Exiled Iranian Actress Golshifteh Farahani Lauds Protests over Amini’s Death
New Age Islam News Bureau
12 October 2022
• United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra
Vocal for Iranian Women but Not Muslim Women in India
• Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai Visits
Pakistan On 10th Anniversary of Taliban Shooting
• Miss Universe Bahrain Makes Major Runway Debut for
Furne One at Arab Fashion Week
• Saudi Arabia Participates In CEO Women Conference in
Egypt
• Pakistan: WHO’s Mobile Labour Rooms to Help Pregnant
Women of ‘Difficult Areas’
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-actress-golshifteh-amini/d/128164
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Exiled Iranian Actress Golshifteh Farahani Lauds
Protests over Amini’s Death
Exiled Iranian Actress Golshifteh Farahani
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11 October, 2022
Exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani said
Tuesday that she was filled with admiration for the protesters in Iran:
“beautiful, feminine, hair in the wind, asking simply for freedom.”
The 39-year-old star of films including “Extraction”
and “Body of Lies,” has lived in exile in France for more than a decade.
She has largely avoided politics in the past, but that
has changed with the protests that broke out last month in Iran over the death
in custody of a young woman arrested for breaking the strict Islamic dress
code.
“I have never really talked about politics, but this
event triggered something very physical and visceral in me,” she told AFP.
Farahani now relays information constantly to her 14
million followers on Instagram.
She said some people in the West were nervous about
supporting the protests for fear of seeming Islamophobic, adding that she was
saddened by the silence of some feminists in the United States and elsewhere.
“This is not a fight about religion, about Islam, or a
judgement on the headscarf – it’s just about the freedom to choose whether you
wear it or not,” she said.
Despite many protests in Iran over the years, she
feels “this time it’s different.”
Her peers were afraid and traumatized by the
revolution of 1979 and the war with Iraq in the 1980s but the youth on the
streets today do not carry that baggage, she said.
“We were afraid, but they aren’t scared, they aren’t
ashamed,” she said.
Farahani said she used to shave her head as a child to
pass as a boy.
“I was able to be free in Iran only be killing my
femininity. I thought being a woman would always be an obstacle,” she said.
“This generation wants to keep their hair long and not
wear the headscarf.”
The actor said she felt absurd promoting a new film
(French movie “Une Comedie Romantique”) while dozens were dying in the streets
back home.
But she hopes that “symbolically it shows that no one
can stop us from laughing, dancing, being joyful.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra
Vocal for Iranian Women but Not Muslim Women in India
United Nations Goodwill
Ambassador Priyanka Chopra
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12 Oct 2022
Indian actress and United Nations goodwill ambassador
Priyanka Chopra is facing criticism for her condemnation of the custodial death
of Mahsa Amini in Iran while maintaining silence on women’s issues back home.
Last week, the 40-year-old Bollywood star, who is now
based in the United States, posted her support for the protests in
Muslim-majority Iran, saying she is in “awe” of the women fighting the
government there for weeks.
“The voices that speak after ages of forced silence
will rightfully burst like a volcano! And they will not and MUST not be
stemmed,” she wrote on Instagram, where she has more than 82 million followers.
Following the death of 22-year-old Amini after she had
been detained for “improper hijab”, thousands of Iranian women hit the streets,
denouncing the Iranian authorities, removing their hijabs and cutting their
hair in solidarity. Dozens of protesters and security forces are reported to
have been killed in nearly a month of protests.
“I am in awe of your courage and your purpose. It is
not easy to risk your life, literally, to challenge the patriarchal
establishment and fight for your rights. But, you are courageous women doing
this every day regardless of the cost to yourselves,” Chopra wrote.
Critics, however, have accused Chopra – who was
appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2016 – of “selective outrage” and
“double standards” by not speaking for India’s Muslim women, who have been
facing attacks for wearing a hijab.
Nabiya Khan, a poet and activist based in the capital
New Delhi, told Al Jazeera she expected an Indian celebrity to talk about the
persecution of minorities in her home country.
“They have the responsibility and voice to speak but
they choose to look the other way. Indian celebrities are very quick to comment
on anything happening outside the country – which is right, had they not been
turning a blind eye to what is happening in India,” she said.
Khan said thousands of Muslim women in the southern
state of Karnataka are unable to attend schools and colleges because of a ban
on wearing the hijab in educational institutions by the Hindu right-wing
government, which has “outlawed their faith”.
“Somehow it doesn’t catch the eye of Priyanka Chopra who
is a so-called champion of women empowerment,” Khan told Al Jazeera.
“Such people not only look away from the harassment of
minorities in their own country but also present India as a flourishing country
where nothing needs to be corrected. This amounts to enabling harassment of the
minorities in India.”
In recent weeks, a number of prominent women in the
West have cut off locks of their hair to express their solidarity with the Iran
protests. A news presenter working for the India Today network did the same
during her show over the weekend.
