Close Menu
Market Data Newsletter
Sunday, September 6
Global Free Speech

Women in burqa with their children in Herat, Afghanistan. Photo: Marius Arnesen/CC BY-SA 2.0 A grim milestone this Saturday – five years since the fall of Kabul. That’s 1,826 days of Taliban rule. In that time the pillars sustaining a free and pluralistic society have crumbled. Press freedom has been dismantled and political opposition made obsolete. Women and girls have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s repressive regime. Removed from public life – not even allowed to be seen at windows – they now have fewer rights than people in closed societies like North Korea. While enforcement of the Taliban’s seemingly endless edicts has been patchy, even under more moderate officials life is relentlessly tough, with women’s freedoms nothing on what they were before the Taliban’s return. “Gender apartheid” is the phrase most commonly used to describe this dreadful state of affairs. As part of our Letters from Afghan Women project, which was inspired by our Letters from Lukashenka’s Prisoners, we’ve called Afghanistan “a domestic prison”. It has also been referred to as a lockdown, only one with no end in sight. Five years ago, people in the UK were on the other side of the last and longest pandemic lockdown. Five years on, Afghan women are still trapped in one. This June, a group of women protested the arrest of other women for alleged violations of dress-code rules. Taliban authorities responded with brute force, shooting at them and killing at least two. But the episode, rare as it was, at least revealed one positive – parts of Afghan society remain willing to challenge the authority of the Taliban. The Taliban know there are chinks in their armour. This probably explains why officials and government employees were recently ordered to stop using smartphones. Videos making the rounds online showed Taliban members destroying their phones in compliance. Many fear that these restrictions may yet be extended to everyone, thus severing an essential lifeline. So much has been lost but not everything: we must continue fighting to ensure that when the Taliban does eventually fall, some infrastructure for freedom of expression remains. That has been a motivator over the last five years when it has all felt bleak, and it fits into Index’s broader theory of change: one voice amplified helps many. Since 2021 we’ve arranged fundraisers for Afghan journalists, we’ve given an award to a brave educator with a mobile school, we’ve created the aforementioned letters project and we’ve published the words of Afghan women (and others) many times. We have provided an essential platform for them to speak, because in the words of Rahmati, a 24-year-old from Kabul: “I realised that I wanted to scream. Not just a sound, something deeper. I wanted to scream that I exist. That I am a human being. That I have thoughts and a heart and a voice.” Index became her place to scream. We offered her momentary respite from an otherwise grim reality. We won’t stop, for Rahmati and the millions of others like her, human beings with thoughts, hearts and voices. If you want to help, read their words, share them, donate to us, become an Index member. Just please don’t look away. READ MORE

News RoomBy No Comments3 Mins Read4 Views
Women in burqa with their children in Herat, Afghanistan. Photo: Marius Arnesen/CC BY-SA 2.0 A grim milestone this Saturday – five years since the fall of Kabul. That’s 1,826 days of Taliban rule. In that time the pillars sustaining a free and pluralistic society have crumbled. Press freedom has been dismantled and political opposition made obsolete. Women and girls have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s repressive regime. Removed from public life – not even allowed to be seen at windows – they now have fewer rights than people in closed societies like North Korea. While enforcement of the Taliban’s seemingly endless edicts has been patchy, even under more moderate officials life is relentlessly tough, with women’s freedoms nothing on what they were before the Taliban’s return. “Gender apartheid” is the phrase most commonly used to describe this dreadful state of affairs. As part of our Letters from Afghan Women project, which was inspired by our Letters from Lukashenka’s Prisoners, we’ve called Afghanistan “a domestic prison”. It has also been referred to as a lockdown, only one with no end in sight. Five years ago, people in the UK were on the other side of the last and longest pandemic lockdown. Five years on, Afghan women are still trapped in one. This June, a group of women protested the arrest of other women for alleged violations of dress-code rules. Taliban authorities responded with brute force, shooting at them and killing at least two. But the episode, rare as it was, at least revealed one positive – parts of Afghan society remain willing to challenge the authority of the Taliban. The Taliban know there are chinks in their armour. This probably explains why officials and government employees were recently ordered to stop using smartphones. Videos making the rounds online showed Taliban members destroying their phones in compliance. Many fear that these restrictions may yet be extended to everyone, thus severing an essential lifeline. So much has been lost but not everything: we must continue fighting to ensure that when the Taliban does eventually fall, some infrastructure for freedom of expression remains. That has been a motivator over the last five years when it has all felt bleak, and it fits into Index’s broader theory of change: one voice amplified helps many. Since 2021 we’ve arranged fundraisers for Afghan journalists, we’ve given an award to a brave educator with a mobile school, we’ve created the aforementioned letters project and we’ve published the words of Afghan women (and others) many times. We have provided an essential platform for them to speak, because in the words of Rahmati, a 24-year-old from Kabul: “I realised that I wanted to scream. Not just a sound, something deeper. I wanted to scream that I exist. That I am a human being. That I have thoughts and a heart and a voice.” Index became her place to scream. We offered her momentary respite from an otherwise grim reality. We won’t stop, for Rahmati and the millions of others like her, human beings with thoughts, hearts and voices. If you want to help, read their words, share them, donate to us, become an Index member. Just please don’t look away. READ MORE

Listen to the article

0:00
0:00

A grim milestone this Saturday – five years since the fall of Kabul. That’s 1,826 days of Taliban rule. In that time the pillars sustaining a free and pluralistic society have crumbled. Press freedom has been dismantled and political opposition made obsolete.

