A CRY FOR AFGHAN WOMEN

Welcome

Antoni Bassas, journalist

Good evening! Welcome on behalf of women from all walks of life in Catalonia who raise their voices in defence of the rights of Afghan women and their families, in this virtual demonstration.

An initiative that for now has already joined, if we add the number of people linked to the associations that have given support and the individuals who have registered, 1,253,626 people. 

A demonstration that wants to give encouragement, warmth and be of material help to all the people in Afghanistan who are suffering the effects of repression and the persecution of civil rights as a result of the arrival of the Taliban regime.

In the form of a virtual chair, anyone who wishes can make a voluntary financial contribution. We ask the contributions to be from 5 euros. Donations will be collected until the closing of the website on December 24th of this year.

The proceeds will be given to entities that work to receive with dignity those who have already fled and help them rebuild their lives. 

Reading the Manifesto

A Bassas- This demonstration, virtual and real at the same time, has a manifesto. Manifesto in defence of the rights of women and the population of Afghanistan. And it goes like this:

A Bassas is reading the manifesto in catalan. Later will be read in English

A Bassas-And then the manifesto in Spanish, from Madrid Rosa Montero

R. Montero, journalist, reads the manifesto in Spanish

A Bassas-Thanks Rosa Montero, and now in English.

A Bassas reads the manifesto in English. Follow directly on the video

Context 

A Bassas-The situation refugee families face is not new, Afghans have been fleeing their country for years. An Afghan refugee in Catalonia, Nadia Gulham, explains this terrible experience to us. 

Nàdia Gulham, an Afghan living in Catalonia 

Well, due to the current regime in my country, the situation has changed for everyone, men and women, but the majority of people who, always in the history of Afghanistan, have suffered regime changes and repressions have been women. In recent years we had 25 percent of Afghanistan's Parliament made up of women, and these women were actively working. That, by the way, allowed these people to get more or less connected with the rest of the world, and to create networks with other women who now, in the current situation, have been useful. Most of them at least have been able to leave the country, and if they have not left, they are listened to by the rest of the world and observed so that they can be helped and rescued. The most worrying situation for me is the lives of other women professionals, such as teachers, doctors, nurses, economists, people who worked in banks, etc. These enterprising people, for example, women entrepreneurs who right now, in addition to having lost all their money, all their possibilities, their entire companies, have suddenly been left empty-handed and do not have any support from the international community and are not listened to.
 The universities in my country are closed, most of the universities are not working right now, they are not open. Some that are working are private universities, but the main cause of this closure of universities is not only that the Government does not allow women and men to study together, but it is because people are very afraid. Many families, many fathers, brothers, husbands do not let their daughters continue their studies because they are afraid that, because of these studies of their wives or sisters, the Taliban will find out that they have different thoughts, because right now many many people are watched, so it is very difficult to trust anyone with where you are going or what you do.
 On the other hand, the rural areas have never been the same as big cities like Kabul, like Mazar-i-Sharif or Herat. These big cities have had possibilities for women to kind of go to school, study and all, which is questionable for me as they have not had one hundred percent security. They could still go, but women from towns and provinces have always been locked up and they have not had the possibility to study. Their situation has got even worse, and they have no one to listen to them and who can help them. The girls who have minimally lived democracy and have been able to leave their home, or to go to school, once they have tasted freedom it is difficult again to leave this freedom behind and not be able to have possibilities. However, to me there is hope, because even if it is from the distance, I will work for the people of my country, especially for the girls, because they need us to be by their side, because Afghan women, as always, have suffered a lot, a lot of oppressions, but the change that we can achieve will not be from the outside but from the inside. We can find strategies and ways to unite with each other, our knowledge, our capacities, to be able to help these people within their own country, and those who were able to leave the country as refugees, we must accompany them adequately so that they acquire their knowledge and can study, because they are the future of my country. I see that the future of Afghanistan is us, women, who must have the possibility to learn a lot, so that with our pens we can return to our country and help the rest of the people who do not have this possibility and who have not been able to leave.

Wittnesses

A Bassas Thank you, Nadia Ghulam, this is the testimony of a refugee in Catalonia.

There are testimonials, which can escalate to infinite levels of harshness, like the following one. A woman who is hiding in Afghanistan right now, because otherwise the Taliban would simply kill her.

