Protests have begun in Afghanistan after the Taliban reopened Secondary schools for boys but refused to allow girls to attend. The protests include a strike by boys who are refusing to attend school in solidarity with their female family members and countryfolk, many using the term 'not without our sisters'.
Many of those protesting bravely made statements online, including:
"We don't go to school without our sisters."
"I didn't go to school today to show my disagreement with the Taliban, and to protest them forbidding girls going to school."
And:
"Women make up half the society. This shows that the Taliban haven't changed. I will not show up at school until girls' schools are open too."
The Taliban previously ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 during which time women were banned from getting an education. The Taliban based their position on a strict conservative interpretation of Islam. While the Taliban were forced from power in 2001, they have now returned after a 20-year-war against US and NATO forces.
While the Taliban has made promises to the international community that their new rule would be more open, many of their old practices have returned, including forcing women to cover themselves completely in public, banning women from getting an education, and the removal of limbs as punishment for certain crimes. The stoning to death of women for alleged crimes such as adultery was a common feature of their last tenure in power.
Kate Clark, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said of the Taliban's latest actions:
"Education and literacy are so strongly valued in Islam that the Taliban could not ban girls in schools on Islamic grounds, so they always said they would open them when security improved. It never did. They never opened the schools."
Bahar Jalali, a former faculty member of the American University of Afghanistan, who is supportive of the protests, tweeted an image of a women dressed completely in black with the words:
"No woman has ever dressed like this in the history of Afghanistan. This is utterly foreign and alien to Afghan culture. I posted my pic in the traditional Afghan dress to inform, educate, and dispel the misinformation that is being propagated by Taliban."
No woman has ever dressed like this in the history of Afghanistan. This is utterly foreign and alien to Afghan culture. I posted my pic in the traditional Afghan dress to inform, educate, and dispel the misinformation that is being propagated by Taliban. https://t.co/jrp772jIKu
— Dr. Bahar Jalali (@RoxanaBahar1) September 12, 2021
Some nations have suggested withholding financial and food aid to Afghanistan should they refuse to uphold human rights, though some fear that such policies could result in mass starvation and an even worse situation on the ground.
[h/t: Upworthy]
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