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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
30-21 Dec 2021
21-13 Dec 2021
19-13 Dec 2021
11-3 Dec 2021
Message from Gino d'Artali
30 Dec 2021
'This is a time for me to look back at the past year, to what I maybe
have contributed to the Afghanistan's Women's Resistence and that one is
for sure: I'll not stop supporting them and reporting, deeply believing
that their resistence will persevere.
But to be able to do so I need to secure that my equipment is updated/re-placed
and as I always said when I worked at refugee camps i.e. sites I did so
with the motto <I work with and for children, not for gaining a few
coins more>. And so do I for the Afghanistan's Women Resistence. I'll
just need to be creative to have this update/re-place thing done!'
Pajhwok Afghan News
Binyamin Barez
28 Dec 2028
<<Farzana sews clothes to support her children’s education.
FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): Farzana, who has been earning a livelihood for her
family by sewing people’s clothes since the past 10 years, has succeeded
in raising a daughter to become a teacher in a religious school and
another to become a midwife. Over the past four decades, imposed
conflicts on Afghans have not only claimed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of Afghans, but also destroyed the country’s economic
foundations and left Afghans in a crisis. The bloody war has also forced
millions of Afghans to live in difficult conditions in foreign countries,
leading to severe economic hardships and drug addiction.
Farzana, a resident of the capital of western Farah province, is one of
those whose husband, a drug addict, went missing about 10 years ago and
now she alone earns for her four children.
The 37 years old woman told Pajhwok Afghan News that she had no clue if
her husband was dead or alive since his disappearing.
<My husband has been missing for ten years now, I am the one in family
to provide everything for children and support them to get education,>
she said, weeping over her painful life.
She said that she raised her children by sewing people’s clothes,
educated them and now one of her daughters is a teacher in a religious
school and another is a midwife.
Farzana said that her third daughter is in fifth grade of school and her
son was in fourth grade. She is a graduate of night high school and she
also provides literacy classes to local people. She says one of her
daughters, Shakiba, graduated from a religious education center, got
married and is now a teacher at Hazrat Fatima Madrasa in Herat province.
Farzana says her other daughter, Masoma – who studied midwifery at Farah
Provincial Hospital – now works with <Samim Private Clinic> in Farah
province.
The mother is happy for raising her children educated and said that she
would have not been able to do so if she was illiterate.>>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/28/farzana-sews-clothes-to-support-her-childrens-education/
Opinion by Gino d'Artali: From the beginning, when the taliban in August
2021 took over the power again, I knew the Afghanistan's women's
resistence, strenght and perseverence will eventually force the taliban
to their knees, begging them to become part of the government!
Pajhwok Afghan News
Ahmad Sohaib Hasrat
28 Dec 2021
<<I left school incomplete, but will continue self-study: Raihana.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Raihana, who left education incomplete due to
remoteness of her school, says she was highly interested in education
and currently she has been teaching children in her house free of cost.
Raihana, 17, was a student in QalaKhel School in QalaKhel village of
Koh-i-Safi district of Parwan province. The school in QalaKhel village
was established10 years ago and is the first girls’ school in the area.
Raihana says she and her sister were the first girls enrolled in the
school and would walk about half an hour from their village Yaqubzai to
the school every day, but did not feel tired because they loved to learn.
She added that going to school in their area was first experience for
girls, while some locals considered it a shame for girls to go to
school. <In the early days, all villagers would watch us, people’s
unnecessary comments about girls education were disturbing us, sometimes
my brothers would tell us not to go to school,> she said.
However, with the passage of time, people would less talk about girls
education and more girls of the village joined the school, she added.
Raihana said she was unhappy when she was in eighth grade because her
school was not a high school and she could not continue her education.
She said that a high school was far from her residence in Koh-i-Safi
district and she had to walk for about an hour and a half every day to
reach it. She added that walking everyday that distance was a difficult
task for her and her family was also not in favor of her to walk that
long distance. The girl said that she told her family, villagers and
teachers to promote the primary school into a high school, but her
efforts did not bear any fruit. Some people did not want the village
school to be promoted to a high school because they considered girls
education as a shame, Raihana said.