Afghan refugee interpreted by Clara Segura, actress

I am one of the activist women of Afghanistan who during the democratically elected Republic of Afghanistan worked hard in the field of civil society and women rights activism for my country and have long struggle and fought for journalism and women's rights in the most difficult of circumstances. The current situation in Afghanistan is well known to all of you, where women like me who are educated, are capable cadres and worked for a better life for everyone especially women are in grave danger and are now spending our lives like prisoners in the homes and in our rooms., not even able to change our location and move to another place to protect ourselves from the impending danger we face so that the Taliban do not target us and kill us. At the same time, women like me and I have lost hope for the future It is as if we have lost ourselves. The Taliban have destroyed our every dream, snatched every ability and taken from us the opportunity to be of service that we have rendered to our country and people, and wanted to continue. However, the Taliban brutally killed my brother on the road on 9th of October 2021. I heard the story of my brother's martyrdom from the mouths of the people. I could not bear to hear the way they Kill him, in the most brutal one, only reason was that he was educated and was pro women rights and because her sister worked for the women and girls improvement. Whenever I think of my future, I feel pain in my throat from pain and depression. It is very difficult for a person to have high hopes for the future. I respectfully ask the people of other countries, especially Spain, not to leave me and women like me alone and to help us save our lives.
  

A Bassas- Clara Segura now interprets another horrifying testimony for us. That of two siblings who had to escape 8 days walking through the mountains fleeing Afghanistan, from the Taliban regime, until they reached Pakistan.

Afghan Refugee interpreted by Clara Segura 

We lived in a village that is quite a mountainous area away from the city, which has no road, no hospital, no school or education system, and the girls are kept away from education most of the times, they are even motivated not to be teachers or engineer and not a doctor but only a house wife to work and to feed the livestock, chop woods in our village, girls are created solely to work the little piece of land families own and only be indulged in hard labour. Despite all the problems and challenges that we faced in the village, and all the villages were against us, they were against the education and progress of the girl, we had the courage and determination to do the opposite of what the villagers believed and so against all odds, we started literacy and educational courses for girls, and awareness programs for their rights, to help girls who faced so much violence against them, to try to fight and move towards the abolition of old customs and traditions such as the child marriage. For struggle and utmost believe in the value of education were the reasons the people eventually turned against us but we knew this and were absolutely sure that the village would turn against us, yet we thought there is the police force, the army and a system of the previous government that will protect us and no one will think of harming us. Yet after the fall of the government, all the plans were disrupted and everything changed in matter of days.
 Imran my brother who took upon himself to face the wrath of the villagers and their taunts and abuses was the first one to be told by different people that that you should not survive, we will kill you and kill your family for bring the disease of education and women rights to our mountain. All kind of accusations started to follow, my father was told that you have become an infidel and have abandoned the teachings of Islam as your daughters go to school and university. But again, we continued our struggle and activity because the government was in place and we also wished that the girls who lived in our society should be educated and have all their rights, their level of awareness should be raised and the future should be bright. In my village music was completely forbidden and it was always said that music corrupts the soul. Nevertheless, we were able to include my sister in the Afghan National Music Institute (Zohreh Orchestra), and finally my sister was able to become the conductor of the Zohreh Orchestra and continue her education. Even though the Taliban were against us and we were always under threat and we were at risk of being killed, we still continued to live for our moral values and our rights, education, understanding that our rights and also music which is something Imran loves and my family loves. Finally, the day came when the government fell and with it was washed our dreams and our hopes, and then the most brutal and dreadful thing happened, our house was attacked. Fortunately for us, a friend of my brother sent him a warning that people are coming for you. He called my brother that the Taliban would attack you. We fled very secretly, when we were not available, our house was burnt down, and our aunt was asked where they went, give us their address, but as we only let my parents know we are leaving, no one else knew and so my aunt was also unaware. The vicious beasts didn’t believe my poor aunt who was also ill and started beating her very badly. The beating was so cruelly that my aunt and her daughter hands, head and feet were fractured, still not satisfied with that, the Taliban burnt down our house. Later we decided that we should go to Pakistan, but our economic situation was not good, our whole family could not come so we had to go to Pakistan alone, me and my brother Imran. We came to Kabul with a lot of problems and after Kabul to Kandahar and then to the Spin Boldak border. But in the process, we faced a lot of hardship. There was a lot of fear and panic because we did not know anyone. Whenever we came across someone we would think that something terrible will happen to us and we would harmed. We didn’t eat for days, we walked, and only walked to make it to safety. We were hiking the mountains, whenever we found a car we would take a ride and then walked again on the routes that smugglers use to smuggle people and goods to Pakistan. Whenever we were lucky to find a car, we would pay for one seat and two of us sit in a chair where one person can fit. I had no hope that we will make it alive to Pakistan but Imran kept telling don’t lose hope we will make it and he had a smile on his lips, I will never forget the love and sacrifice of a brother. After 8 days, by foot, by horses and donkey ride, by car and by climbing mountains and walking deserts we were able to cross into Pakistan. Crossing to Pakistan the fear and stress got even bigger because we had no documents and if caught, we will be returned back to Afghanistan, something that would have meant sending us to our death. Now a month is approaching that we are waiting for a miracle to happen, for someone across the seas and across thousands of miles to read my story and come forward to help me and my brother. For the sake of two lives, a brother and sister whose life has been upended and our dreams and hopes taken, we sincerely ask the government of Spain and the honourable people of Spain to help us to safety and find a way to get us visas and asylum in Spain so that we can start a new life and achieve our dreams, there is no turning back for us, the roads behind us don’t exists, there is nothing back home for us but death. Life does not exist for us in a haven once we called home.
 

