Plet’s think aboutdaily progress of our day, not necessarily that of a privileged Western womanperhaps punctuated by a satisfying job, childcare (supported by the help of a babysitter), the gym, a lunch with friends, cinema, theatre, a bit of shopping…
Let’s also think about the day of a woman who cannot frequently afford many of these thingsbut which will still be punctuated by extra-family activities and enriched by the desire to improve one’s condition, cultivating dreams and aspirations with the typical determination of the female gender.
Now close your eyes and start imagining a different daily life, start taking away workany job, and then the colored clothes and white shoes(!), then take away the books, school, sport, also take away the possibility of going out with friends or alone and the idea of singing a song at the top of your lungs. The darkness remains, that is, the day of an Afghan woman, today.
Serena Dandini (photo by Gianmarco Chieregato).
It is precisely this exercise of identification that Cristiana Cellaauthor of Traveling through the night – Tales of women from Taliban Afghanistan (Edizioni Altraeconomia) takes us through this touching book-document, enriched by the beautiful photos of Carla Dazzi.
“Crossing the night – Tales of women from Taliban Afghanistan” by Cristiana Cella (Edizioni Altraeconomia).
It is practically forbidden for women to live in Afghanistan and the author, who has been part of the for years Cisda (Italian Coordination for Support of Afghan Women), brings to light 70 stories of women buried alive so as not to let their lives be lost “like tears in the rain” in a world that seems to have forgotten them forever.
Their every activity is sanctioned by the Taliban in power and they risk prison for actions that to us are nonsense, such as leaving the house alone or reading a book. And prison is a hell where anything can happen to you, no rights are guaranteed and abuse and violence are the order of the day.
Thanks to a clandestine network of women who with great courage continue to leak the newsCella managed to reconstruct many stories, windows from which to look at a reality which, since the country was abandoned to the Taliban, is of no interest to the great chessboard of international politics.
Cisda is rightly fighting a battle to have Afghanistan condemned for the crime of gender apartheid. We feel helpless in the face of the injustices perpetrated by the predators who govern the world but keeping attention and indignation high is the only way to keep hope alive for their and our future.
All articles by Serena Dandini.