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THE BELOW (updated 12 MAR 2022)
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali
The Guardian
31 Aug 2022
Women report Afghanistan is supported by
The Guardian.org
By Ruchi Kumar
Women report Afghanistan
<<I have spent a year helping people flee the Taliban: failure is
traumatic, success bittersweet.
It was past midnight on 9 August 2021, and I was immersed in writing
when my phone pinged: a message from a contact at the Indian embassy in
Kabul. They said the Indian mission in the northern city of
Mazar-i-Sharif was evacuating and offered me a seat on the flight. There
were reports the city would collapse soon and fall to the Taliban. I had
already left Mazar, but it was hard to imagine that this historic,
metropolitan city could topple so easily. It was too well fortified, as
I had witnessed during my recent reporting trip, with hundreds of Afghan
forces patrolling its gates. Concern for colleagues gnawed at me. As the
US-led foreign troops were with-drawing from Afghanistan, an emboldened
Taliban had been taking province after province. They captured Kabul,
abandoned by its government, on 15 August and Afghanistan, and
particularly its women, lost any semblance of freedom. I checked in on a
friend in Mazar – Dr Akbari, at heightened risk due to her work in
reproductive rights among vulnerable women. Akbari had made enemies, in
particular with a Taliban commander, by providing contraceptives to his
13-year-old bride, against his wishes. Staying with Akbari I had
witnessed the barrage of horrifying, threatening calls and messages;
sometimes 10 in an evening. Yet, she would answer every unknown number,
just in case it might be a woman seeking help. <But what can I do? If I
don't answer the phone or go to work every day, who will help these
women?> she said. As the Taliban surrounded Mazar, Akbari answered one
such call. It was the Taliban commander, let-ting her know they had
entered the city and that he would kill her very soon. In her hospital
uniform, with $400 in her purse and her passport, Akbari went directly
to the airport, without saying goodbyes to her family, just in time for
the last flight out. The airport, she said, was filled with women trying
to escape the Taliban.
The same day a young journalist left her home on foot. Much of her work
had been critical of the Taliban and their fighters had been threatening
to <punish> her. As stories poured in over the next 24 hours, we tried
to find support for Akbari and safe spaces for others in Kabul. Friends
offered to hide women reaching Kabul. For those who had visas, we
started booking tickets. One we booked was for 22 August, another 17
August – too late be of any use. The makeshift safe house in Kabul, the
last remaining bastion, was filling up as fast as the flights out of
Kabul. On 13 August, a friend in the US called to ask for a contact for
a female lawyer in Afghanistan; the US government was putting together a
list of Afghan women at risk and issuing them visas to leave <in the
worst case scenario>. All illusions shattered. It didn't matter that we
were bringing women to Kabul, because there was no contingency. <in the
worst case scenario>. We needed to mobilise, and fast.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/31/year-helping-people-flee-the-taliban-afghanistan?utm_term=630f06f333905d62e77d6621c1d81cb8&utm_campaign=HerStage&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=herstage_email
Note from Gino d'Artali: sometimes people ask me if I really believe in
the Afghanistan's Women Resistance? YES I DO!
27 Aug 2022
The Guardian
Smart shot|Photography
By Grace Holliday
<<'The flash of red by her ankles is reminiscent of defiance': Ako
Salemi's best phone picture.
In 2015, Ako Salemi was on a photography trip to northern Afghanistan
with fellow Iranian photojournalist Majid Saeedi. One day, the pair were
exploring near the tomb of Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib, known locally as
the Blue Mosque for its intricately detailed blue tiled domes and
exterior. People feed the many doves – a symbol of peace – that gather
around the tomb, and Salemi photographed this woman as she carved a path
through the flock. <I didn't notice it at the time, but afterwards I
found the flash of red by her ankles amazing – almost reminiscent of
defiance,> Salemi says. Unfortunately, he couldn't interact with the
passerby, or show her his photo. <A man can't talk with a woman in the
streets of Afghanistan. In the radical interpretation of Islam, women
are believed to belong to their men, and nobody else should see or talk
to them. If you speak with a woman who you don’t know, her father or
brother or husband may get very angry.> Salemi hopes that images such as
this will ensure that people in western countries don't forget about
women in Afghanistan. <They have fought for their rights for years, and
now the Taliban have regained control, they face a very bad situation.
Afghanistan was already a country without freedom and human rights for
women, and for men, too. Now they are fighting for their most basic
rights.> >>
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/27/ako-salemi-best-phone-picture-afghanistan
Opinion by Gino d'Artali: Ako Salemi really depicted a fully in black
covered hijab wearing woman with flashing red high heels, surrounded by
white birds and one flying in front of her. The photo is titled 'Freedom'
and it's not only an amazing photo but it also de-pict the longing for
total freedom again for Afghanistan's women and also deserves a World
Press Photo prize!
View it here:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/27/ako-salemi-best-phone-picture-afghanistan
The Guardian
25 Aug 2022
Supported by
guardian.org
By Rosie Swash and Ruchi Kumar
<<'The Taliban don’t know how to govern': the Afghan women shaping
global policy from exile.