She said she once told the principle of the high school in the district
center that she could attend the school one or two days in a week but
the principal should help her in her attendance.
<The principle with a lump in her throat told me that she cannot do so
because the school was under supervision and she feared corruption
charges,> Raihana added. Raihana says that after hearing from the
principal of the high school, she realized that her dream of high
education would not come true.
<Sometimes I think it’s a dream that I left my education incomplete, but
it’s not a dream, it’s reality,> she added.
The girl says she is unhappy with her incomplete education, but is happy
that she was the first student of Qalakhel School, which is now open for
more local girls to get education.>>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/28/i-left-school-incomplete-but-will-continue-self-study-raihana/
Al Jazeera
28 Dec 2021
<<Afghan women call for rights, protest alleged Taliban killings
Protesters say former soldiers and ex-employees of the overthrown
government are ‘under direct threat’.
A crowd of women has marched through the Afghan capital calling for
women’s rights to be respected and accusing Taliban authorities of
covertly killing soldiers who served the former United States-backed
government. About 30 women gathered near a mosque in the centre of Kabul
on Tuesday and marched a few hundred metres chanting <justice, justice>
before they were stopped by Taliban forces, an AFP correspondent
reported.
The Taliban also tried to prevent journalists from covering the march,
organised against the <mysterious murders of young people, particularly
the country’s former soldiers>, according to social media invitations
for the march.
Taliban fighters briefly detained a group of reporters and confiscated
equipment from some photographers, deleting images from their cameras
before returning them. Since the Taliban returned to power in August, it
has effectively banned unsanctioned protests and frequently intervene to
block demonstrations against its rule.
The protest comes weeks after separate reports by the United Nations,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said there were credible
allegations of more than 100 extrajudicial killings by the Taliban since
the takeover.
<I want to tell the world, tell the Taliban to stop killing. We want
freedom, we want justice, we want human rights,> protester Nayera
Koahistani told the AFP news agency.
In a statement read aloud by protester Laila Basam, the demonstrators
called on the Taliban <to stop its criminal machine>.
The statement said former soldiers and ex-employees of the overthrown
government are <under direct threat>, violating a general amnesty
announced by the Taliban in August.
The protesters also aired objections to the ratcheting restrictions
women are facing under the Taliban rule.
The government issued new guidelines at the weekend, banning women from
travelling long distances unless escorted by a close male relative.
<Women’s rights are human rights. We must defend our rights,> said
Koahistani.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/28/afghan-women-call-for-rights-protest-alleged-taliban-killings
And watch also the video embedded
on the same page.
Pajhwok Afghan News
Ahmad Shah Erfanyar
27 Dec 2021
<<Fraud alleged in distribution of aid to poor families.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Some people in seven provinces of the country complain
of fraud in distribution of aid to poor families and ask the government
to strengthen monitoring in this regard so that the aid reaches the
needy. The government does not confirm fraud in distribution of aid, but
adds if there is a lack of transparency, people should approach legal
sources and claim their rights.
The United States has frozen nearly $10 billion in Afghan capital and
imposed other sanctions since the previous Afghan government was
overthrown in mid-August and replaced by a new caretaker government.
With this, Afghans faced an economic crisis, but various countries and
international organizations dispatched aid to Afghanistan and the
distribution of this aid is underway in the capital and provinces of the
country.
Some residents of Kabul, Panjshir, Badghis, Parwan, Paktika, Khost and
Paktia provinces have sent messages to Pajhwok in this regard and a
Pajhwok reporter in Maidan Wardak province has spoken to some people.
Matiullah, a former secretary of the Kashmiri Qala Development Council
in Maidan Wardak, told Pajhwok Afghan News that some people had been
helped four times in the past four months.
<But we have not received any help so far,> he lamented.
