R.I.P Nadia Anjuman
A 25-year-old Afghhan poet, a woman named Nadia Anjuman was murdered last week by her husband. When she should have been celebrating the success of her first book Gule Dudi (Dark Flower), he apparently beat her to death for "bringing shame" to the family by writing poetry about love and beauty.
"I am caged in this corner, full of melancholy and sorrow," she wrote in one ghazal, or lyrical poem. "My wings are closed and I cannot fly."
Nadia was one of a group of courageous women, known as "The Sewing Circles of Herat," who risked their lives to keep the city's literary scene active (sewing was one of the few things women under the Taliban were allowed to do). Had the authorities investigated, they'd have found the sewing students at the Golden Needle Sewing School had never really sewed--they wrote, they studied Shakespeare, and Dostoevsky , and other banned writers from a brave professor from the University of Herat. Under a regime where even teaching a girl to read was a crime, he might have been hanged if he'd been caught.
After the Taliban fell, Nadia went to study literature at the University of Herat--but the old mindset remains, presumably because the continuing powers of the American-backed warlords have repressive views similar to those of the old Taliban.
But the ladies of the Golden Needle Sewing School (and many others) are outraged. Me, too.
R.I.P. Nadia. May "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
3 comments:
You say - "presumably because the continuing powers of the American-backed warlords have repressive views similar to those of the old Taliban"
Cheap shot. You can't deny that it would be far worse under the Taliban. So you should be applauding and supporting American efforts. There are criminals everywhere.
The fact that this murder is regarded as a murder rather than applauded shows that. So does the fact that 25% of the National Assembly there consists of women. What would things be like there if G.W. Bush had not toppled the Taliban?
Don't get your underwear in a twist. I'm sure that under the Taliban she could never have gone to the University. Period. Everyone (except the Taliban itself) knows the Taliban is an evil, vile, heinous organization. I do appreciate and support our efforts there. One of the women in the "Sewing" group said "Life for women under the Taliban was no more than being cows in sheds." The fact that many women were allowed to stand in the elections in September was good, and that a woman named Fauzia Gailani even topped the polls is great news. Gailani said that no one has the right to beat their wife and she hopes the new government will "take action" to stop crimes like this. I hope so, too.
Sorry I reacted to that one line in your post. The story of the Golden Needle Sewing Society is really amazing.
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