Despite the upheaval of the Taliban takeover, the 'group of six' are
finding ways to tackle the political and humanitarian crisis. It has
been described as Afghanistan's brain drain, after the Taliban's return
to power last year precipitated an exodus of politicians, aca-demics and
journalists who fled in anticipation of reprisals and censorship under
the militant group's draconian regime. For a small group of Afghan women,
however, the work of running the country has not stopped, even in exile.
Fawzia Koofi is a former member of Afghanistan's parliament and was its
first female deputy speaker. Despite moving several times since leaving
the country in August last year, the 47-year-old has kept talking with
her former colleagues and contacts in international governance, working
to find solutions to the political and humanitarian crisis in
Afghanistan. <They [the Taliban] don’t know how to govern and they don’t
respect the social mosaic of Afghanistan, which makes them more fragile,
but is also hurting Afghans,> says Koofi, who has been working in Europe
and the US with member states across the UN for the past year. <I don’t
believe they will last very long, but I am concerned over the damage
they inflict on Afghanistan's social and political fabric.> The work of
Koofi and fellow Afghan women has helped to fill the gulf that exists
between the Taliban, which are operating under severe sanctions and are
domestically consumed with an economic crisis and enforcing gender
apartheid, and the international community. <We call them the 'group of
six',> says Sarah Douglas, of UN Women, referring to a core group of
Afghan women who have been instrumental in steering international policy
towards their country over the past year. The group also includes Asila
Wardak, a former diplomat and one of the founders of the Afghan Women's
Network; Sofia Ramyar, the former executive director of the youth-led
organisation Afghans for Progressive Thinking; and the journalist Anisa
Shaheed. Giving an example, Douglas says: <There were negotiations
around the mandate renewal of the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan (Unama)
– and concerns that the mandate would regress in terms of gender
equality and human rights, and that this would be reflected in the
budget. But the mandate remained intact, and central member states
actually reached out to me and said that the advocacy by these women
really made a difference in those negotiations.> Mariken Bruusgaard
Harbitz, part of the permanent mission of Norway to the UN, says: <Norway
initiated closed-door dialogues for these women to present their
priorities to key member states at a critical time. During the process
of renewing Unama’s mandate, these women came with clear expectations to
the wording of the mandate, which in turn contributed to a strong
monitoring and reporting mechanism for Unama on the ground.> Mariam Safi,
direc-tor of the Afghan Organisation for Policy Research and Development
Studies, has not allowed the chaos and shock of the last year to stop
her continuing her work from Canada, collecting crucial data from
Afghanistan, specifically from women. After a brief hiatus, Safi
improvised and restarted her work a few months ago through a digital
platform, with female researchers across Canada and Afghanistan working
from home.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/25/afghan-women-exile-taliban-global-policy
The group of six are 'Speaking at the UN headquarters in October 2021,
from left to right: Asila Wardak, Fawzia Koofi, Anisa Shaheed and Naheed
Farid. Photograph: UN Women'
The Guardian
25 Aug 2022
Received by email:
By Annie Kelly - editor rights and freedom
<<For Fatimah Hossaini, an Afghan artist living in exile in France, last
weekend was a time of grief and reflection. Speaking to me from Paris,
her home since she fled in the chaotic days following her country's fall
to Taliban militants, she described a sense of loss, trauma and also a
profound guilt at watching from afar as Afghan women are terrorised,
denied education and forced behind the veil again, while she was able to
continue her life and pursue her career thousands of miles away. In the
past two weeks, Hossaini and other women inside and outside Afghanistan,
have talked to us about their year since the Taliban swept to power in
August 2021. Hossaini's portraits of other Afghan women in exile in
France reflected grief but also defiance. <We want to show our faces and
our beauty, but also our achievements and our resilience when millions
of our country-women have been stripped of their right to a public
life,> she says.
Brave reporters from Rukhshana Media, mostly young women working in
secret, collected testimonies from women across the country on their
lives under Taliban rule. In one interview, a Herat woman describes how
a secret book club was creating a haven, nourishing women's minds and
souls: <In the darkest moments and when there is no hope, we tried to
follow a path that can never be closed, and it is the path of books.> A
young journalist who has been on the run for more than a year tells of
how she fled to Pakistan to avoid forced marriage, and Rukhshana
editor-in-chief and Guardian contributor Zahra Joya spoke of how London
has finally given her family a home and a glimpse of a better future. As
world attention on Afghanistan dwindles, it is tempting to look away
from the catastrophic human rights crisis under Taliban rule. This must
not happen. We will keep on with our reporting, ensuring the voices of
Afghan women continue to be heard, despite the brutal efforts to silence
them.>>
www.the guardian.com/international
Note from Gino d'Artali: The below quotes from an article as published
by The Guardian. I do so to encourage her sisters never to give up the
fight against the as I call it 'the djihab oppression and acts of
terror':
The Guardian
23 Aug 2022
Supported by
guardian.org
By Rosie Swash
<<Arrests and TV confessions as Iran cracks down on women's 'improper'
clothing. Protests follow appearance of 'tortured' writer on state
television, while human rights group warn forced confessions on the rise
as hijab laws hardened. There were protests and condemnation last week
after an Iranian woman who was arrested for defying newly hardened hijab
laws appeared on state television to give what observers claimed was a
forced confession as a result of torture. Sepideh Rashno, 28, was
arrested in July soon after footage of her being harassed on a bus over
<improper clothing>, was circulated online. Rashno, a writer and artist,
is among a number of women arrested after the introduction of a national
<Hijab and Chastity Day> on 12 July. According to the Hrana human rights
group, she was taken to hospital with internal bleeding shortly after
her arrest and before her appearance on television. Iranian women have
been required to wear the hijab in public since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution, but president Ebrahim Raisi signed an order on 15 August to
enforce the country's dress code law with a new list of restrictions.