A resident of Chak district in Wardak province, who did not want to be
named, said aid comes to their district but it is being distributed
among people who had connections. >Hopefully our voice will reach the
authorities.>
He added in his message: <Two days ago, two hundred dollars of aid per
house was distributed among undeserving people instead of disabled and
orphans>.>>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/27/fraud-alleged-in-distribution-of-aid-to-poor-families/
The Guardian
Matthew Weaver
Dec 27 2021
<<Afghan ex-BBC journalist stranded for months due to Home Office scheme
delays.
An Afghan former BBC journalist who managed to flee the Taliban has been
stranded in a refugee camp for months because of delays to a
resettlement scheme promised by the UK government.
Mudassar Kadir* is the only one of 14 former BBC employees to have
escaped Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August. The other 13
remain in hiding in fear of their lives.
Kadir, who also spent time working for the World Bank and the former
Afghan government, had hoped he and his family could begin a new life
after leaving Afghanistan, but since escaping in early October with the
help of a US charity, Kadir and his wife and two young sons have been
stuck in a refugee centre on the outskirts of Dubai. The Kadirs are
grateful to the United Arab Emirates for the safe haven and are being
well looked afte, but they are prevented from straying more than 100m
from the building and the UAE will not accept asylum applications. Kadir
is exasperated by the UK government’s repeated refusals in response to
his request for help, and he still lives in fear of being sent back to
Afghanistan where his work for the BBC has made him a target for the
Taliban.
<The UK should have a duty of care to me and my family. My life is at
risk because I have worked for the BBC. The UK government knows this but
they have done nothing to help me,> he said.
<In the beginning we hoped that the UK would give me a visa, but now
with each passing day my frustration grows.>
Campaigners say the family’s predicament highlights the plight of
thousands of Afghan immigrants caught in limbo, unable to return home
for fear of persecution and prevented from travelling anywhere willing
to grant them refugee status.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/27/afghan-ex-bbc-journalist-stranded-for-months-due-to-home-office-scheme-delays
Pajhwok Afghan News
Abdullah Barati
26 Dec 2021
<<Malnutrition kills 104 kids, mothers in Badakhshan.
FAIZABAD (Pajhwok): Pajhwok Afghan News findings show 104 children and
lactating mothers have died of severe malnutrition in the past two years
in northeastern Badakhshan province.
Embezzlement in the RUTF, ready-to-use therapeutic food to counter
malnutrition, has been a big cause of undernourishment.
Millions of dollars are spent every year in Afghanistan on combating
malnutrition. However, this food (RUTF) is sold by impoverished families
and by the officials concerned at times. An RUTF packet sells for 15 to
20 afghanis in the market, but deserving children and mothers can rarely
benefit from it.
Dr. Ahmad Amin, UNICEF nutrition officer for the northeastern zone, said
1.1 million children in Afghanistan were malnourished and that parents
needed to take care of them from pregnancy until they turned two. He
stressed parents must take care of their children’s health during the
period to prevent malnutrition, because it caused mental and physical
weaknesses, lack of immunity and even death.
<RUTF is the food that prevents malnutrition in children and
breastfeeding mothers, but it is sold by poor mothers after they receive
it from health centres. Such mothers are unaware of the problems linked
to malnutrition,> he added.
A Faizabad-based shopkeeper, who did not want to be named, confirmed: <Before
the political change, wholesalers used to buy RUTF stuff in Argo
district. I witnessed the sale of 30 cartons at a time.> Such materials
were rarely distributed to deserving people, he alleged. If each child
suffering from malnutrition was really given 10 to 15 packets, how 30
boxes could be sold in the market, he asked. The Ministry of Public
Health, which has banned RUTF sales in the market, warns violators will
be dealt with severely.
Zaiba, a 26-year-old woman from Jurm district, said: <My child could not
consume my milk due to problems. Because of poverty, my child may be
suffering from malnutrition, I approached the health centre several
times but it did not give me RUTF food.>
She acknowledged such food, like other items, was often sold in the
market. However, she could not afford to buy it in for 15 to 20 afghanis
a packet. Given her resourcelessness, the woman said, she was trying to
protect her child from malnutrition, in alternative ways possible.
