Last week Elaha Delawarzai went public, exposing a heinous crime that showed the moral decay of the country under the Taliban. The medical student at Kabul University claims to have been raped, tortured, and forced to marry a Taliban official. She speaks with the trembling voice, like any human being who has suffered rape, torture, and indescribable violence inflicted on her just because of her gender. Elaha Delawarzai chooses speech over silence, and exposes a Taliban crime with the hope that her speaking up might be heard and someone might rush to her help.
We listen to Elaha’s voice, while we mourn for Elaha herself and all the Elahas stuck under the Taliban patriarchy. But what is the use of mourning without foresight? Faced with the heinous dimensions of this collective disaster, what is the responsibility of writers and journalists, survivors, and potential victims of sexual violence? What should be done when the group in power is the sworn enemy of women and all other marginalized groups? Isn’t it time for us and our allies to seize our historical role and agency for our collective social emancipation? Shouldn’t we recognize the opportunities and challenges and act upon them?
We are Elaha’s intended audience. We, all independent civil and social groups, independent media and journalists, are obliged to create a path out of the current disaster. First, it is up to us to work towards unity and solidarity in multiple, decentralized forms by providing platforms for marginalized groups, their voices and struggles. We must establish unity, with a single voice and a common demand. We must unconditionally support all efforts and methods of resistance against the Taliban. We should value the participation of all groups in resisting oppression and suppression.
We may make mistakes while mobilizing forces and setting priorities. The lived experiences of us women of Afghanistan have repeatedly shown that simply sharing a gender cannot and should not be the basis of unity of forces, because the special and fragile position of women can pit one part of the society against the other. In this situation, the marginalized and oppressed social groups are sometimes fragmented and face each other in hostile camps, although women have proven by raising the slogan “Work, Food, Freedom” that they are aware of the necessity to keep standing up against all forms of domination and oppression. Women know that the hands of the group in power are stained with the blood of a large spectrum of people, including dissidents, women, artists, and members of the LGBTQ community.
To confront the Taliban, it is necessary to establish safe circles and networks of solidarity and unity. Part of our collective struggle is self-protection and self-care, and defence of self-agency. Women’s struggles in the last year have shown that individual resistance — no matter how serious and radical — is doomed to isolation, suppression, and easy elimination if one does not find direction within a collective movement and its joint efforts. Women realize that, to heal long-term collective wounds, the cure should be searched for in the causes. The experiences of women’s resistance in Afghanistan and the region show that before confronting dehumanizing forces, we must first ensure the longevity and continuation of our struggle. There is a need for women to recognize and regain their power through small organizations, collectives, and safe circles.
Progress towards freedom and equality requires the solidarity and unity of all progressive forces, especially women’s movements. As the history of women’s struggle for equality shows, the renewal of strength in safe circles is a requirement and a principle. The existence of these safe spaces can solidify our understanding of the origins of sexual violence and overt and hidden gender discrimination and play the role of a mediator and supporter for our collective struggle. At the same time, these circles can provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences between different generations of women confronting violence and sexual oppression. Building and having support networks for women is the only measure that can first help in understanding and then in changing sexual power relations.
In this historical struggle, we must accept that our capacity is limited, that occasionally we are bent under the weight of grief and despair and we are filled with anger because the ability of each of us to fight alone is variable and limited. We must accept that the speed and extent of the cycle of structural violence can create a sense of pessimism and paralysis. We must always remember the fact that women’s efforts in Afghanistan, like any other movement for change, is not free of perils or pitfalls. For that reason, the existence of safe circles is imperative.
At a time when the hands of the ruling clique are stained with women’s blood, collective action is needed to change the situation. To deal with structural gender oppression, we should not be limited to partial or individual solutions. We women of the region and the larger Middle East are in this struggle together. We must build safe circles beyond national borders. We should learn from the experience and struggles of women elsewhere in the region. Our struggle against the Taliban is part of our collective struggle against the structure of oppression and subjugation of women around the world. We survivors, victims, and women activists have no choice but to unite. We must come together and ensure the longevity of our struggle through solidarity.
