for the day when you can breath the cold air deep into your lungs while your children laugh and roll down hills of snow.
~en lucha
bfp
Please send thoughts and love to Aafia Siddiqui here:
Write to:
Aafia Siddiqui
AAFIA SIDDIQUI #90279-054
FMC CARSWELL
FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTER
P.O. BOX 27137
FORT WORTH, TX 76127Aafia’s lawyers advise that when writing you do not discuss or solicit information regarding her case or the charges against her, her whereabouts or those of her children for the past five years. You can send photographs along with your letters but no packages.
You can send books, newspapers and magazines directly from the publishers (such as www.barnesandnoble.com or www.amazon.com). Aafia has requested a daily newspaper and books on nature. If you want to ensure that she has not already received a copy of the item you wish to send then please email Sarah Kunstler at sarah@fkolaw.com
If you prefer you can email messages of support for Aafia Siddiqui to contact@cageprisoners.com
Please send any messages of support to her family to contact@cageprisoners.com
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December 20th, 2008 at 8:41 pm #
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:47 pm #
i’m so glad you posted this. aafia’s case has gotten appallingly little attention. this is not surprising re. mainstream media, but truly disappointing in the blog world. the cruelty and torture this woman has gone through makes my heart weep.
December 21st, 2008 at 5:05 pm #
I’ve noticed that fluky–and have really been contemplating how similar aafia’s case is to jose padilla, and how so many people know who jose padilla is, and have even rallied around him or written something for him–but don’t even have the slightest clue who aafia is. It’s devastating and heartbreaking and really really points to the sexism inherent in liberatory movements. The total devastation of a female body and her children gets nary a whisper–the total devastation of a male body gets protests and movements.
It’s heartbreaking.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 am #
Well now, here is a point to consider: which blogs “matter”? Because you see, whenever people say “such and such isn’t even getting coverage in the blog world” I wonder if we’ve forgotten how vast the blog world is. Aafia’s case has been BIG NEWS in the Muslim blogosphere for a very long time. Through Muslim networks, her case has also been big on Facebook, for that matter. I’m NOT saying that you (Fluky & BFP) are personally ignoring that point, I’m just saying that is something to consider. It reminds me of how frequently I am told that “Muslims don’t condemn terrorism, why don’t ‘you people’ condemn it” when it’s all over Muslim media including blogs but no one looks for where our voices are.
And actually, I was disappointed by the relative lack of coverage of Jose Padilla’s case by the Muslim blogosphere. There were only a couple “large” blogs that I am aware of covering it, and perhaps a few tiny ones. But again, the blogosphere is vast, so obviously I don’t know who all covered it. But to be honest, I felt very much like when I read/heard about it in certain (non-Muslim) circles it was all about he was Latino and him being Muslim at all was really downplayed. And I wondered if that wasn’t part of why Muslims weren’t jumping on it, and that bothered me: because he’s a convert, because he was getting a lot of attention elsewhere, did Muslims somehow think his case didn’t warrant our attention? Whereas the case of Aafia, well, we can play up the whole “you’re torturing a woman” thing and she has “mainstream” Muslim support. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just pointing out how there is a discrepancy in how Muslim media/blogging looks at these cases too, but for different reasons.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 am #
yeah, I totally hear you aaminah–I was actually somewhat pointing to the latino community and LOTS pointing to the feminist community–I don’t think I’ve *ever* seen a post from the feminist community about aafia, although I have seen lots of posts about jose padilla.
