To be shocked this isn't getting more coverage?

[Sugarcoldturkey]

Women in Afghanistan are now forbidden from speaking when not inside their homes. A simple "hello" to someone in a shop is now against the law. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/aug/26/taliban-bar-on-afghan-women-speaking-in-public-un-afghanistan

AIBU to think this is some of the most horrific news I've heard in months? I can't wrap my head around it and I can't help thinking - activists/newspapers/politicians are loud when campaigning about the gender pay gap or the state of child care or a woman's rights to her own body but somehow on this topic no one wants to criticise too often or too loudly.

Is it because religion is mixed in? Or guilt over the war? Or do politicians in particular only care about women's rights when it's a vote-winner in their constituency? Or is it just that it's so terrible and we all feel so powerless to prevent it that we just prefer to ignore the situation?

I'm feeling v v shaken.

Bollocks

It is racist to stoke violence and make suggestions that Muslims will overtake the UK by 2050 as @Blondiebeachbabe did. It's doesn't have to be one or the other does it? Afghan clearly has major issues in how it treats it's women and girls- as do other countries! This fact doesn't detract from Afghanistan in anyway.

Does anyone know if a protest is planned outside the Afghan Embassy in London?

my idea is that women all over the world stand outside the Afghan embassies and sing - raise their voices in a way that the Afghan women can’t .

Times Radio currently covering it.

RAWA was the leading women's rights group in Afganistan prion to the US/UK invasion. As well as international campaigns, they ran underground schools for girls. I'm not sure if they're still going, but if they are, they're worth donating to.

Oh please, neither the Brits, Soviets or Americans gave a shit about Afghanistan or Afghans.

It’s heart breaking what’s happening there but let’s not try and rewrite history to portray the West as liberators.

Thank you for this. I’ve set up a Direct Debit after reading through their site. They are doing such important and practical work. What a brilliant organisation.

Except silencing women has no basis in Islam.

I have an Iranian friend who left Iran over 20 years ago due to the regime

She's blindsinded by the apathy in this country towards Islamist regimes worldwide- (at least among the media/chattering classes)- I'm ashamed, frankly

Ok, but is it racist to be concerned that the Taliban ideology (that they claim is the one true interpretation of Islam) and others like it might spread?

Even in small ways. I'm a teacher and often see things e.g. some Muslim parents refusing to send their girls on school trips but happy to send their boys. Is it racism if I say that that is anti women and I don't want those views to spread?

Of course, it is perfectly possible to be Muslim and support women's rights. Just like it is possible to be Christian and support women's choice re abortion. Unfortunately, the ideology where religion and women's rights are mutually exclusive seems to be spreading.

They left because a democratic government could not be established.

Regardless of whether the Taliban have a single AK47 or enough equipment to arm ten battle groups, the way women are treated in Afghanistan is squarely down to religious practices.

I'm so glad it's at least getting some coverage. It really seemed as if it was just being ignored by all the major news outlets. I hope they continue reporting on it

eff rubish. Jesus was the first Man to give voice to women and historically christians are the only ones who did anything for the less privileged.

Agree. It feels like everyone has just given up, It's so upsetting.

Can't talk in public, can't read in public, can't so much as glance at a man in public unless he's a relative. And we know full well that those in charge would run the world like this if they had a chance. It's horrific.

Brilliant piece by David Greig - Miniskirts of Kabul,

Exactly this

Of course it's heartbreaking, but it's what too many Afghan males wanted and continue to want, which is largely why the Taliban swept back in so quickly

Nobody pretends the way our forces left was ideal, but the result would probably have been the same no matter what we'd done, and unless we're prepared to return to the colonialist approach of running others' countries we just have to accept that they won't always govern themselves in a way the west cconsiders appropriate

I come from a small EU country where men tend to be a bit chauvnistic sometimes. My father did all his best possible to educate me and give me a chance to earn my own money, to want a career and be an equal earner, all this being Christian.

now, come and tell me this about your muslim men.

Is it unreasonable to be shocked that there's not much coverage of this? - of course not, but sadly most people in the UK don't care about anything that doesn't directly concern them. They've swallowed the anti-foreigner rhetoric that a very large part of UK politics has descended into. If it's happening half-way around the world in someplace ending in -stan, they just don't GAS.

We have an appalling standard of international news coverage in the UK now. If it's not happening in or to a country that has English as a first language, it's not considered newsworthy by the public or the media. You only get any real international news coverage on the Channel 4 evening news now - and even that tends to be over-focussed and thematic.

I saw this and thought the same thing. Apparently a female voice is a vice!!! Unbelievable. Dire news in 2024.

Of course people are appalled, but exactly what do you think we can do about it?

I don’t think the Taliban are going to take much notice of mass demonstrations in Trafalgar Square.

I do take your point, but isn't there a lot of coverage of Israel/Palestine etc? Or today an article in the guardian about how China doesn't allow same-sex marriage.

So there is coverage of non-UK news but only if it's somehow "trendy"?

Bump. Everyone on MN needs to read this.

The majority of our local refugees are Afghan women. This is a big part of the refugee crisis.

Of course we don't want those awful views to be spread but we also don't want to be alarmist and suggest that this is a 'Muslim problem' inciting islamophobia which the UK already has as seen recently in the UK.

It's sad to hear that girls are not allowed to go on school trips unlike the boys. What as a school are you doing about that?

Everything that you’ve said about Jewish women is either inaccurate or plain wrong, FYI.