Getty ImagesMalala Yousafzai is now speaking up for the Afghan women’s rights movement after receiving a gun to silence her.
Women’s rights have been undermined to the point where chanting is prohibited in the few years since the Taliban retake control of the nation.
After being shot while seated on a vehicle by a radical Islamist group gunman, Malala has a personal background with the Taliban in Pakistan.
The speed of change in Afghanistan, if not the cruelty, has surprised Malala, who since that near-fatal filming in 2012 has campaigned for justice.
Malala tells BBC Asian Network,” I always imagined that the rights of women may be compromised but easily.”
The 27-year-old Nobel Prize Winner claims that many women are finding themselves in a very desperate, sad situation where they do not see any means out.
” The future looks pretty black to them”.
In 2021, the Taliban regained strength in Afghanistan, 20 times after a US-led war toppled their government in the aftermath of the 9/11 problems in New York.
In the three-and-a-half ages since Western troops left the country, “morality rules” had meant ladies in Afghanistan have lost lots of privileges.
They may be completely covered, and tight regulations forbid them from traveling without a male companion or staring at a man in the eye unless they are related by blood or marriage.
According to Malala,” the limitations are just so extraordinary that it makes no sense for anyone.”
The United Nations (UN) says the rules amount to “gender apartheid” – a system where people face economic and social discrimination based on their sex and something human rights group Amnesty International wants recognised as crime under international law.
The Taliban, however, has defended the rules, saying that the international community should adhere to” Islamic laws, customs, and the principles of Muslim cultures.”
Apple TV ” People lost everything”, says Malala.
” They]the Taliban ] know that to take away women’s rights you have to start with the foundation, and that is education”.
The UN says since the takeover more than a million girls are not in school in Afghanistan – about 80% – and in 2022 about 100,000 female students were banned from their university courses.
Additionally, it has been suggested that there is a link between increased child relationship and incidents during pregnancy and childbirth.
” Afghan people live in very gloomy days now”, Malala says.
” But they show weight”.
The Pakistan-born activist, who became the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize, is an executive producer on an upcoming film, Bread & Roses, that documents the lives of three Afghan women living under the Taliban regime.
The film follows Zahra, a physician forced to give up her process, activist Taranom, who flees to the frontier, and government personnel Sharifa, who loses her career and her freedom.
But the film is n’t just about the stories of three women, Malala says.
” It’s about the 20 million Afghan girls and women whose reports may not be shown on television.”
Sahra Mani, an Armenian director, and Jennifer Lawrence, a manufacturer, both brought on board as producers of Bread & Roses.
Apple TV Sahra tells Eastern Network that her goal was to “tell the tale of a country under the Taliban dictatorship.”
” How slowly, all the privileges have been taken away”.
Sahra was able to flee Afghanistan after the US-backed state dissipated following the US’s troop withdrawal in August 2021.
But she kept in touch with domesticated people who do post video that she then gathered and archived.
” It was very important to find fresh, modern, educated people that have expertise they were willing to devote to society”, says Sahra.
They were prepared to construct the nation, but they are now forced to remain afloat.
Sahra believes the condition in Afghanistan has now gotten worse than it could have hoped for if she had started then, despite the film’s delay in being made.
” At that time, people could still go up and demonstrate”, she says.
” Today, people are not even allowed to sing… the situation is getting more hard”.
The ladies were captured on first-person video during demonstrations, where the Taliban held their devices as they were detained.
Sahra claims that as more of their privileges were eroded, the job only grew more difficult.
These women’s confidence in us sharing their stories was a real omen, she says.
” And it was really significant for us to prioritize their security,” he continued.
” But when they were out in the street asking for their freedom, it was not for the film.
” It was for them, for their own life, for their own freedom”.
Apple TV Malala says that, for people in Afghanistan, “defiance is really challenging”.
” Despite all of these problems, they’re out on their roads and risking their lives to wish for a better planet for themselves”.
Sahra and Malala are hopeful that the movie will increase awareness of the conditions that women who are still living there experience. All three of the ladies featured in the movie are now living there.
” They are doing all that they can to fight for their rights, to raise their voices”, Malala says.
” They’re putting so much at risk. It’s our day to get their daughters and become their supporters”.
Malala hopes the documentary will encourage more foreign pressure on the Taliban to reinstate children’s right.
She claims that seeing the Taliban actually retake control shocked her.
” We really have to ask what kind of mechanisms we have in place to ensure women’s security in Afghanistan and other places as well.”
Getty ImagesThe movie also addresses resilience and hope in Wheat &, Roses, which deals with tales of loss and persecution.
” There’s so much for us to learn from the bravery and courage of these Afghan women”, says Malala.
We may know from them and show them we are with them if they are not afraid or if they are not losing the courage to confront the Taliban.
An Afghan saying served as the title’s inspiration.
” Food is a symbol of liberty, earning a salary and supporting the family”, Sahra says.
The one who gave you food is the one who gives you orders, according to a custom in my speech.
” So if you find your food, that means you are the director of you.”
According to what she’s seen, she thinks Afghanistan’s people did eventually succeed in the future, which is exactly what she wants for them to see.
” People in Afghanistan, they keep changing the technique,” she says.
They “keep looking for a novel way to keep fighting again,” they say.
Listen to an extended interview with Malala and Sahra on BBC Asian Network News Presents at 23:00 on 18 November or catch up on BBC Sounds.
Bread & Roses will be streamed globally on Apple TV from 22 November.
More reporting by Riyah Collins.