Maulvi Tajuddin, a resident of the Hazrat Sayed village of Yamgan
district, said in most parts of Badakhshan, especially in Yamgan, RUTF
and other health services were not delivered on merit.>>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/26/malnutrition-kills-104-kids-mothers-in-badakhshan/
Opinion by Gino d'Artali:
That is how the taliban fails to provide urgently needed extra nutrition
to feed the future of Afghanistan. Also UNICEF can be questioned!
Al Jazeera
25 Dec 2021
<<‘No need’: Taliban dissolves Afghanistan election commission
Taliban government scraps the panel that supervised polls during the
previous Western-backed administration.
The Taliban has dissolved Afghanistan’s election commission, a panel
that supervised polls during the previous Western-backed administration,
says a spokesman for the government.
<There is no need for these commissions to exist> referring to the
Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Electoral
Complaints Commission.
<If we ever feel a need, the Islamic Emirate will revive these
commissions.> Established in 2006, the IEC was mandated to administer
and supervise all types of elections, including presidential, according
to the commission’s website.
<They have taken this decision in a hurry … and dissolving the
commission would have huge consequences,> Aurangzeb, who headed the
panel up until the fall of the previous regime, told the AFP news agency.
<If this structure does not exist, I am 100 percent sure that
Afghanistan’s problems will never be solved as there won’t be any
elections,> said Aurangzeb, who like many Afghans goes by only one name.
Halim Fidai, a senior politician in the previous regime, said the
decision to dissolve the electoral commission shows the Taliban <does
not believe in democracy>. <They are against all democratic institutions.
They get power through bullets and not ballots,> said Fidai, who was
governor of four provinces over the past 20 years.
Before the Taliban takeover, several electoral commission officials were
killed by armed groups.
Karimi said the authorities had also dissolved two government
departments this week – the ministry of peace, and the ministry of
parliamentary affairs.
The Taliban has already shut down the former administration’s ministry
of women’s affairs and replaced it with the ministry for the promotion
of virtue and prevention of vice.
That ministry earned notoriety during the Taliban’s first stint in power
in the 1990s for harshly enforcing religious doctrine.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/25/taliban-dissolves-afghanistan-election-commission
Al Jazeera
24 Dec 2021
<<Almost half of Afghan media closed since Taliban takeover: A survey by
Reporters Without Borders and the Afghan Independent Journalists
Association shows 60 percent of journalists are unemployed.
Afghanistan’s media outlets are on the brink of a meltdown as they face
a shortage of funding following the takeover by the Taliban in August
this year.
A survey released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan
Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) indicates that about 43
percent of Afghan media outlets have shut down their operations, leaving
almost 60 percent of journalists unemployed.
The survey says the takeover by the Taliban radically changed
Afghanistan’s media landscape. Of the 543 media outlets operating in the
country at the start of the summer, only 312 were operating at the end
of November.
A total of 231 media outlets had to close and more than 6,400
journalists lost their jobs since mid-August, it said. One of the main
reasons for the change in the media landscape is the economic crisis and
certain limitations imposed by the Taliban government.
In Shamshad TV, a local TV channel in Kabul where operations continue as
normal, the channel’s news gathering manager, Abid Ehssas, said the
media have been badly hit by a loss of advertising revenue, which they
used to make from commercials.
He also added that the imposed limitations have forced many
organisations to even turn to self-censorship.
Women in the media industry have been especially badly hit, with more
than 84 percent of them jobless since the Taliban takeover, compared
with 52 percent of men.
However, women have remained on TV.
Afghanistan’s most popular TOLO TV continues to employ female media
people who appear on TV.
Working at her desk, Shamshad TV reporter Shukria Niazai said she
considered leaving her job, but then decided against it.
Still, Niazai is not sure of the future.
The environment for journalists in the capital and the rest of the
country has become difficult.
The media must fulfil the “11 Journalism Rules” issued by the Taliban
government’s information and culture ministry.
