The rest is politics - “The Taliban took over the country and it's much safer”

[HiggledyPiggledy33]

Just outraged at what I’ve just heard in the rest is politics.

They are discussing why aren’t we boycotting Afghanistan, and I can’t believe what Rory is saying.

“For the first time in over 20 years, you can travel safely through the country.”

Well maybe you can Rory, but I don’t think women can - is that fine? Throw half the population under the bus, as long as you’re OK.

“The Taliban have very repressive views on women, but they've also in other ways changed”
oh well that’s ok then.

“We're in a culture now where it really suits a lot of people, particularly on the far right, to emphasise Muslim countries where women are not treated correctly”
Women not being treated correctly is the problem. Once that’s sorted, let’s look at any sensitivity about muslims.

From The Rest Is Politics: Question Time: Assad’s People - Syria, Torture, and Justice, 9 Jan 2025

You don't know anything about Afghanistan, as you acknowledged. Perhaps give other posters credit that they do, and many of them thought it was a pretty shitty thing to say, before wading in to defend misogynistic men.

Perhaps they do, I doubt it though.

And I don’t believe they are misogynistic.

And yet here you are, posting on the internet without having listened to it or read the transcript.

Everything I quoted comes directly from the transcript of the show.

It’s not the main point he is making but it is word for word what he said.

Do you really need to have been to Afghanistan to understand that the conditions women are under now are more dire than they've ever been? They aren't allowed to stand near windows ffs. Cats have better living conditions.

🤦‍♀️

There’s an assumption - prevalent on MN in my experience - that centrist politicians must be more sensible, informed and considered than other politicians.

I’m willing to accept that, on the whole, pols and commentators in the centre might be less volatile than those to the right or left of them. But clued-up and intelligent? No, there’s nothing to mark out the middle as intellectually sharper or more aware.

Stewart might as well have said that 1940s Germany was jolly safe, unless you were a persecuted group. Or that a jaunt through Ukraine in the ‘30s was marvellous, if you packed a large hamper. 🙄

You should probably have a Google around what Campbell has said about Rowling for having the audacity to fight for single sex spaces for women.

Perhaps they do, I doubt it though.

I'd hazard a guess that every single person on this thread understands why it was a shitty, awful comment. Except you.

I don't think they even are particularly centrist these days. Clearly left leaning on some key issues

Stewart might as well have said that 1940s Germany was jolly safe, unless you were a persecuted group. Or that a jaunt through Ukraine in the ‘30s was marvellous, if you packed a large hamper. 🙄

He's such a clueless twat.

Here is a photo of some Afghanistani women taken in Kabul about 50 years ago. They would be in their mid-seventies now.

I’m not doubting that at all, I’m saying I’ve heard him say similar things before and it didn’t jump out to me as being problematic, I will have a listen and see what I think.

These pictures are so incredibly sad

I avoid the trans debate altogether to be honest, it’s not something that interests me. Which is very un-Mumsnet of me I know.

If anyone wants to directly help the women & girls trapped in Afghanistan, I’ve recently come across an organisation called Victory Afghanistan that runs online classes to teach them English & then offers mentorship. They’re looking for volunteers. https://www.victoryafghanistan.org/

Campbell and Stewart have both been incredibly dismissive of women's concerns around the removal of single sex provisions.

Campbell, in particular, has opined that the bigoted (female) voters who want them will die off soon so it's not a problem. Both have entirely refused even to acknowledge there's a side they might have missed.

This enraged me and obviously others, but in addition to the issue at hand, it showed me that they don't actually bother their arses to find out about everything they opine about. Which has rather undermined any point listening to them, for me.

I'm always a bit shocked when people admit they don't really care about women in jail or things like domestic abuse shelters or rape crisis groups - who are the ones dealing with men 'self id-ing' into their spaces

Sounds like you have that in common with Rory 🙄

Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell are a pair of buffoons who have no grip on reality.

It’s more I don’t follow the news all that closely. Decided during Covid reading too much of it wasn’t good for me. I get the headlines from Sky News and listen to podcasts while I’m at work.

But it sounds like going against the crowd is not welcome on this thread so I shall bow out, not looking to upset anyone.

Well I'm glad you found that hilarious. I'm guessing the women in question do not, hmm?

Just do a bit of reading. It's not that disagreement is unwelcome, more that your responses to vulnerable and oppressed women don't feel particularly appropriate.

I'd say the exasperation is mostly with C&R, not you.

I do get frustrated that they're taken on their own self-assessment iyswim? They're practically a trusted news source when I know for a fact that they're woefully uninformed on more than one issue.

I do miss the economist weekly briefing podcast. That was just about the right amount of news for me!

I'm always a bit shocked when people admit they don't really care about women in jail or things like domestic abuse shelters or rape crisis groups - who are the ones dealing with men 'self id-ing' into their spaces

Or even some of the most oppressed women on the face of the earth, in Rory Stewart's favourite holiday destination. But some women were being horrid to poor Rory, and we must wade in to tell them off!

Having read poor, misunderstood Rory's Wiki page, the poor, misunderstood lamb would give the Prince of Wales a good run for his money over who is the most privileged.

If he was made of chocolate, he would eat himself.

Ironically Rory and Alistair seem to have something of the Taliban point of view that women are not fully human and therefore not really worth bothering about.

And anyone who doesn't know the fact that the entire sex class of women in Afghanistan no longer has human rights at all and is subject to some of the most inhumane conditions imaginable must be living under a rock because it's been widely reported all over the place. Girls cannot go to school and be educated, women are not allowed to speak in public and now they're banning windows that would enable someone to look in and see women in the home (so presumably women will have to live without light in a lot of situations).

Taliban bans windows to stop women from being seen at home | The Independent

Afghanistan’s Taliban bans the sound of women’s voices | CNN