Italian
Afghan women bravely challenge the Taliban’s ban on singing in public by sharing protest videos online to defend their freedom of expression. Their voices rise against a regime that seeks to silence them.
AFGHANISTAN. When the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021, they presented themselves as a more moderate regime than in the past, promising to respect women’s rights. However, in the months that followed, it became evident that they were reinstating the strict restrictions seen during their first government from 1996 to 2001. Over the last three years, they have closed secondary schools for girls, banned women’s access to universities, and even prohibited entry into hair salons and beauty parlors.
The law that sparked the protests was issued in August by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and consists of 35 articles. It grants new powers to religious leaders, known as muhtasibs, and imposes further restrictions on daily life, especially for women. For instance, the regulation states that the female voice is considered an intimate part of the body (‘awrah) and must not be heard in public. Additionally, women must cover themselves completely in public, including their faces, and their clothing must not be short, tight, or transparent. Friendships with non-Muslim women, travel without a male relative, and making eye contact with men are also prohibited.
Recently, many Afghan women, both those residing in the country and abroad, have used the internet to protest against this law. In their videos, they record themselves singing or reciting poetry, accompanying the images with hashtags in English, such as “My voice is not forbidden” and “No to Taliban,” as well as in Dari or Pashto, with phrases like “A woman’s voice is not private.” Among the participants are Afghan women who have emigrated abroad, such as Taiba Sulaimani, who has lived in Canada since 2021, and Zala Zazai, a former Afghan police officer now residing in Poland. Zazai contributed to the campaign by singing a piece by the famous Afghan artist Aryana Sayeed.
Other videos come directly from Afghanistan, despite the enormous risks. Golsoom Efat, a member of the Afghan Women’s Justice Movement, recorded her video in the remote northern province of Badakhshan. She told the Associated Press that her sister filmed the video while they were outdoors, openly violating the law. “As I sang,” Efat explained, “I feared that if I were discovered, it would be the last time.” At the end of the video, Efat strongly states, “A woman’s voice is not private.”
The internet remains one of the last spaces not fully controlled by the Taliban, despite attempts to limit its use, such as the recent ban on TikTok for content deemed “un-Islamic.” In July, the Washington Post interviewed several women in Kabul who use social media as their only means of escape and expression. “The internet is our last hope, even though nothing can replace freedom,” said Beheshta, a 24-year-old woman. However, many fear that this virtual freedom may soon be restricted as well. Hedayatullah Hedayat, the Taliban government’s deputy minister of information, has expressed the intention to develop platforms under the regime’s control.
A report from the United Nations published in early July highlighted how the influence of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice continues to expand, increasingly limiting individual freedoms in Afghanistan. Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called the law “intolerable” and urged Afghan authorities to repeal it immediately, emphasizing that the Taliban regime is not formally recognized by any state, despite some having relations with them.
In such a dramatically oppressive context, the courage of Afghan women who use the internet as the last frontier of resistance can only be admired and supported. Despite the concrete risks they face, these women demonstrate extraordinary resilience, fighting to make their voices heard against a regime that seeks to silence them. Their actions serve as a powerful call to the international community not to turn away from their struggle for freedom and fundamental rights. Their voices cannot and must not be silenced.