A Bassas- Thank you, Clara Segura. As you can see, a couple and their son, refugees from Afghanistan, are also accompanying us in this demonstration. 

She is a doctor, he is a journalist. 

A Bassas interviews the Afghan Family (Noor and Fer, ficticious names) in English. You can follow directly on the video 

A Bassas. Keep in mind that these are people who currently have refugee status, and who hope to stabilize their family situation.

They just told us that what they need most now is a hug, imagine where we are.

Poetry set to Music 

A Bassas Now we want to add some music, some art in this event, and this comes from the hand of two artists who will help us a lot to achieve this goal, Silvia Bel and Lluis Llach. 

Sílvia Bel, actress

The women of my family, family ... hunted birds, sparrows, birds, sparrows and made them sing, sing day and day and day ... while the pots boiled, open skies, opened wide and the buckets soaked old clothes naked moth-eaten watered not rinsed flushed and the windows opened, gave birth, opened so that beauty would give them songs and flowers and flowers and zigzagging songs whispered humming that they didn't understand anything, that they didn't understand anything, nothing at all. They only knew, enjoyed, died, for beauty. I will drown in a gallows of light, a gallows of light

And so they beheaded the animal. They saw the blood running, stream of blood, it runs down with life. Run down, the sink down, run, bleed to death. Drained blood, drained blood, and they didn't understand anything but they ate it so as not to die.

And they made me eat it, to not die. And so, by death, we did not die.

The blood was caged inside, protected. It looked like an artificial construction. The blood inside, not outside.

My daughter, they said to me, my little one they said to me, little doll of my eyes, my bloodthirsty they said to me, they said, moving anxious, painful. Up and down, up to those small flats where I imagined jungles full of animals, volcanoes on fire, the earth opening up under my feet, the snow devastating life, thunder and lightning burning houses, snow destroying hearts.

I imagined myself or the blood, I always imagined. Closed in the loop, closed, not spilled

And them,…. they sewed

They sewed many things, they patched sheets as they patched lives and patched shadows and words and men and mountains patched.

As if they had been told four poor truths, four pennies of truths. A pinch of truth, a few pinches of truths, a few strands of very poor truths.

Helpless, wretched truths, much poorer than poor than these mendicants who knocked on the door every day

Knock Knock. Yes? Could you give me something? it's cold and I'm hungry. Yes, wait a few minutes. I'll make you an omelette and bread. And they will become angels and thus, in the midst of angels and without answers, they lived.

It's like they know that nobody knew anything.

So they spread their legs and were fertilized, carved pickled possessed and they let a new being inhabit them. Nest inside, to touch of bones, stuffed between their organs, wet with their liquids, encased in its blood, protected by a bag, struck by the heart and by the voices that came from the other world with names said backwards. Mystery names

Lluis Llach, singer and composer

I wonder why? I wonder why will I never understand why the prize of this rifle is the body of a kid dying down on the floor. I wonder why will I never understand why my wellness will always be the return of their poverty. The thiefs of dreams are unable of the future which enchants us. Those that crucify again on behalf of some god when they are hidden and silent. Nobody should forgive you In name of God, never, never.

Authorities  speeaches

A Bassas-Thank you Sílvia Bel and Lluís Llach, with art and music we are reaching the end of this event, before that, a few institutional words. To begin with, those of the "Councilor" for Equality and Feminisms Tania Verge.   

Tània Verge, Catalan Minister of Equality and Feminismes of the Generalitat 
 Good afternoon, first of all I wanted to start by thanking the organizers of this virtual demonstration for creating this space of solidarity with Afghan women, a very special space that is also a collective cry so that they are not forgotten, so that they are not silenced, and a recognition of these brave women who fight day by day in defence of their right to live free, free from any type of discrimination and violence, as we have heard in their own words. The Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and especially the Department of Equality and Feminisms, are here today accompanying this virtual demonstration for various reasons, of which I will highlight a couple. In the first place, because in the face of flagrant violation of the human rights of girls and women, LGTBI groups, ethnic minorities, human rights defenders, we say loud and clear that Catalonia is and wants to be a country of host and refuge, and therefore this demonstration is also a cry for the international community to comply with its obligation of protection, and the right to asylum, a claim also to establish legal and safe channels. We are here today also because we are talking about sisterhood, about the sisterhood carried out by so many networks of women around the world, helping with resources and accompaniment to the women of Afghanistan, from inside the country and its borders, and as you have seen here today as well, from Catalonia in this virtual demonstration organized by more than 500 women's organizations who have worked together intensely for many months.   

