Afghan women are uploading videos of themselves singing in defiance of new restrictions imposed by the Taliban that order them to be silent in public, reports The Telegraph. Women from both inside Afghanistan and abroad have joined the movement.
The online protest campaign challenges the Taliban's recently announced vice and virtue laws. On Wednesday, the Taliban issued restrictions requiring women to conceal their faces, bodies, and voices outside the home. Women are prohibited from singing or reciting the Koran in public, and their clothing must not be thin, tight, or short. They have also been ordered not to speak loudly inside their homes in case their voices are heard outside.
Afghan women are boldly countering Taliban's New Draconian law by singing out louder than ever !#MyVoiceIsNotForbiden #UntiedAgainstGenderApartheid pic.twitter.com/50g6qvXkHx
— Nilofar Ayoubi 🇦🇫 (@NilofarAyoubi) August 27, 2024
In one video, a woman in Afghanistan sings with her face and body fully covered. "You placed the stamp of silence on my mouth until further notice," she says. "You will [not] provide me with bread and food until further notice. You've imprisoned me inside the house for the crime of being a woman."
The lyrics appear to reference restrictions the Taliban imposed on the basic rights and freedoms of women and girls shortly after seizing back control of the country three years ago. Among the rules was a ban on school attendance and higher education, which they said would last "until further notice."
Free Afghan Women 🇦🇫
A woman from inside Afghanistan shared a video, she singing her voice in poetry:
"You have silenced my voice until further notice. You have imprisoned me in my home for the crime of being a woman."#WomenRights #Afghanistan #Freedom #UN pic.twitter.com/1BuXg3x46R
— Jahanzeb Wesa (@JahanzebWesa) August 27, 2024
Another clip features a woman who left Afghanistan for Germany after the Taliban's return to power. She sings about the role of women in shaping history: "If I don't exist, who are you? Where are the true men among you? Without Ameneh and Rudabeh, where would Mohammad, Rostam, and Sohrab be?" The song references the mothers of the Prophet of Islam and famous male figures from Persian literature.
Volker Turk, the United Nations human rights chief, called on the Taliban to immediately repeal the "egregious" laws, which he said were attempting to turn women into shadows. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN's Afghanistan mission, described the restrictions as providing a "distressing vision" for Afghanistan's future.
In response to global outrage against the laws, Taliban minister for vice and virtue, Khaled Hanafi, claimed on Tuesday that the international community lacked the authority to comment on Afghanistan. He emphasized that the Taliban would engage with other nations only within the framework of "Islamic laws."
Dr. Zahra Haqparast, a Germany-based women's activist who started a campaign against the new laws, said they were "the final bullet to the forehead of Afghan women." She added, "I started the campaign, and soon many more protesting girls joined. The Taliban should face sanctions. The world must not negotiate with them."
Haqparast, who lost her job as a dentist in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, said, "Our voices are so loud, they're making them deaf. I want to sing a female revolutionary song so that my voice will deafen the ears of the terrorists. I want women to unite and raise their voices for their rights."
Women inside Afghanistan said the online protest was part of efforts to claim their right to be heard and to preserve their cultural identity amid the escalating restrictions on their freedoms. A former university lecturer in western Herat said, "The Taliban cannot silence our voices; we are half of this society, and they cannot even imagine how powerful we are."
