When you think of Afghanistan, what comes to mind? War? Osama bin Laden? Taliban?
Warlords? Violence? Sadly, yes.
How about “female journalist, entrepreneur, and politician who advocates
for women’s rights?” Not as likely.
Meet Ms. Unlikely, Shukria Barakzai.
Barakzai was born and educated in Kabul. But unlike many of the educated class who
fled Afghanistan in 1996 when the Taliban seized power, she elected to stay and
fight the good fight. And she’s been
fighting ever since.
In 1999, pregnant and feeling ill, she left her home to try
and get to her doctor’s office. The
religious police, seeing her without her husband (a crime in their eyes) beat
her on the street. This caused her to
miscarry her baby. But it also lit a
fire in her. She was angry, and decided
that day to dedicate her life to championing justice in her country.
She started an underground school in her home. And when the Taliban was thrown out in 2001,
she finished her studies at Kabul University, with a major in archaeology and
geology.
In 2002 she founded Aina-E-Zan (Women’s
Mirror), dedicated to informing Afghan women on political and cultural
issues like child marriage, forced, marriage, maternal and fetal mortality
rates, and freedom of the press.
In 2004 she chose
to run against her husband for a position in the Afghanistan Parliament. He was a multi-millionaire, and she had a
shoe-string budget. He spent the
equivalent of $500,000 US dollars and championed the status quo. She had a microphone and a loudspeaker and
did a lot of street campaigning, with the dream of democracy and an end to
misogynistic practices like polygamy.
Ironically, it was revealed during this time that her husband had in
fact taken a second wife, which is legal under sharia law. She defeated him by a 3 to 1 margin.
Since that day she has received international recognition as
International Editor of the Year by the World Press Review, and Woman of the
Year by the BBC radio program Woman’s
Hour.
Ten years after
her election, she continues to be a voice for change in a system that is not
exactly known for its progressive politics.
As Barakzai put it, "Our parliament is a collection of lords. Warlords,
drug lords, crime lords..." Not
surprisingly she has received numerous death threats, and survived an
assassination attempt by a suicide bomber in November of 2014 as she made her
way to Parliament. And she is not afraid to challenge the international
community either, even taking on President Obama’s military build-up plan in
her country, asking him to “send 30,000 scholars or engineers instead of that
many soldiers.”
A voice for
Afghanistan, a voice for humanity…
Shukria Barakzai is a
hero you should know. And I’m Dr. Ross
Porter.
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