Thank you very much for being here today, you have us by your side. 

A Bassas-Thank you very much "Councilor", then we now receive the message from the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau.

Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona 
 A very good afternoon to all and many thanks for inviting me to take part in this solidarity initiative to send out a joint cry for Afghan women, which has enjoyed the commitment and backing of so many institutions, organisations, and individuals. It is very exciting and very encouraging to see this togetherness and the participation of so many people to send out a cry to the world and a message to Afghan women, which is loud and clear, that they are not alone, that we have not forgotten them. Given the crisis in Afghanistan, as Mayor of Barcelona and the special envoy to the UN for cities, I promoted a declaration calling for international diplomacy to stop the serious rights violation being suffered by the people of Afghanistan in general, but in particular by women and children. In light of the situation, I also called for a humanitarian corridor to be set up so that women and children in particular could get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. Right from the start of the crisis, the City Council offered the Ministry of Social Inclusion and Migration a public facility to provide shelter for women and children from Afghanistan. Yet we cannot limit ourselves to a call for Human Rights to be respected and for safe and legal corridors.  We really need to bear in mind that many local people have family in Afghanistan, and that is why we must also work on the right to family reunification, particularly at a time the lives of women and girls may be in extreme danger.

Here at Barcelona City Council, we are in constant contact with associations of Afghan people living in Barcelona and Catalonia, acting as an interface with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to try to resettle the relatives of Barcelona residents whose lives are at risk under the Taliban regime, making all our municipal services available at all times to provide all the guidance and legal advice needed in this difficult process. 

I reiterate all my solidarity and that of the city of Barcelona as a whole with the Afghan people, particularly with women, children and their families, and the demand for the international community to act firmly against the Taliban regime and to protect and guarantee the defence of human rights with no excuses. 

Once again, a huge thank you to all the people whose involvement has made it possible today, albeit virtually, for Passeig de Gracia to fill with displays of sisterhood and love towards Afghan women. 

A Bassas-Thank you, Mayor, the demonstration is ending with the words addressed by the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Laura Borràs.

Laura Borràs, President of the Parliament of Catalonia 

Last August the situation in Afghanistan shook the world, to its core I would say, and especially Catalonia.

News reached us on how the Taliban regained power, and we suffered for the civilian population and especially we suffered for the fifty female MPs who were part of the national assembly, the Afghan parliament. Female MPs who were part of it because, thanks to international pressure, 25% of the seats in parliament had to be secured for women. This was achieved in the constitution of 2004.

Therefore, there were violations of rights, but particularly violations of the rights of women.

What could we do from Catalonia? What could we do mid-August holiday? Exactly what we did, raise our voices, so that our voices would join all the voices from around the planet that cried out for the protection of these human rights, cried out for the protection of women's rights. And that is why we join the mission of saving as many people as possible, and particularly Afghan women MPs, and all women in the world of culture, science, and university.

News gets old, the Taliban come to power, and claim to do it with respect for Human Rights, and there is once again a general invisibility about the current situation in that country, and in particular the private drama that women are experiencing. women just because they are women.

That is why today we join this cry of the world for Afghan women, for the respect of their rights, of their freedoms. And that is why I would like, in addition to adding myself on behalf of the Parliament of Catalonia, to close my speech with some verses by an Afghan poet, Nadia Anjuman, who was beaten to death by her husband when she was only 25 years old. Nadia said:

Because every moment I whisper the songs of my heart.

They remind me of the day I broke the cage

I flew from this loneliness 

And I sang the melancholy.

I am not a weak poplar,

that any wind will shake.

I am an Afghan woman, 

My sensitivity makes me sing. 

Our sensitivity should not make us dumb. Let's sing, let's shout, let's defend women's rights, which is defending Human Rights.

Farewell and end of the demonstration  

A Bassas-Thank you very much President Borràs. 

With these words we have reached the end of this virtual, but at the same time real demonstration. Please remember that you can contributing with your donations on the website until December 24th.

On behalf of all the people, all the participating institutions, all the women who have organized this demonstration for days, thank you all very much from Barcelona. And good evening.