<Journalism Rules> open the way to censorship and persecution, and
dispossess journalists of their independence.
The Afghanistan National Journalists Association said the situation is
damaging for Afghan media and the lack of access to information has made
it even more serious for Afghan journalists.
Journalists have been always on the front line in the past 20 years,
being targeted by the Taliban, the ISIL (ISIS) armed group,
criminal gangs and, in some cases, the former Western-backed government
of President Ashraf Ghani.
In 2018, nine Afghan journalists were killed and six others were wounded
in a suicide attack, claimed by ISIL affiliates.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/24/afghanistan-media-rsf-survey-taliban-takeover-journalists
Note by Gino d'Artali:
https://www.tolo.tv/
I've tried to get access to
but unfortunately got this message:
This challenge page was accidentally cached and is no longer available.
DDoS protection by Cloudflare
Ray ID: 6c3464213a1783e4
and also this
https://darya.stream/live-tv/tolo-tv-live.html
is not working!!! Damn the taliban!!!!!
Let's keep trying!!!
The Guardian
Dec 24 2021
Matthew Weaver
<<Briton missing in Afghanistan after reports of Taliban arrest
Grant Bailey was working as security consultant in Kabul where he
liaised with US state department.
A British man is missing in Afghanistan after a report he has been
detained by the Taliban. Grant Bailey was arrested in the Afghan
capital, Kabul, where he has been working as a security consultant.
The arrest came during a Taliban security clampdown, according to the
Daily Mirror. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office could not
confirm his identity, but a spokesperson said: <We are aware of the
detention of a British national in Afghanistan and have been in touch
with their family to support them.>
Bailey’s work duties include liaising with the US state department on
security-related issues. He was last heard from on Saturday after being
arrested at gunpoint, a UK security source told the Mirror.
The Mirror quoted the source saying: <We were quite surprised he went
back to Kabul after the western withdrawal as the security situation
there is obviously much worse. Added to that, the Taliban government is
making it very difficult for the few ex-pats working there, making it
very difficult to travel. A lot of people are trying to get to the
bottom of what has happened to him, where he is being held, and under
what charges.> Bailey is believed to have returned to Kabul in September
shortly after the Taliban took over and the US and UK forces withdrew
amid chaotic scenes at Kabul airport. His employer has been contacted
for comment.
Bailey’s arrest underlines the continuing risks facing the small number
of westerners who continue to work in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, hundreds
of Afghans who worked for UK organisations, including the BBC, the
British Council and UK forces, have been forced into hiding since the
Taliban took over.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/24/briton-missing-in-afghanistan-after-reports-of-taliban-arrest
PAJWOK AFGHAN NEWS
Behnaz Rasouli
Dec 23 2021
<<HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): A woman in western Herat province, who has
recruited 12 other women at a tailoring workshop, believes that her
business would flourish as peace has established in the country.
Tayebah Abdullahi, 44, a social activist and owner of a clothing factory
in Herat, told Pajhwok Afghan News she was pleased that peace and
security had been restored in the country and that people could now live
in peace.
She says that in the last 20 years, women worked in various fields and
played a significant role in the country’s economy, but the war has also
affected women. Now that peace and stability have been ensured in the
country, women will be able to grow their business in a safe and
non-violent environment, she added. She said that with the change of
political system, no one hindered her work and she has been able to
continue her profession. She asked the caretaker government to create
jobs for all women in various fields.
<Many women, who worked in various government departments, including the
Ministry of Women’s Affairs, are now housewives, which has created some
anxiety for them. It is our demand from the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan to call back these women to work as soon as possible,> she
said.>>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/23/womens-self-sufficiency-strengthens-peace/
PAJWOK AFGHAN NEWS
Dec 21 2021
<<‘Eradication of poverty can lead to durable peace’.
FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): A woman, who started a small business after the
fall of the former government in western Farah province, says she no
longer fears the risks of conflicts after peace is ensured in the
country and she hopes for a bright future of her children.