I totally agree with you about how support for Padilla has come because of his Latino identity from many crowds–with his ‘muslim-ness’ taking a back seat or not talked about at all. and I see that happening with aafia–she’s not latino, she (was, at least) a follower of islam, and thus covered (so she can’t be a ‘feminist’ right)? and it’s interesting to me how liberatory movements are as guilty of chunking up a person into pieces as we all *say* that u.s. government/culture is. how we use bits and pieces to decide what makes a person worthy of solidarity and love and community. (just thinking of how often women who are ‘bad’ (sex workers, pregnant out of marriage, welfare recipient etc) are considered “unreliable” and not rallied around–like the duke survivor)…
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:32 am #
Feminists will not talk about Aafia. Why? Because she defies their notions of what a woman is supposed to be. Mainstream feminists hate to see Muslim women who stand up for ourselves and for other women/oppressed because it screws with their right to be our saviors. The only time mainstream (read, primarily white) feminists can deal with a Muslim woman is if she is throwing off Islam for the most part. She has to stop covering, she has to denounce “patriarchial interpretations of the Qur’an” and call for a whole new understanding of Islam (there’s not a darn thing wrong with the traditional “interpretation”, the problems really come from trying to modernize it unnecessarily), and say she’s a “secular” or “cultural” Muslim but live a completely non-Muslim lifestyle. So Aafia is not going to be their darling. She is Muslim, she is proud of being Muslim, and she has lived the life of a Muslim – serving Allah and serving people, fighting against injustice. Feminists don’t want us to have our own agency. I wouldn’t be surprised if most feminists think she got what she deserved, whether they’ll point blank say it or not, because they see her as a threat to themselves and their centering of themselves into any equation.
And yes, so called liberatory movements are just as guilty as you describe. There is a part of me that says “it’s because it’s all that we’ve ever seen and it’s hard to truly learn to be different” but another part that is just tired of being expected to cut off pieces of myself to “fit” no matter where I go. I don’t have the patience to keep dealing with anyone who can’t deal with me being a whole person.
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 am #
Ha ha, you want proof of how little attention Aafia will get from non-Muslims, notice that Fluky was the only person brave enough to touch this post (thank you, Fluky!) even on your blog.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pm #
i think another part of it is discomfort with supporting criminalized poc.
December 25th, 2008 at 6:33 pm #
Ha, I think more of it is discomfort with standing up against the wrongful criminalized PoC.
But I know what you mean, Bq. I just wish that since people in this blogosphere are quite quick to question mainstream media portrayal when it suits them to do so that they would look beyond the mainstream story and dig a wee bit deeper on other matters. Essentially, what I’m saying is this: I’m sick of people saying they are about media justice, racial justice, social justice etc. when they still have no desire to look for the true story when it is about Muslims and Arabs. Some of the worst offenders when it comes to criminalizing Muslims and Arabs are other PoC, including so-called progressive ones who are the first to defend any other PoC.
December 25th, 2008 at 9:56 pm #
Aaminah, I also think part of it is the general lack of interest among Americans in things that relate to the world “out there” and foreign policy despite living in a neo-imperialist state.
December 27th, 2008 at 7:56 am #
Hello. This post made me cry. I hope you don’t mind, I pasted a link here on a Muslimah (female Muslim) watchdog blog because many active women can be reached there. Thanks so much for addressing this woman’s plight.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:08 am #
Bq, you seem to be completely missing my point. How can it be a “general lack of interest” when the very people that I very specifically cite (i.e. progressive PoC bloggers & those who comment on said blogs) are the ones who show they clearly do not have a “general lack of interest”??? No, it is, as I said, an intentional lack of interest in Muslims and Arabs. And sorry, but there’s no excuse for it.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:36 am #
As far as “criminilizing” is concerned, please remember that the only charge brought against her in a court is that she picked up an M4 service rifle and randomly fired two shots within seconds – something which isn’t theoretically possible, according to experts. No other charge has been brought in the court and hence everything that has been floated about her in the media can be called a smear campaign.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am #
thank you for reminding Khurram, I truly appreciate it. I must say, though, that as far as I am concerned, it wouldn’t matter to me if she were totally guilty of everything the media is saying, plus more. No human being should be treated like this for any reason whatsoever. Period.
But I *do* understand totally, that the Media holds culpability in how she’s been treated–i think that the large reason why people think it’s justified or really don’t care is because they think she did something terrible.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:18 pm #
Aaminah, sorry I wasn’t clear. But what I was pointing to was that even progressive poc can be wrapped up in domestic racism and not connect it regularly to imperialism.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:24 pm #
i wasn’t trying to excuse “our” corner of the blogosphere in any way…just trying to figure out reasons why there’s a lack of interest.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:28 pm #
Yeah, I didn’t read what bq was saying as an ‘excuse’ either–more as a contemplating thing. Bq is always brief in her comments, maybe that’s why it didn’t appear as contemplating. I need a good, oh, 2 hundred thousand words to contemplate–I appreciate bq’s ability to contemplate in a sentence or two!!