Women and girls have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s repressive regime. Removed from public life – not even allowed to be seen at windows – they now have fewer rights than people in closed societies like North Korea. While enforcement of the Taliban’s seemingly endless edicts has been patchy, even under more moderate officials life is relentlessly tough, with women’s freedoms nothing on what they were before the Taliban’s return. “Gender apartheid” is the phrase most commonly used to describe this dreadful state of affairs. As part of our Letters from Afghan Women project, which was inspired by our Letters from Lukashenka’s Prisoners, we’ve called Afghanistan “a domestic prison”. It has also been referred to as a lockdown, only one with no end in sight. Five years ago, people in the UK were on the other side of the last and longest pandemic lockdown. Five years on, Afghan women are still trapped in one.

This June, a group of women protested the arrest of other women for alleged violations of dress-code rules. Taliban authorities responded with brute force, shooting at them and killing at least two. But the episode, rare as it was, at least revealed one positive – parts of Afghan society remain willing to challenge the authority of the Taliban.

The Taliban know there are chinks in their armour. This probably explains why officials and government employees were recently ordered to stop using smartphones. Videos making the rounds online showed Taliban members destroying their phones in compliance. Many fear that these restrictions may yet be extended to everyone, thus severing an essential lifeline.

So much has been lost but not everything: we must continue fighting to ensure that when the Taliban does eventually fall, some infrastructure for freedom of expression remains. That has been a motivator over the last five years when it has all felt bleak, and it fits into Index’s broader theory of change: one voice amplified helps many. Since 2021 we’ve arranged fundraisers for Afghan journalists, we’ve given an award to a brave educator with a mobile school, we’ve created the aforementioned letters project and we’ve published the words of Afghan women (and others) many times. We have provided an essential platform for them to speak, because in the words of Rahmati, a 24-year-old from Kabul: “I realised that I wanted to scream. Not just a sound, something deeper. I wanted to scream that I exist. That I am a human being. That I have thoughts and a heart and a voice.” Index became her place to scream. We offered her momentary respite from an otherwise grim reality.

We won’t stop, for Rahmati and the millions of others like her, human beings with thoughts, hearts and voices. If you want to help, read their words, share them, donate to us, become an Index member. Just please don’t look away.

Read the full article here

Fact Checker

Verify the accuracy of this article using AI-powered analysis and real-time sources.

Share.

The FSNN News Room is the voice of our in-house journalists, editors, and researchers. We deliver timely, unbiased reporting at the crossroads of finance, cryptocurrency, and global politics, providing clear, fact-driven analysis free from agendas.

Related Articles

Global Free Speech

Maltese tycoon Yorgen Fenech, accused of being the mastermind behind the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017, was cleared of charges of complicity and criminal conspiracy. Index’s CEO Jemimah Steinfeld gives her reaction, as Daphne’s family continue to call for justice. Malta Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by a bomb planted under her car on 16 October 2017. She was 53. I was relatively new to Index at the time, and I remember the day well. It isn’t every day that a journalist is brutally murdered in Europe. Thus began years of protests, first outside Malta’s High Commission in London then online following Covid restrictions, ultimately morphing into a sustained campaign for justice for Daphne and her family. In the years since, I have had the privilege of meeting several members of her family. I’ve always been struck, humbled even, by their unwavering determination in their quest for justice – the energy and fortitude this demands – and by their ability to get on with life, refusing to let Daphne’s murder define them. Yorgen Fenech leaves the courthouse following his acquittal (AP Photo/Kevin Schembri Orland) Daphne was a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother, and so many future memories were stolen from her and her family on that fateful day in 2017. Daphne was also a fearless journalist. She was killed because she asked uncomfortable questions, because she dared to expose and confront abuses of power and authority in Malta. Yesterday, when Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was acquitted of complicity in Daphne’s murder, that message rang throughout the court and beyond. She was killed because she was seeking out the truth. We at Index are all devastated for her and her family. They have spent years in search of answers, and thought they would get this, finally, after nine long years. They didn’t. Daphne was not the only one denied justice this week. Another face familiar to us at Index is that of Joshua Wong, the Hong Kong democracy leader who has been in prison since 2020. Reader, what were you doing in your 20s? Joshua, who turns 30 next month, was first arrested when he was 17 and has spent a large chunk of his 20s in jail. And he might remain imprisoned for longer. He was due to be released in January 2027, after serving out his most recent term of imprisonment, for subversion. But this week he pleaded guilty to collusion with foreign entities – which could lead to a life sentence under China’s National Security Law. Hong Kong Joshua’s friend and fellow protester Frances Hui wrote about him for Index. She reminded us of the person, not the name. “He was sharp, stubborn, and unapologetic. Most importantly to those of us who were younger, he seemed entirely unconvinced by the idea that being young meant we should remain quiet.” She added that Hong Kong’s government have done all they can to make Joshua “disappear from everyday life”. The authorities in Hong Kong and Malta would rather that these names disappeared, that we move on and forget about the past. But we can’t, and we won’t. Not until we’ve achieved justice for Daphne and freedom for Joshua.   READ MORE

Add A Comment

Comments are closed.