More than four decades of war and insecurity in Afghanistan forced
millions of Afghans to flee their country and hundreds of thousands have
been displaced within the country. Some sources put the casualty toll at
more than a million, while others put it at two million. As a result of
war in Afghanistan, about 4.4 million people (13.9% of the total
population) are disabled and now, more than half of the country’s
population lives below the poverty line.
Rizagul, a resident of Sayedabad village of Farah city, the provincial
capital, said that her husband had joined the army of former government
due to their economic problems. <My husband was a policeman, it was
Ashraf Ghani’s era, his salary was enough to meet our needs and we did
not need the help of others.>
<When my husband was serving in police, we were always in fear about his
death because of war,> she added, saying that her husband lost his job
after the fall of the former government and they had no money to even
buy food.
Rizagul says in the last four months, they crossed the Iranian border
twice but were deported both times. She said her husband was even forced
to commit suicide due to their bad economic situation.
Rizagul burst into tears, saying, <Every morning my husband would go to
town for work, and all the children hoped that my father would return
home with some money, but my husband would return with a confused and
embarrassed face until I myself started working and launched a good
business with little money.>
<I went to our neighbor’s house and borrowed 500 afghanis and told my
son to buy me 250 afghanisof potatoes …. He boiled all the potatoes that
night and until 5am in the morning that, I prepared a lot of samosas
from the cooked potato and told my husband and 12 years old son to sell
them in the city, that was the time when my husband returned with
smiling face,> she said.
She says that now, in addition to selling samosas,she also prepares and
sells vinegar and pickles.
Referring to her little children, Rizagulsaid: <I want our business to
grow, to have a good life so that we can let our children get education
and have a good future, who would be able to work for themselves and our
country.> She said that the government was responsible for improving the
livelihood of people and their economic situation as well as provide
them with educational programs, particularly for those who are
uneducated.>>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/22/eradication-of-poverty-can-lead-to-durable-peace/
Al Jazeera
22 Dec 2021
<<UNSC adopts resolution to provide aid to Afghanistan
The resolution says aid will support ‘basic human needs’ and will not
violate sanctions imposed on Taliban-linked entities.
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution
proposed by the United States that facilitates humanitarian aid to
Afghanistan, which is on the verge of economic collapse, while keeping
funds out of the Taliban hands.
The resolution passed on Wednesday states that <payment of funds, other
financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and
services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or
to support such activities are permitted>.
Such assistance supports <basic human needs in Afghanistan> and is <not
a violation> of sanctions imposed on entities linked to the Taliban, it
adds. The international community has struggled over how to avert a
humanitarian catastrophe amid an economic meltdown in Afghanistan since
the Taliban swept back to power in mid-August, prompting the US to
freeze $9.5bn in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank. An earlier
US resolution had sought to authorise case-by-case exemptions to
sanctions, but that was blocked by veto-wielding permanent Security
Council members China and Russia.
<Humanitarian aid and life-saving assistance must be able to reach the
Afghan people without any hindrance,> China’s UN ambassador, Zhang Jun,
said in a tweet on Monday.
The decision to limit the scope of the resolution to one year, which was
not part of the first draft, aims to satisfy Washington’s European
allies, who, like India, had criticised the absence of any deadline and
called for strict control over the destination of aid.
In Afghanistan, aid workers may be involved in financial transactions
with ministries headed by sanctioned individuals. The resolution ensures
that the aid workers are not violating sanctions.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/22/un-security-council-afghanistan-aid-resolution
PAJWOK AFGHAN NEWS
Dec 21 2021
<<Poet calls on people to join hands for eliminating violence.
HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): A poet, who reflects the pain of his countrymen in
poetry, urges people, particularly writers and poets, to work jointly
for peace and elimination of violence in the society.
Afghanistan is a country that had been in war for the last four decades
that claimed the lives of large number of Afghans.
Some reports indicate that about a million people have lost their lives
in conflicts, while large number others have been disabled and millions
have been forced to migrate to other countries.
