By Attila Noyan (3 April 2021)
The recent decree by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education banning Afghan schoolgirls of above 12 years from singing in public events rightly outraged many. Social media was flooded with a multitude of videos of cheerful Afghan women and girls singing their favourite melodies protesting against the gender-prejudicial decree of the government.
In early March, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education reportedly instructed all private and public schools in Kabul, in a rather authoritarian, threatening tone, not to permit female students of above 12 to sing in public ceremonies. The decree included a side note which asserted that the instruction did not apply to “all-female” events. The decree also mandated school officials not to allow female singing teams to be taught by male music teachers.
Ironically, the decree was released on 10 March, two days after the International Day of Women was widely celebrated all around Afghanistan.
This stirred up feelings of resentment and indignation on social media users who believed that the decree resembled the Taliban’s thoughts, discriminated against women based on gender, and deprived girls of their basic rights. Consequently, Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, the founder and director of Afghanistan National Institute of Music started the hashtag #IAmMySong and social media users followed demanding justice for girls. The hashtag gained popularity in no time. New creative works were produced as hundreds of Afghan women posted videos in which they sang their favourite songs, often with their male counterparts. These songs were mostly about equality, unity, and basic rights.
Freshta Karim, an Afghan activist and the founder of “Charmaghz”, an organization that promotes child education, tweeted, “This is a violation of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Child signed by Afghan Govt in 1994.” Andreas Von Brandt, EU’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, retweeted Freshta’s tweet, writing “I agree !” putting emphasis with an exclamatory mark at the end of it. Shabnam Khalilyar also wrote on Twitter, “Instead of limiting singing and music, we better start singing classes in every school and nurture arts. A generation raised by books and music says no to extremism. Every song they sing and the melodies they play enliven our exhausted souls.”
The outrage on the social media, and among the rights activists forced the Ministry of Education to retreat, and on 13 March they issued a statement saying that the decree did not represent the ministry’s official stand. However, the ministry has not proclaimed its recession through an official announcement (decree) rejecting the previous decree, as of 26 March 2021. Neither does the ministry’s practice display any change in their official stand. The anthem group that performed on March 23rd during the official inauguration of the new educational year comprised girls below 12 years of age.
This is not the first time that the Education Ministry has encountered such backlash by the people. It had reportedly proposed moving primary school classes to mosques. This decision stirred a heated debate among the general public as well as Afghan officials, including Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR). The Ministry later announced that the plan had been misinterpreted.
Concurrently, another hashtag spread amongst Afghan people: #NotGoingBackToThe90s. The 1990s mark the age of unprecedented atrocities, devastating war, forced immigration, loss of family members, and despondency to Afghans. In 1989, around 100,000 soviet troops returned to their country under a peace deal signed among Afghanistan, the US, Pakistan, and the Soviet Union in Geneva. Thereafter, the discontented Mujahedin kept fighting the formerly Soviet-backed president, Dr. Najibullah. In 1992, the Mujahedin overthrew Dr. Najibullah’s government and announced their own rule only to be dethroned in 1996 by the Pakistan-backed Taliban. This whole period is highlighted by hostile civil wars between different factions of the Mujahedin, unrestricted open executions by the Taliban, and the dropping of fundamental human rights. During the 1990s, millions were killed, and millions were forced to leave the country.
Different conclusions are possible; however, one obvious one is that Afghans have recognized their rights and responsibilities. The mere fact that a social media protest forced the Ministry of Education to retreat, although through a simple announcement and not formal decree or practice, indicates that public service positions are no more sources of undisputed heavenly authority over the people, but they are in the service of the people. The public has realized that they are the ultimate decision-makers in their democracy-to-become and the state works in their favour. This realization could also have further implications for populism.
#IAmMySong demonstrates that populist campaigns are beginning to observe a painful decline in the number of their buyers. An apparent insinuation of this is that people respond to events more logically than emotionally, which means no easy manipulations hereafter. Interestingly, an equal number of the protesters were ordinary male social media users who stood beside their female counterparts to defend the rights of women. This means that Afghan men are beginning to understand that their mothers, sisters, wives, and female friends comprise an integral portion of their developing society. They now realize that the contribution of the females to the building of the country and moving towards development is as significant.
A final vital conclusion is that in the face of the rising new challenges concerning the likes of modernity and rights, Afghans now engage more in debating social matters and producing literature concerning them. They refer to the academic foundations of the issue and analyse matters through various angles and perspectives. Afghan youths, in particular, forge circles to defend their rights, perform their obligations, and give their best in the hope of improving Afghanistan. What becomes indisputable is that Afghans are not going back to the 1990s. During the past 20 years, they have adopted the modern-world democratic values and have obtained rights and freedom in exchange for the lives of their beloved ones and are by no means willing to give up on their gains.
(Attila Noyan is a sophomore at the American University of Afghanistan majoring in Political Science and Public Administration. Views expressed are personal.)
