On 14 August 2024, the eve of the third anniversary of Taliban rule, one of my Afghan women contacts – now my friend – wrote of the "black history" of her country.
"Every day we hope to get rid of this terrible nightmare, but there has been no change at all in the government and the way of these savages. Dear Gali, I am very worried about how long this oppression will continue and how long this suffering will continue. Every day that our head is shot, our life is also shot with it ...
Our young generation is very depressed and disappointed, they can't fight anymore because there is no support for our fight, we are forgotten. Afghan women and girls have changed a lot mentally and spiritually. They have been deprived of all their human rights for three years... I can't tell you how tired and broken I am anymore."
Days later the first formal declarations since the 2021 takeover, were issued under the Taliban's vice and virtue laws , abolishing the sound of women's voices in public. A woman's voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public.
Afghan women started protesting against these laws by posting videos of themselves singing, defying their public silencing.
Here are some videos created by the women I'm in touch with in Afghanistan.
As there is fear of being forgotten after being silenced, we must all support their voices – the sound, content and expression of the reality of these women.
Please spread these videos between your own people and networks.
"I have no motivation to speak out in public
What do I sing about when I am so hated in the situation of these times?
Either I sing or not
What can I say about nectar – that there is poison in my mouth?
A pox to that cruel fist that has beaten my mouth
Hoping for that great day that I break out from the cage
And get rid of this segregation, and sing happily
I'm not that weak, fragile willow that trembles with every wind
I'm an Afghan girl and I am right to be dissenting all the time
Hoping for that great day that I break out from the cage
And get rid of this segregation, and sing happily."
"A woman's voice is not a shame"
"I sprout on the wound on my body
Just because I am a woman, a woman, a woman
Let's talk together, we walk side by side
Let's hold hands and let's get rid of oppression
Another world
Let's build from equality, to empathy and sisterhood
A happy and better world
No killing women by throwing stones
No executions,
No many times of crying
No shame
Another world
Let's build from equality
To empathy and sisterhood”
"I was angry and broken, but I decided to speak out. Women’s voices are not private."
"Women violate the customs and rules of society; they are not guilty because these rules are set by men. The voice of a woman is not private."
"I am a woman who has woken up; I have found my way and will never go back. A woman’s voice is not private."
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