Despite efforts for bringing peace to the country, wars continued for
four decades under different excuses until four months ago when the
Ashraf Ghani administration collapsed and foreign forces withdrew from
Afghanistan. However, explosions and target attacks which happen
sometimes still take the lives of some people.
People of different communities have repeatedly raised their voice for
peace in their country.
MaiwandZamani is a nineteen-year-old poet from Herat who, for many
years, in addition to his social activities, has always tried to raise
his voice for peace in the country through his poetry.
In an interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, he said, <I cannot bear the
suffering of the people and I consider poetry to be the only solution to
express their suffering.>
According to reports, 19 people were killed and 22 others were wounded,
all of them students and civil servants of the university, in an armed
attack in Herat city on November 3.
Zamani reminds the attack in which a father lost a son who did not
respond to his father’s141 missed calls. “O your father’s beloved, where
are you?” was a message attributed to the father that went viral on
social media.
Zamani says, <When I heard about this incident, I shouted, (O your
father’s beloved, where are you), and a few lines of poems were what I
could write about this incident.> >>
Read more here:
https://pajhwok.com/2021/12/21/poet-calls-on-people-to-join-hands-for-eliminating-violence/
Note from Gino d'Artali: I am a poet myself (and visual artist) and with
cryfreedom.net investigating the atrocities against women worldwide I
most likely will write a new poem about it so there's more to come.
Al Jazeera
21 Dec 2021
<<From: The Stream
Why 2021 was defined by resilient women.
At the Stream, we work hard every year to ensure their achievements are
highlighted. Last year, we renewed our pledge to never again complete a
calendar year without at least 50 percent of our guests being women.
We’re proud to report that 2021 is the fourth year in a row we have
achieved that goal, with women making up 55.17 percent and men 44.8
percent of our more than 500 panelists.
But, when we look around the media industry, it is clear that too little
is changing, too slowly. Men still dominate television news shows,
all-male panels haven’t gone away, and too many in journalism think a
token woman guest is enough. It’s not.
The reason we’re doing this, the reason we do this every year, is
because we believe that journalism can only be truly effective when it
is representative and reflects the societies it covers.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres this year said: “COVID-19 is a
crisis with a woman’s face.” And, indeed, there are few global crises of
the sort we habitually cover at Al Jazeera that don’t disproportionately
impact women.
Globally, the loss of jobs due to Covid-19 cost women at least $800
billion in earnings, a figure larger than the combined GDP of 98
countries, according to Oxfam International. In the United States and
elsewhere, this has taken an especially heavy toll on women of colour.
As we move into the third year of the pandemic, how can economies
recover from the loss of female workers? How can women recover from the
loss of income? We’ll ask these questions in this episode.
Another major story of 2021 in which women were front and centre:
Afghanistan. The Taliban has been under pressure to uphold women’s
rights since they took power in August. Early this month, its leaders
issued a “special decree” outlining women’s rights.
It outlawed child marriage, but did not mention access to jobs or
education. In this show, we’ll look at why some women’s rights leaders
have stayed in Afghanistan to fight for their rights, and talk about why
giving them a seat at the negotiating table is more important than ever.
The biggest story of our time? Climate change. And that is another
crisis with a woman’s face. Women and girls around the world suffer
disproportionately from the impacts of the climate disaster because they
are on average poorer, less educated and more dependent on subsistence
farming.
A UN report in 2017 found that 80 percent of those displaced by the
climate emergency are women. At the Cop26 Climate Conference earlier
this year climate tsar Alok Sharma said: <We know from our efforts to
tackle climate change that it is more effective when we put women and
girls at the heart of those efforts.>
In this episode, we’ll talk about why women are vital to saving the
planet. Join us for this special edition of The Stream.
In this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Pashtana Durrani, Director, LEARN Afghanistan
Nisreen Elsaim,
Chair of UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change
Martha Ross,
Senior Fellow, Brookings Metro
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-stream/2021/12/21/why-2021-was-defined-by-resilient-women
Al Jazeera
21 Dec 2021
By Amanda Coakley
<<LONG READ
Features
Refugees
The Albanian tourist town that welcomed Afghan refugees
Amid the kitsch hotels and eerie off-season silence, a new community is
adjusting to life outside their homeland.
