Opinion: The heroine of Afghanistan
Published: 01-29-2023 7:30 AM |
Susannah Colt is a resident of Whitefield and can be reached at susannahbcolt@gmail.com.
As they marched into each area of Afghanistan, the Taliban closed down girls’ schools, and fired women teachers. They banned women from universities. Women could no longer work anywhere outside their homes, not even in international aid agencies, which, one by one, reluctantly packed up and left the country.
This quote appears to describe the stranglehold the Taliban have over women in Afghanistan today, but it is actually from a book by Melody Ermachild Chavis entitled Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan, published in 2003.
Chavis is describing the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 1996, just two years after they had emerged as one of the prominent factions in the Afghanistan Civil War, which broke out after the Soviets abandoned their occupation of the country in 1989. Chavis very adeptly takes us through the complicated contemporary history of Afghanistan in her biography of Meena, a woman who fought for freedom, democracy, and social justice for the women of Afghanistan and died at the hands of the oppressors she was fighting against.
It is terribly discouraging to see history repeat itself after all the sacrifices made trying to secure freedom and social justice in Afghanistan. Meena would be turning in her grave to see what is happening in her country after the Taliban’s second takeover, this time after the United States left in August of 2021. When will the “superpowers” learn that meddling in other countries is fruitless unless you have a deep understanding of the cultural and religious practices of the country? Understanding and respecting history is also key.
I learned about Meena when I was observing high school humanities courses at the White Mountain Regional High School as part of the Humanities Advisory Committee of the SAU 36 School Board. There had been some concerns raised by a few parents that the humanities courses (which innovatively combines English and social studies into one course) were bad for their kids. I decided I should observe as many of the classes as possible to see what they were about. I essentially went back to high school for two weeks, observing all four grade levels, and found myself thoroughly engaged in the classes.
In the 10th grade class, they had just finished studying the French Revolution and the students had been assigned the task of picking a different revolution or revolutionary figure to study and prepare a paper. Part of the class time was devoted to researching their chosen topic. It amazed me to see the students whip out their Chromebooks to do their research. Long gone are the days of going to the library and reading encyclopedias or going through the card catalog for resources, which was my experience decades ago.
Since I was attempting to get a sense of the classroom experience from the student’s perspective, I decided to pick a revolutionary and do my own research and paper. I perused the list and picked a name I was unfamiliar with and it turned out to be Meena.
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I was attracted to Meena because she was a contemporary of mine, born on February 27, 1957 (a year before I was born). Her name, given to her by her father, means “light” in Farsi and she definitely lived up to her name, spending her life shining a light on the dangers of extremist fundamental Islamic attitudes toward women.
Meena grew up in a stable middle-class part of Kabul, which enjoyed a peaceful existence under the “Royal Democracy,” which promoted western ideals of equality, especially in the area of education where both girls and boys received excellent educations. Meena was a beneficiary of this time period and learned about the benefits of democracy.
However, the democratic monarchy could not hold onto power and in 1973 a new leader, who was open to Soviet communist influence, took power, declaring Afghanistan to be a republic and naming himself president. It was not like any republic that we in America would know however, and instability eventually led to a pro-Soviet political party carrying out a coup in 1978, assassinating the self-appointed president, and beginning a reign of terror where thousands of Afghan intellectuals and democrats were assassinated or imprisoned.
Meena, who had entered Kabul University in 1976 to study law, eventually abandoned her studies and founded a women’s organization to combat repressive activities. The organization was called The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). Its founding principles were democracy, equality, social justice, and freedom of religion.
One of Meena’s teachers during secondary school told her, “Education is the only long-term solution to prevent young people from being attracted to extreme fundamentalism.” Meena and RAWA decided their job was to provide the education needed to lift girls and women out of poverty and servitude, so they started literacy classes in Kabul. As the instability grew and their activism drew scrutiny from the repressive regime, many in RAWA joined the millions of Afghan people in exile in Pakistan. Meena was one of them but continued to travel to and from Kabul, taking great risks with her life, and ultimately paying for it when a Soviet spy infiltrated RAWA and betrayed and killed her.
Meena’s story is one of selfless courage, which is what inspired the surviving members of RAWA to continue her work in her memory and it continues today. Learning Meena’s story reinforces the importance of an excellent education for our youth. I would never have discovered her or read the biography about her life if I hadn’t gone back to high school. Now my local library has a copy of the biography which is available for anyone to borrow throughout New Hampshire.
The good news is that the Humanities Advisory Committee recommended that the Humanities program at WMRHS continue to be offered as a pathway to satisfying the English/social studies requirement for 10th and 11th graders. The sad news is that the women of Afghanistan are losing their human rights and freedom at the hands of the Taliban and this is a tragedy that we cannot let stand or turn a blind eye to.
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