Abarzanan is an annual exhibition in Kabul, Afghanistan honoring women, their contributions to our shared world and history, and their courage. Launched by artist Rada Akbar, the exhibition recognizes eight women who have made history on the occasion of March 8th, International Women’s Day, every year. Here’s Rada’s speech as she launched the second annual Abarzanan exhibition.
It feels unjust to celebrate this day as the basic human rights of women in Afghanistan face unprecedented threats. Even as we gather today to celebrate the strength of women, the contributions women have made to this country and to our shared world, I can’t escape the rage that looms above my head.
We, Afghan women and our allies, are righteously enraged. We are right to be angry about Donald Trump bargaining away what little rights we have gained by endangering our lives. We are right to be angry about our sisters and brothers who put themselves in the front-lines to defend our rights and freedoms, only for their sacrifice to be paid with politicians shaking hands in palaces we were barred from. We are right to be angry for the teachers, the students, the polio vaccinators, the journalists, who braved threats of rape and violence to move this country forward, only to be met with global indifference. We are righteously enraged at the silent disregard for our voices and stories.
This righteous rage doesn’t come from nowhere. It comes from centuries of women’s voices and needs being put on the bottom of the to-do list. It comes from the blood of Rabia and Malalai Kakar. It comes from the stones hurled at Rokhshana. It comes from media coverage of political men smirking as we drown in our own blood. It comes from generations of powerful men telling us to wait. Wait for the right to go to school. Wait for the right to be seen as a human being. Wait for the right to custody over the children you birthed into the world. Wait for the right to hold positions of power. Wait for your turn.
This exhibition is a response to those powerful men. They want us to remain within the boundaries they negotiated for us. They want us to remain silent, obedient, fearful. We will not. If there’s anything we can learn from the history of women’s struggles in Afghanistan and in the region, it is that even the most oppressive regimes were not able to poison the seeds of rebellion and freedom that grow in our hearts. We’ll not go back. We will not submit to the boundaries others create for us. We will not be silent.
Now is our time. Now is our turn.
We will teach our daughters about Khalida Popalzai and her dream for every girl to play sports freely and without fear. We will teach our sons about Forogh’s poetry, about loving without confinement. We will teach our children about Asma, about fighting for freedom even if you are imprisoned. We will teach our children about Rukhshana, who preferred death to being enslaved. We will honor these women and their dreams by continuing our fight for a better world, a world where no girl feels less than and no woman is prohibited from being her true self, her most free self.
It’s an honor and a privilege to share the stories of eight powerful women from Afghanistan and the region with you today. It’s also a duty to tell their stories when the world refuses to listen. Abarzanan’s goal is to celebrate centuries of strong and influential role models. We came to existence to change the current narrative identifying the women of this country as victims, and therefore as deserving of less. But we’re here to say, Afghan women are not victims but champions. We have been fighting to make ourselves heard throughout history, even when the most powerful forces drown out our voices with bombs. And we’ll continue this fight with every new day.
We will not suffice with the bare minimum. We will fight for the right to work and the right to love. We will fight for the right to education and to be in positions of power. We will fight for the right to speak our minds and the right to control our own bodies. We are not less than and we do not deserve fewer rights than anyone. We’ll not adhere to a racist standard that because we are from Afghanistan we should be okay with just the basics, with just lack of bombs going off in our neighborhoods, with just schools for girls, with just right to work for women who dress a certain way or live a certain way. We want equal rights for every single person, and we’ll fight for those rights even as we are betrayed by those who patted themselves on the back for “saving” us.
Among other pieces, the exhibit remembers Rokhshana with the piece featured here. Rokhshana was a young Afghan woman who was stoned to death by the Taliban for refusing and escaping from forced marriage.
Abar Zanan exhibit is open until March 22, 2020 at Chehelstone Palace in Kabul. To see more, follow Abar Zanan on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.