Raising my Voice
The extraordinary story of the Afghan woman who dares to speak out

by Malalai Joya

Area: Political Analysis Publisher: Pan Macmillan published 06/2009 278 pages ISBN: 978 1 4050 3913 0

Paperback $35 (Australia)

Author's profile, from the Book

Malalai Joya was four days old when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Following a childhood spent in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan, she returned to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, where she worked for underground organisations promoting the cause of women. At the historic Loya Jirga assembly in 2003 where Afghanistan's new constitution was debated, she made world headlines. In 2005, at the age of twenty-seven, she was the youngest person to be elected to the new Parliament. Since then, she has survived numerous assassination attempts and continued to press the cause of those who elected her. She received the International Human Rights in Film Award at Berlin in 2007 and was awarded the Anna Politkovskaya Award in 2008. Visit her website: www.malalaijoya.com

From the back cover

Malalai Joya is the youngest and most famous female MP in Afghanistan, whose bravery and vision have won her an international following.

Born during the Russian invasion and spending her youth in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan, Malalai Joya returned to Afghanistan in her teenage years. There she worked as a women's rights activist, running underground classes for girls in defiance of the ruling Taliban, risking torture and execution if she'd been caught.

After the fall of the Taliban, Malalai was elected as one of the few women, to represent her province at the constitutional Grand Assembly. Here she made world headlines in December 2003 when she dared to speak out against the crimes of the warlords who now form part of the Afghan parliament.

Her public denunciation made her a popular figure among the people in Afghanistan but resulted in several attempts to assassinate her, and for the last five years she'd lived under constant threat, moving from safe house to safe house. It never stopped her speaking out, and on the back of her courage she was elected to Afghanistan's new parliament. Despite being suspended in 2007 for her fortright views, she continues to represent the voiceless, the oppressed, the victims and the innocents of Afghanistan's endless cycle of violence.

Raising my Voice is Malalai Joya's extraordinary story. Like the woman herself, it is outspoken, passionate and fearless, giving us a rare woman's perspective on a country and a conflict that affects us all.