Adela Azin Nazari
The Window of Hope Movement has been one of the most active protest movements in the past three years. A small group of this movement was created in January 2022, and due to security reasons, its protest plans were not made public until March 2023.
The first protest staged by the Afghanistan Window of Hope Movement was on March 8 and 9, 2023. Women in the “Afghanistan Window of Hope Movement” have come together with a peaceful approach from Ghor, Daykundi, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Bamyan, Parwan, Baghlan, Balkh, Takhar, Nangarhar and Kabul. Safia Arefi, Halima Hemti, Nikbakht and Atefeh are among the founders of this movement and there are 12 members in the leadership council of this movement. A small number of men also participate in this membership movement and in holding programs; But they come in front of the camera less often. The window of hope, as its name suggests, has risen from under the rule of tyranny, to “be a aperture in the heart of darkness, oppression and tyranny.”
According to Safia Arefi, Afghanistan’s Window of Hope Movement was created because of the harmony between human rights activists and because of launching marches, protest programs and other activities in line with the principles of human rights. The most focus of this movement has been on women’s education and work. Arefi, in relation to the reason for the struggle of the Window of Hope movement, says: “Only by achieving the right to education, work, the right to freedom of clothing and respect for human dignity, freedom of speech and opinion, and by observing the declaration of human rights and related conventions, hope will return to people’s homes.”
Scope of Protests
The members of the window of Hope Movement started their activities in Kabul and have been mostly concentrated in this city. This movement has organized limited protest programs in the streets of Kabuk; However, more than 40 anti-oppression protest programs have been held in closed spaces and they have shouted for the restoration of women’s rights against the oppression of Taliban group. Safia Arefi and a number of members of this movement have continued their protests in Pakistan, and similarly, a small number of members of this movement are protesting against the Taliban in closed places in Bamyan. A branch of the Window of Hope Movement has recently been activated in Daykendi and it is set to move even further.
Struggle Methods
Protesters in Afghanistan’s Window of Hope Movement portray the situation of women under the shadow of the Taliban by gathering, chanting, performing shows, reading protest poems, issuing leaflets, recording videos and launching hashtags. In many cases of human rights violations and in connection with issues that are crucial for the citizens of Afghanistan, the arrest and torture of human rights activists and the genocide of the Hazaras, especially women, they have held a meeting and issued a declaration.
In the meantime, this group’s reaction to the Doha meetings can be mentioned.
When women in Afghanistan were not allowed to leave their homes, protesters in the Afghanistan Window of Hope Movement came to the streets to demand their rights and that of other women; However, every time they were attacked and surrounded, cursed and insulted, shot in the air, sprayed with tear gas and experienced arrest, imprisonment and torture by the Taliban. Members of the movement have moved several times to avoid being identified and arrested by the Taliban, and some have migrated outside Afghanistan. “We have fought for three years with minimal personal resources and we will continue our journey,” they say.
Advocacy and the bitter end of prison
Halima Hemmatti, one of the founders of Afghanistan’s Window of Hope Movement, was interrogated in January this year in the Pol-e-Khushk area for protesting against the arrest of her friend for not wearing the hijab and when after her phone was searched by the Taliban members and they found photos and videos of protests on her phone, she was arrested by them. Taliban forces transferred Mrs. Hemmatti to the 18th police district of Kabul city and kept her in custody for a day. She was released due to her husband’s efforts; But that night, her husband had a cardiac arrest and died. After this incident, Mrs. Hemmatti went to Iran with her family.
Safia Arifi, another founder of the Afghanistan Window of Hope Movement, who has protested in various ways against the Taliban’s anti-woman and violent policies, has also been detained for hours in the Taliban’s police district. She participated in the December 22, 2022 march on Kabul University Street to protest against the ban on girls’ education. When the Taliban commander realized that I was taking pictures of the protest process with my phone, he sent three Taliban forces after me. They took my phone and beat me. while I was holding her one-year-old daughter.”I ran away and went to the other side of the road near the university wall; But they ran after me. They beat me while my daughter was crouched in my arms; They even dragged me to the ground and tore my clothes.” These Taliban forces take Mrs. Arefi to their commander, and after slapping Mrs. Arefi’s face, he orders to put her on a Ranger and take her to the PD. Mrs. Arefi remains in detention for four hours and is released after giving a written and video commitment not to disclose the torture and imprisonment of the same day and not to participate in protest programs against the Taliban.
Ms. Arifi’s brother was also arrested by the Taliban in November 2023 for her protests. Life in Afghanistan has become difficult for Arifi’s family since her father was killed by the Taliban, who is now one of the group’s leaders in Daykundi, during the republic period. Despite these threats, Arifi says she is working to promote and defend human rights so that other Afghan women imprisoned in their homes can look out their windows with light and hope. “We are working to bring light and hope back into the lives of Afghan women,” she said on behalf of the Window of Hope Movement. We hope that a window of hope will open to the hearts of Afghan women.”
Even though the members of Afghanistan’s Window of Hope Movement have been threatened by the Taliban many times and surrounded and harassed by the Taliban in marches and street protests, they still continue their activities and want it to continue.
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