According to Hrana, which says forced confessions are on the rise in
Iran, five women were arrested for not observing the dress code, and
four were forced to confess, in the days before and after 12 July. They
also reported that three women were arrested for dancing in public, 33
hairdressing salons were shut down and 1,700 people were summoned to law
enforcement centres for reasons rela-ted to the hijab. After her arrest,
Rashno appeared on state televi-sion on 30 July, wearing a headscarf, to
give an apology. In the footage, Rashno looks pale and subdued, and has
dark circles around her eyes. <There were clear signs of physical
beatings on her face,> said Skylar Thompson, of Hrana. <It is clear that
in addition to the psychological torture of being coerced into
confessing, she has been physically beaten.> Rashno remains in custody,
Hrana said. The confessions have provoked outrage and alarm among
Iranians online. This week groups of women's rights activists gathered
in Tehran, carrying placards asking: <Where is Sepideh Rashno?>, and a
video was released of Iranian women reciting a poem called The
Confession. Masih Alinejad, a journalist, activist and dissident,
described the arrests as an <act of terror>. Alinejad spearheaded the
White Wednesday movement, which began in 2014 and encour-aged women to
wear white and discard their headscarves. She was the target of a kidnap
attempt in 2021 and last month a man with a rifle was arrested outside
her house in New York. Prof Ali Ansari, a specialist in Middle Eastern
politics at St Andrews University, said the tightening of hijab rules
was part of a <systematic wider pattern of repression> within Iran that
had worsened in the year since the election of Raisi in August 2021.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/23/arrests-and-tv-confessions-as-iran-cracks-down-on-women-improper-clothing-hijab
Note By Gino d'Artali: And below another quote from (and link to) an
an article as published by
Al Jazeera
23 Aug 2022
By Ahmed Twaij|Freelance journalist and filmmaker
<<Western media needs to stop fixating on how Arab women look
From racism to hyper-sexualisation, the depiction of Arab women in the
West masks their many achievements.
Earlier this month, British publication The Economist, published an
article titled, <Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world>. This
overtly racist and sexist headline reflects a pandemic of focus on the
appearance of Arab women that spreads beyond this one writeup to Western
mass media and popular culture as a whole.
The piece didn't have a byline, so we have no notion of whether the
author has ever visited the Middle East, let alone Iraq and Egypt — the
two countries the article stereotypes with sweeping statements.
Generally speaking, it is scientifically accurate that women across the
globe are biologically prone to a higher body fat content than their
male counterparts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), women in the United States are nearly twice as likely
to be severely obese compared with men. Yet we don’t see a flurry of
articles published about the causes of obesity in American women using
gross generalisations of lifestyle in the West, whether it is the
drive-through culture or an addiction to fast-food dining.
Having headscarf-wearing family members myself who compete in a variety
of sports, I was saddened to read the author conclude that <in any case,
headscarves and clothes that cover the female body make public exercise
cumbersome>. I cannot imagine how disil-lusioned this could make young
hijab-wearing aspiring athletes feel. Olympic medallists like Ibtihaj
Muhammad and Hedaya Malak, who wear the hijab, would probably have a lot
to say about this writer drawing conclusions on their behalf. After all,
the German gymnastics team was rightly praised for refusing to wear
bikini-cut leotards at the Tokyo Olympics in protest against the
sexualisation of their sport. Other stereotypes fuelling the article
range from women opting to be housewives over a working life or
submissive women crumbling to the demands of the oppressive men in their
lives. These generalisations negate the trailblazing work of women role
models across the region, such as Iraq’s Thikra Alwach, who in 2015
became the first female mayor of a capital city in the Middle East, a
feat yet to be accomplished in London, for example. This isn't just
about The Economist article, however. Whether it is the incessant push
to ban them from wearing the headscarf in France or their over-sexuali-zation
in media, the mainstream Western emphasis on the appear-ance of Arab
women masks their successes. The world's first university was founded by
Fatima al-Fihri, an Arab woman, in 859 AD. More recently, architect Zaha
Hadid left an indelible mark on her field. You’ll rarely hear — or read
— about them.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/8/23/western-media-needs-to-stop-fixating-on-how-arab-women-look
Ending my note: it surely is not Al Jazeera degrading Arab women because
they are Arabian women. It's about the West that does so.
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