NYC

MADRE and the Knitting Factory Host a Gathering to Support Women Shelters in Iraq

From New York to Baghdad: A Benefit for Iraqi Women

Featuring Actor Kathleen Chalfant and Jazz Pianist Liz Magnes
Tuesday, December 6th
7:00 - 9:00pm Free Admission Donations Welcome

Actor Kathleen Chalfant (of Angels in America, Wit, Far Away, and Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom), who has traveled to the Middle East with Eve Ensler and with MADRE, will read from Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq, a remarkable collection of writings that document the war in Iraq from the perspective of a young Iraqi woman.

Jazz pianist Liz Magnes will perform. Magnes otakes a jazz approach to . . . music of the Middle East� and ocombines the strength of a classical pianist with the head and heart of a great jazz musician� (New York Times, Cincinnati Post).

Tuesday, December 6th
7:00-9:00pm (doors open at 6:30)

WHERE: Knitting Factory
Tap Bar
74 Leonard Street (between Church and Broadway)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-3132
www.knittingfactory.com

From Katha Pollitt's column in this week's NATION:

Here's a list of extraordinary groups that are working to make next year better. Put them on your holiday list, right after the champagne. Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. Incredibly, given the Bush Administration's professed concern for Iraqi women, the small network of shelters founded by heroic secular feminist Yanar Mohammed offers the country's only refuge for women fleeing domestic violence, rape, honor killing and forced marriage. As religious extremism and civil strife increase, the need grows ever greater. Help Iraqi women start new, safer lives by writing a check to MADRE, the women's international social justice group, with OWFI (or Iraq) on the memo line. If you go to www.madre.org/holiday, you can honor friends and relatives with a donation; MADRE will send a beautiful card announcing your gift, and nobody will have to return a sweater (MADRE, 121 West 27th Street, #301, New York, NY 10001)

MADRE, an international women's human rights organization based in New York City, and the Knitting Factory will host a benefit to raise support for womenTs shelters in Iraq and generate awareness about escalating threats to Iraqi womenTs rights. In response to the continued climate of violence and increasing hostility towards women in Iraq, MADRE has launched a campaign in support of IraqTs only network of women's shelters, which aim to protect women from a sharp rise in honor killings, domestic violence, rape, abduction, and forced marriages. The party at the Knitting Factory is one of dozens of gatherings being planned nationwide where people can learn about the real-life impact of the US occupation on Iraqi women's lives and offer concrete support to Iraqi women who are fighting for their basic human rights.