Zarifa Ghafari: Fighter for good in Afghanistan and the world
Zarifa Ghafari stands tall on the big stage, as if nothing and no one could stop her from her great mission. Until not long ago, the petite woman was mayor of the Afghan provincial capital Maidan Shar. A remarkable job in a country like Afghanistan, where women’s rights have been trampled underfoot since the Taliban took power. She fled to Germany. To protect her family from further punishment.
A recent report by the Human Rights Watch organization recently stated: “Fearing the Taliban and the restrictions they impose on women’s freedom of movement, they are largely trapped in their homes, watching the work, studies and dreams to which they had devoted their lives disappear, perhaps forever.” Last week, Kubra Khademi, an Afghan artist living in Paris, had reported in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that “young unmarried women were handed over by the Taliban to young Pakistanis for marriage without their consent. The male offspring from these marriages would then be educated in the spirit of the movement’s ideology in order to ensure offspring in this way as well.”
One would prefer not to imagine all this, and even if we do, we probably can’t even begin to. Zarifa Ghafari has experienced the hard firsthand in her role as a woman and politician in Afghanistan. She has survived three assassination attempts and had to witness the murder of her father.
Zarifa Ghafari, just 29 years old, has just fled from Afghanistan to Germany under the greatest danger. Huddled on the floor of a car, she reports, she and her family made it through Taliban checkpoints to the airport in Kabul, where they were evacuated by the German government.
Zarifa Ghafari – Public appearances that shake things up
At the moment, the courageous young woman is frequently seen and heard in numerous media appearances. Zarifa Ghafari uses the public eye to report firsthand and without embellishments about conditions in Afghanistan. She tells of “really scary conditions.” All those who have stayed behind in the country and with whom she continues to maintain contact are in fear for their lives, she says. “It’s a nightmare,” she says.
She is currently in North Rhine-Westphalia and now wants to continue her mission to fight for human rights, and especially women’s rights, in her home country.
“I will continue to work for the Afghan people, especially the women. It is important to create a worldwide movement in solidarity with women. Right now, that’s all I can do. I network, I meet politicians, I try to raise my voice and find all the unspoken words that women in Afghanistan can’t say now,”
she explained in an interview with news portal watson.
Speeches that get under your skin
She can now also be booked as a speaker through Premium Speakers: welcome@premium-speakers.com or +41(0) 43 55 66 440. In her lectures, she talks about global politics in Russia, China, the U.S. and how to deal with the Orient, about the right to education, about the common good of the people in the Orient and of course Women and human rights and the real world in the Middle East.
Zarifa Ghafari remains upright, although she could have broken long ago. She continues her mission because she loves her country and wants to help women and people live free lives. No more. And nothing less.