Friends,
Together with our allies, we flooded the State Department with emails asking them to grant a visa to Dr. Hakim, a leading peace activist in Afghanistan who is the recipient of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's 2012 Pfeffer International Peace Award. When Hakim re-applied, the U.S. consulate reconsidered his case and they granted the visa.
But Hakim is a mentor to the Afghan Peace Volunteers, a group that FOR has been supporting and promoting for the past few years, especially through the efforts of members of our Olympia, Washington FOR local chapter.
When Hakim visits the United States, at least two of these Afghan youth should come with him.
Abdulhai and Ali care deeply about their country. They are not a risk to stay in the United States, as the State Department fears. The only risk is that they will tell us what our occupation of their country is doing, and what they are doing to promote nonviolent alternatives. Read Hakim's moving stories of Abdulhai and Ali.
Hakim wrote to us last week, "Every hand of friendship is a hand for freedom." You can read more on our blog about Hakim and this successful campaign to bring him to the United States -- now we need your help in taking it one step further.
Please send a message to the U.S. State Department asking them to grant visas for Abdulhai and Ali.
Please ask everyone you know to do the same. We're working on this campaign with allies including Veterans for Peace, Global Exchange, RootsAction, Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the Afghan Peace Volunteers themselves. Join us!
In peace,
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
P.S. Stay tuned for reports on the U.S.-Mexico Peace Caravan, which Hakim will join, and Afghan Peace Volunteers' 2 Million Friends Campaign.
P.P.S. FOR's work on campaigns like this is funded by people like you. Make a tax deductible donation to FOR and help support active nonviolence worldwide. |