December 31st, 2008 at 5:56 pm #
Um… I am confused. I’m not trying to be argumentative. I didn’t say “you” personally were excusing the issue. I said you weren’t even talking about what I was talking about.
Bq wrote: ” I also think part of it is the general lack of interest among Americans in things that relate to the world “out there” and foreign policy despite living in a neo-imperialist state.”
I am NOT talking about Americans in general. Yes, average Americans are exactly what Bq just described. But I was very SPECIFIC that I am not talking about average Americans but very specifically about the hypocrisy in the PoC blogosphere.
By you shifting it to being about how Americans in general are ignorant of these things, you are shifting the conversation away from putting any responsibility upon the so-called progressive PoC blogosphere. In that way you are may not be excusing it, but you are comparing apples to oranges and it comes off like completely ignoring/invalidating my statement. You did not in any way respond to or engage with what I was actually saying, but turned it around to how Americans in a general sense are ignorant.
I too appreciate that Bq can express herself in few words, but it doesn’t change the fact that those few words were irrelevent to what I was trying to express, and thereby pretty much implied that there was no meaning worth contemplating in what I had said.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:02 pm #
Also, please read the context in which I wrote anything about excusing the behavior:
“it is, as I said, an intentional lack of interest in Muslims and Arabs. And sorry, but there’s no excuse for it.”
I’m clearly saying there is no excuse for the racism in the “intentional lack of interest in Muslims and Arabs”. I don’t know what reasons you may be searching for to explain why things are the way they are in the blogosphere. I just gave you a reason: “intentional” racism against Arabs and Muslims. Racism and hypocrisy ARE inexcuseable. You may see other “logical” reasons, but both reasons you cited still actually come down to racism in the end.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:13 pm #
aaminah–bq was *building* on what you were saying–the contemplative thing I was talking about was–you said X and that triggered Y in Bq–she was agreeing with you and saying in addition to what YOU are saying, she ALSO thinks X.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:07 am #
Do you think she’d mind if a Catholic wrote to her? I’m not Muslim but I’m not a Muslim-hater either. I lived in the Middle East and met “real muslims” in the flesh so I’m not deluded by the media’s version of Islam or muslims.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:14 am #
I wrote to her, and I’m not Muslim! I think that at this point, any support she could possibly get would be something beautiful.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:48 am #
I saw the talk about Feminists and Feminism in the comments here. We don’t need Feminism in order to fight against injustices towards women. We can do it on our own without having to adopt that particular ideology. Feminists are not the only women that helped to bring so many freedoms and possibilities to women and yet for some reason Feminists and Feminism gets all the credit and glory. That always annoys me. Aafia Siddiqui will never be the darling of Feminists as long as she continues to be true to God ~ but who cares?!? If any ideology demands that we betray God in order to be acceptable then we women don’t need to be a part of it. Let the Feminists snub Aafia Siddiqui. We don’t need them. We have each other! We can love Aafia Siddiqui without the Feminists. That’s what our society needs to do: figure out that we women don’t *need* Feminists or Feminism to bring about justice.
I’m so paranoid about writing to Aafia Siddiqui. I’m trying to become a permanent resident in the U.K. (I’m American married to a British citizen) and I keep thinking they’ll come after me for writing to an alleged “terrorist.” I know that sounds stupid but seriously, can you blame me?? Do you think that would happen or is it safe to write to her and send her books from Amazon.com??
January 6th, 2009 at 10:53 am #
oh, god, michelle, I really really couldn’t answer that–I *think* it would be safe, because it’s approved by her lawyers and the court system–but as somebody who has seen horrible terrible things happen in the name of “immigration”–I couldn’t tell you ‘yes’ and feel comfortable about it. I do know that Siddiqui hasn’t been actually been *convicted* of anything–so you wouldn’t be corresponding with a ‘terrorist’ but somebody who is on trial.
But I’d say follow you’re guts. if it feels safe to write to her, than do it, if not, I’m sure that she, more than anybody else will understand and feel empathy with your situation.
good luck on your immigration battles. you are in my thoughts.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm #
Maybe I could email her through the Caged Prisoners. Maybe that’d be more anonymous to prying eyes…