Shengjin, Albania – It was a typical August morning in the popular
Albanian tourist town of Shengjin. Nestled in the country’s north close
to the border with Montenegro, the town’s bland-looking apartment blocks
and kitsch hotels were heaving with families scrambling to make their
way to the 6km (4 miles) golden beach perched on their doorstep. The
flurry of activity – parents in bathing suits stuffing towels into beach
bags, children holding decorative inflatable toys screaming for
attention – caught Ziagul Hzimi by surprise. The 27-year-old had just
stepped off a plane from Afghanistan, the land of her birth, after the
Taliban entered the capital Kabul and took control of the country and
its 40 million inhabitants.
There she was, still in shock after fleeing her homeland, standing in
the middle of crowds of people whose main concern was securing the best
sun lounger. <Seeing all these Albanians picking up their belongings and
rushing to the beach reminded me of the Kabul evacuation,> she recalled
with a nervous laugh. <I’d never heard of Albania before I got here in
August so it was all a bit of a shock.>
A petite woman with striking features, Ziagul is a journalist who worked
for years in the western Afghan city of Herat. Although she received no
direct threat from the Taliban, she believed there was no way her safety
could be ensured once they were in control of the country. So, with the
help of an American NGO that supported her work, she boarded an early
evacuation flight from Kabul and ended up in Shengjin to wait for her
visa to the United States.
She is staying at the Rafaelo Resort in the centre of town with about
1,000 other Afghans who also left Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Known
as 'The Rafaelo', the austere hotel is centred around three small
swimming pools and an odd replica of the Statue of Liberty. It is a
peculiar place with a textbook definition of <luxury>. The apartments
and communal dining area are immaculate but uninspired and cold. The
hedges are delicately cut but stiff. It is a world away from the warmth
that pours from every Afghan home.
Normally booked by well-to-do Albanians during the summer high season
and by businesspeople for conferences during the rest of the year, the
hotel has been taken over by Western NGOs which needed safe shelter for
their Afghan colleagues and their families.
Although the people staying in Shengjin have been referred to as “luxury
refugees”, the sense of loss here is palpable. The young children scurry
around but nearly all the adults look a little lost. Their bodies may be
in The Rafaelo but their hearts are in Afghanistan.
When Al Jazeera visited Shengjin in early autumn, the tourists had gone
and the town was eerily quiet. Most restaurants along the one main road
had closed their doors until next summer. The sun loungers had been put
into storage and the beach was empty.
At The Rafaelo the refugees’ days are filled with endless waiting.
Waiting for news from Afghanistan. Waiting for news about the next step
in their visa application process. The people in this place have gone
from feeling in control of their lives to being at the mercy of
others.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/12/21/the-albanian-tourist-town-that-welcomed-afghan-refugees
Al Jazeera
21 Dec 2021
<<Humanitarian Crises
‘Let us eat’: Afghan protesters call for release of frozen assets
Hundreds of protesters march towards shuttered US embassy, calling for
the release of Afghan assets, frozen since the Taliban took power.
Hundreds of protesters have marched through the streets of Kabul towards
the shuttered United States’ embassy, urging the release of
Afghanistan’s frozen assets. Holding banners reading, <Let us eat> and
<Give us our frozen money>, the protesters chanted slogans and marched
down a central avenue on Tuesday, with the ruling Taliban providing
security.
International funding to Afghanistan has been suspended and billions of
dollars of the country’s assets abroad, mostly in the US, were frozen
after the Taliban took control of the country in August.
The lack of funding has battered Afghanistan’s already troubled economy,
leading to increasing poverty while aid groups warn of a looming
humanitarian catastrophe.
State employees, from doctors to teachers and administrative civil
servants, have not been paid in months. Banks, meanwhile, have
restricted how much money account holders can withdraw.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/21/afghanistan-protesters-kabul-release-frozen-assets
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