Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the face and nearly murdered by the Taliban twelve years ago for advocating for girls’ education in her native Pakistan, is cautioning about the risks that the group’s radical interpretation of Islam poses to women.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner is one of the creators of Bread & Roses, a brand-new documentary about women in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021, which was directed by Sahra Mani. The movie, which makes its premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, follows three women activists Taranom Seyedi, dentist Zahra Mohammadi, and government employee Sharifa Mowahedzada as they attempt to challenge the Taliban’s draconian regulations.
In a Zoom interview with NBC News, Yousafzai stated that it is crucial that we elevate the voices of Afghan women at this time.
Since being wounded in 2012 while returning home from school in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, the 27-year-old activist has gained international recognition for her efforts to promote girls’ education. (The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a close ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan but a distinct entity.)
“In a sense, the Taliban are trying to make women invisible,” Yousafzai, a 2020 Oxford University graduate, said. Therefore, it is really important to give women’s tales prominence, and this documentary is doing just that.
The documentary mostly uses the women’s own cellphone film to depict what it’s like when the Taliban restricts their liberties, including as their capacity to work, go out in public without a male companion, or pursue an education.
The Taliban, which had provided sanctuary to Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, were overthrown in 2001 by forces supported by the United States. Taliban terrorists signed a peace agreement with the United States during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, nearly 20 years after they had taken over most of the nation. The agreement called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan by May 2021.
President Joe Biden preserved the deal and extended the deadline to August 2021. However, the pullout, which was characterized by terror attacks, violence, and images of desperate Afghans attempting to flee the country, has come under fire for being poorly handled.
The Taliban started forcing their fervently fundamentalist interpretation of Islam on the populace after regaining power. Most facets of public life have been off-limits to women. The Taliban has banned women’s voices and exposed faces in public, shuttered schools for girls starting in the sixth grade, and prohibited women from praying aloud or reciting the Quran in front of other women.
Producer Mani says she was in Afghanistan working on another documentary at the time of the Taliban takeover. At that point, she changed her focus and began working for a charity that assists women in dire need.
In a Zoom interview, she stated, “That’s how I met so many women who were sharing their daily life with me and recording their daily activities.” They kept emailing me videos when they went out to protest in public. I made the decision to compile all of those films into an archive.
The archive video, according to Mani, served as the basis for a full documentary with assistance from Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence. The documentary’s ideas, according to Lawrence, who co-produces the movie with Justine Ciarrocchi, are applicable to those outside of Afghanistan.
Before the documentary’s premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Lawrence told Variety, “There is not much separating us from these other countries.” We only have democracy, and it is eroding. We must continue to focus on the important issue of individual liberties.
Afghan women can be seen demonstrating in the streets throughout Bread & Roses, yelling, “Down with terrorists!” and insisting that women be let to continue their education. Work, bread, education is a common chant that is inscribed on a lot of their signs.
In the documentary’s footage, women are shown gathering in groups in Mohammadi’s former dental office, where they converse, eat, and make ideas for protests and signs.
The risks of such resistance are also depicted in the movie. One of the film’s primary subjects, Mowahedzada, chronicles her loneliness following her forced evacuation from Afghanistan for her own protection.
At one point in the documentary, she exclaims, “May history remember that once upon a time such cruelty was permitted against the women of Afghanistan.” She goes on to remark, “Afghan women have become victims of policies everywhere before the world, before countries that denounce coldheartedness and cry for democracy.” I have no option except to get away.
The former government worker, Mowahedzada, frequently records herself from the comfort of her own home, showcasing her loneliness following her job ban.
In the movie, she states, “I miss everything I had.” We are not entitled to labor. We are not entitled to study. They have stolen everything away from me.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesperson, encouraged Western politicians to overlook the severe regulations enforced on Afghan women and children during a United Nations-led summit in Qatar in July, according to the Associated Press.
According to him, in order to promote positive bilateral relations, it is necessary to recognize the religious and cultural values that the Taliban support.
However, human rights groups and campaigners such as Yousafzai have urged world leaders to pay attention to the situation facing women in the nation. According to a Human Rights Watch news release from August, the Taliban have caused the most severe women’s rights crisis in the world since seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021.
You barely get a peek of how these ladies are handled in the documentary because they choose to peacefully demonstrate for their access to education and employment.
-Malala Yousafzai
Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated in the news release that Afghan women and girls are experiencing their darkest nightmares as a result of the Taliban’s brutal reign. Every government need to back initiatives aimed at holding the Taliban’s top brass and everyone else accountable for grave crimes committed in Afghanistan.
Yousafzai and Mani both stated that in the three years since Bread & Roses’ filming, the situation has only become worse.
Yousafzai, who has spent years fighting for women’s rights to education through her nonprofit organization the Malala Fund, continued, “The documentary is giving you a glimpse of how these women are treated for just going out for a peaceful demonstration to ask for their right to work and for education.”
She went on to say that nations should avoid normalizing their relations with the Taliban because doing so would be seen as enabling the abuse of women and girls. The demands and rights of women must be considered while making decisions about Afghanistan’s future.
In order to eradicate, combat, and hold those responsible for the systematic erasure and oppression of women, such as the Taliban, accountable, she urged world leaders to declare gender apartheid a crime against humanity under international criminal law.
Mani echoed Yousafzai’s message when asked what she hoped viewers would learn from the movie.
According to her, Afghan women are suffering greatly. However, it serves as a true wake-up call for us all to consider these concerns carefully.
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