By Azada*
“Every time before I go to the protests, visions of a dark prison haunt me – I am sitting on the cold floor with teary eyes, and suddenly a group of Taliban burst through the door,” says Sohaila*. She is a lawyer in Kabul who has been unemployed since the Taliban takeover. “I have been isolated and depressed for two years,” she says. So she decided not to be idle at home but to protest in the streets.
Sohaila is a woman activist who has participated in several street demonstrations during the last two years. In that time, it has been the women of Afghanistan who have courageously raised their voices against the injustices and anti-women policies of the Taliban. Those women have made so many sacrifices for this cause, including being imprisoned, tortured and murdered.
Sohaila has been injured in several street demonstrations. “During the protests in Shahrnau Park, a Taliban hit my shoulder with the butt of his gun and my shoulder was injured,” she explains. “The Taliban ran after the women protestors and beat them angrily. At one point, I wanted to talk with them, but seeing their hands on the triggers reminded me of my daughter, Behnoosh. I escaped the area with great difficulty.”
She’s taken extreme precautions. “Before I left the house for one protest, I took some rat poison with me. If I was captured by the Taliban, I would eat the poison and end my life before being tortured and beaten,” she says. “Because my comrades had been captured, imprisoned and tortured by the Taliban several times, I was very afraid. Every time, I visualize violent images of the Taliban and think of their cold, dark prisons. Even after the demonstrations, I feel fear, panic, and stress for several days.”
Though her husband supports her efforts, Sohaila endures opposition from her family. “My family and relatives have asked me not to participate in the protests anymore,” says Sohaila with disgust. “They have said, ‘If you participate, we will cut off contact with you.’ They do not understand many of my activities because the current situation is full of fear and panic.”
Sohaila also receives insults from passers-by during her protests. “There are those who encourage and praise us and call us heroes, and there are those who call us of being sellouts and accuse us of rioting, causing chaos, and endangering others. When we run away from the Taliban, none of the men allow us to take refuge in their shops or houses.” What bothers Sohaila the most is people’s silence in the face of the crimes and injustices perpetrated by the Taliban, especially given that women activists such as herself are fighting for everyone.
The lawyer grieves that people have attached negative labels and motives onto the women’s protest movement, explaining, “We have not received any kind of support from any organization or person during these months of protests. Our protests have always been spontaneous.”
She refuses to let such false criticisms bother her. She’s more concerned about the future for her and her two-year-old daughter, especially as Taliban misogyny and anti-women laws have deprived women of their ability to work and be educated. It’s those draconian restrictions that have led to many women raising their voices in protest. Like her fellow activists, Sohaila fights for a peaceful life and a society based on equality and without gender, ethnic, and religious discrimination.
Regardless of her fears and concerns of her family, Sohail says that she will continue to fight until she is not subjected to violence and marginalization because of her ethnicity, religion, and gender. She asks the people of Afghanistan to support the women’s struggle.
Azada is the pen name of a journalist living in Kabul.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of those in this article.
