What is it about our society that says wearing tiny hot pants that just barely cover your buttocks is not scandalous for women? Women exposing themselves is all part of their freedom and expression while those who might chose not to show their legs and other parts of their anatomy are repressed and not living in our modern times? Why is it considered scandalous for women to cover themselves? Western society seems to be fairly at home and comfortable with women in bikinis and g-strings compared to a woman who covers her face and head, a thing I find incredibly similar to Catholic nuns habits.

Recently two twenty something french students made a short film as their response to the French Government’s ban of the ‘niqab’ and the ‘burkha’. Nikolas Sarkozy says that it has nothing to do with religion and finds the Islamic garment in opposition to French ideals of secularism and freedom. The ‘Niqabitches’ as they call themselves walk around in Paris parading in a ‘niqab’ and hot pants to the delight of the public. This tongue and cheek act is brilliant in its subversion. Orthodox radicals would of course consider the outfit obnoxious but it’s delicious to see how the public responds to this outfit. I’m guessing probably with a lot of shock and surprise and also a lot of titillation as seen when the construction workers want to have their pictures taken with the women. Are we truly being liberal when we impose a ban on women wearing the burkha or niqab? Or is it a sign of our being incapable of accepting a religion and it’s people as they wish to be?

And lastly I’d say that many who chose to wear this garment are not even the Islamic fundamentalists that many would like to consider them. They are free thinking, independent, individual women who make an informed choice to wear them. Sadly many of these moderate Muslim voices fail to be heard amongst the sharp political cacophony of the liberals and conservatives. Frankly the right to chose what to wear getting chewed into rhetoric in the mouths of the political elite leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Malalai Joya is speaking tomorrow at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.

This extraordinary woman and her story of courage and spirit is just what the World needs! During the Taliban rule Malalai Joya started underground schools in defiance of the oppressive militants. She spoke out against the war criminals and drug Lords of Afghanistan and at the age of 27 stood for parliament elections while facing death threats. Her enemies call her a ‘dead woman walking’. “I am young and I want to live. But I say to those who would eliminate my voice: ‘I am ready, wherever and whenever you might strike. You can cut down the flower, but nothing can stop the coming of the spring.” The Independant has done a great story on her while The Gaurdian features her message to the British people. After being deposed in 2007 for publicly denouncing the corrupt war Lords in the Aghani Parliament her voice sounds a signal of truth and justice at a time when words like democracy and freedom are being misused to send more troops into Afghanistan.

Malalai Joya

Watch Wide Angle’s documentary about this Woman Among Warlords. It’s an incredible story about about one woman’s conviction and strength to stand against deadly wrongs and believe in her power as an individual. If this doesn’t move you and Hollywood’s heroic tales do, then we all might as well ask Will Smith to save the World. Because according to me the cards are on the table and increasing troops in Afghanistan is America trying to star in Hollywood’s next version of ‘The Declaration of Independence.’

Come hear these women raise their voices.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27TH, 2009

THE SKYLIGHT ROOM, 3 PM—5 PM

CUNY GRADUATE CENTER, 365 FIFTH AVE @ 34TH ST.

Malalai Joya, Minister of Parliament in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. She is the author of A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice (Simon and Schuster, 2009).

Awista Ayub fled Afghanistan in 1981 for the U.S. After the fall of the Taliban, she returned to Kabul and founded the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, dedicated to nurturing Afghan girls through soccer. Her work is the subject of However Tall the Mountain (Hyperion 2009).

Nasrine Gross, founder of The Roqia Center for Women’s Rights, Studies and Education in Afghanistan. Professor Gross’ work is profiled in Walking the Precipice: Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan (Feminist Press, 2009).

Moderated by: Laura Flanders, GritTV