In this tiny studio in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, a table, two chairs and a green screen. Journalist Diba Akbari records her weekly show Tabassum, which means smile in Dari. For the past 6 months, she has been covering topics related to women’s mental health: depression, domestic violence, forced marriages.
But one topic has been coming up in recent weeks: the new laws passed by the Taliban at the end of August; one of them prohibits women from making their voices heard outside their homes. “I even saw a video recently of a Taliban, who says that it is acceptable to rape a woman if she is not Muslim, and to keep her as a slave”sighs the journalist. “This is how this regime works today. Because of all these new decrees and new laws, the mental health of women is declining very clearly in Afghanistan.”
Suicidal thoughts on the rise in Afghanistan
With two psychologists, she answers questions from viewers calling from all over Afghanistan. About fifteen calls a week, most of them anonymous. Live from Kabul, Zahra Hosseini, her head covered by a hijab, shows her face. According to this psychologist, more than 80% of suicides in Afghanistan now concern young women. With these new laws, she fears that things will get worse. “We had the case of a young girl who no longer wants to leave her house. Another, who previously held out hope of studying, explains that with these announcements she has lost all purpose in life, all perspective. She no longer wants to live, she expresses suicidal thoughts. With each law, day by day, the despair grows.”laments the psychologist.
Every week they help terrified young girls and worried mothers, but Diba Akbari wants to broaden the fight, to raise awareness in Afghan society. “In our show, we talk with psychologists about the lasting impact of these laws on women’s mental health, but we also try to make everyone aware that all of this legislation constitutes gender discrimination against women. People need to realize this, so that they can finally resist all of this.”
With more than 85 percent of Afghan homes connected to satellite, the echo can be loud. But Diba and Zahra are careful to weigh their words so as not to endanger their colleagues and families back home.
“Keep these women alive”
Because for these women, the subject is not only political, it is also very personal. This is the case of Golali Karimi, one of the faces of Afghan television. When the Taliban came to power 3 years ago, she had to leave everything behind, including her mother and her seven sisters, whom Golali now considers increasingly desperate: “My sister worked at the town hall, my other sister was a teacher, but now neither of them has a job. They have no money. Every time I talk to them, it’s always stress, always tears.”
The 23-year-old journalist produces three cultural programs, which have become a window on the world for those close to her. “For my family, there is no choice. The only thing they can do is stay at home, sleep, cook. There is no other activity.”deplores Golali Karimi.
Saba Chaman also remains in daily contact with Afghanistan; the 27-year-old has just arrived in France, leaving everything behind, including her job as director of Radio Begum in Kabul. She left three weeks ago, at a time when the regime further tightened restrictions on women’s lives and bodies. “Only someone who has lived in these conditions can understand the pain of Afghan women and how much this leaden blanket affects well-being and mental health. Afghan women are trying to get used to all this… But they are alone, no one talks about them. For now we have no choice, we have to help these women, by keeping them alive.”
For many Afghan women, Chaman adds, watching these programs remains the only thing that offers them a glimmer of hope these days. A glimmer she hopes will remain, she says, until better days come.
