2011-02-07

Film: Beneath the Veil

Afghanistan, Taliban

RAWA
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

highly political, left wing, Afghan feminists

fight for Human Rights where women are "forced under the veil"
Note: many of the women are wearing veils - is this out of necessity - if they do not they will incite violence or legal action against them, or because they choose to, out of retained modesty, Islamic pride even?

Hidden cameras are the most powerful weapon against

Deliberate destitution of women.

sport stadiums turned into execution grounds

adultery, murder, prostitution, homosexuality

RAWA risk their lives to bring back these images

nail painting, kite flying, going to the cinema, all forbidden women in Afghanistan and part of the system which keep them invisible

Ministry of Vice and Virtue; black and white turbans
can condemn anything they consider "un-Islamic"
terror/terrifying

One must remember while watching that this film made it home and is being watched via DVD, so the journalists DO make it home safe!

Kabul is a wasteland. A city without buildings or joy. "Other priorities"

even music is banned

anyone who speaks against the Taliban is suspect

what does it mean to "escape the hospitality"?

The Football Stadium - a symbol of oppression
women shot in the "penalty area" and men hung from the goalpost
public execution ground

ironically, as a foreigner she has protection, as an "Afghani woman" she has none

a woman feds moldy bread, "animal feed" to seven children

women not only deprived of work, but basic things like medical care
a larger percentage of women die in childbirth in Afghanistan than anywhere else in the world

1/4 children die before their fifth birthday

when half of society is shut down, more than half of the people die

no women doctors means inferior care, for women and everyone

Taxi drivers = Taliban spies

a class for girls is the riskiest activity

secret beauty parlour - painted faces that will never be seen could get women arrested
makeup as a form of resistance?!?!?

hospital devastated

--

multi-ethnic resistance

unreported atrocities


"veiled in sorrow"
crying for weeks

what does it mean to be bound with one's own turban?
"blood is very strong"

white flags mark the graves of Taliban victims
killed not because of political opposition, unarmed, but because of ethnic identity


Taliban claim to be bringing peace and uniting the country

When merely surviving is a great achievement.

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