Muslim activists in India were not amused at the act
by a news channel that has been accused of spreading hate against Muslims and
being in the government’s thrall.
“Forget Priyanka Chopra, TV anchors cutting their hair
in solidarity with women of Iran is not just disingenuous but also laughable.
Imagine working for a media house baying for Muslims’ blood and then claiming
you care about the women of Iran. Someone show these people a mirror,” Twitter
user Mirza Arif Beg wrote.
In 2020, Chopra was criticised for speaking out on the
Black Lives Matter protests in the US following the killing of George Floyd,
but not doing the same for the minorities in India.
“It’s good she speaks on Black Lives Matter or Iran
women’s protests but being an Indian actor, her silence on mob lynchings in
India, on crimes against Muslims, on Islamophobia or when it comes to
supporting movements like farmers protests, her silence on all these issues is
a very glaring double standard,” feminist and activist Kavita Krishnan told Al
Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reached out to Chopra and her
representatives for comments, but they have not yet responded.
According to Krishnan, Chopra’s Iran stand aims to
establish her liberal credentials in Hollywood, where speaking up on such
issues is the norm.
“When a Hollywood celebrity talks on these issues,
they are speaking against their governments which takes courage. But if you
speak only on issues that concern other countries and don’t speak truth to the
government in your own country, then you are not showing courage but only
following certain trends which don’t cost you anything.”
Source: Al Jazeera
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Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai Visits Pakistan
On 10th Anniversary of Taliban Shooting
Oct 11, 2022
KARACHI: Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on
Tuesday arrived in her native Pakistan to visit flood victims, 10 years after a
Taliban assassination attempt against her.
Yousafzai was just 15 years old when militants from
the Pakistani Taliban -- an independent group that shares a common ideology
with the Afghan Taliban -- shot her in the head over her campaign for girls'
education.
She was flown to Britain for life-saving treatment and
went on to become a global education advocate and the youngest-ever recipient
of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Two days after the 10th anniversary of the attack, she
landed in the southern city of Karachi -- only her second visit since the
shooting -- from where she will travel to areas devastated by unprecedented
monsoon flooding.
Her visit aims "to help keep international
attention focused on the impact of floods in Pakistan and reinforce the need
for critical humanitarian aid", her organisation Malala Fund said in a
statement.
Catastrophic flooding put a third of Pakistan under
water, displaced eight million people -- who are now facing a health crisis --
and caused an estimated $28 billion in damages.
Yousafzai's visit comes as students at her former
school join a strike over a rise in violence in her hometown of Mingora in the
Swat Valley.
The Pakistani Taliban waged a years-long insurgency in
Swat until a major military crackdown in the northwest of the country in 2014
restored security in the area.
But it has seen a resurgence of militancy since the
Taliban returned to power across the border in Afghanistan last year.
There has been a spike in attacks in recent weeks,
targeting mostly security forces.
On Monday, a driver was shot dead and a child wounded
in an attack on a school bus, prompting up to 2,000 students and teachers to
walk out of classes.
Locals blamed the Pakistani Taliban, but the group has
denied responsibility.
Students and teachers again walked out on Tuesday
calling for peace in the region.
"People are angry," principal Ahmad Shah
told AFP on Monday. "Students from all the private schools came out to
protest."
Source: Times Of India
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Miss Universe Bahrain Makes Major Runway Debut for
Furne One at Arab Fashion Week
David Tusing
Oct 11, 2022
Miss Universe Bahrain Evlin Khalifa made her major
runway debut as part of the show for Amato, the label by Filipino designer
Furne One, at Arab Fashion Week in Dubai on Tuesday.
Also part of the show was Tunisian-French model Ameni
Esseibi, fresh off the runway from her Paris Fashion Week debut, where she was
the only Arab woman to walk for Weinsanto — the event’s opening show — but also
as one of only two plus-size models to feature.
Amato muse, model Sajad Pourhasan, also featured in
the show.
Wearing an embellished black dress with a mix of
fabric and textures covered in black feathers, Khalifa's striking appearance
set the tone for One's latest collection, which has a theme around birds.
Scroll through the gallery above to see the Arab
Fashion Week opening show
Called Birds of Prey, the 33-piece collection, featuring
a mix of womenswear and menswear, was presented with the designer's famed
dramatic flair, and proved a strong opening show for the the six-day
autumn/winter showcase at Dubai Design District.
Known for his glittering couture creations, One's
all-black collection was geared towards ready-to-wear, but still with rich
embellishments and heavy thread works. The designer played with textures to
great effect, proving his mastery over fabrics, too, and not simply red-carpet
sparkles.
There were feathers aplenty, and so were all kinds of
laces, tulles and even leather.
To articulate his "pret couture" theme, the
looks were also mixed. For instance, glamorous embellished dresses were paired
with leather hoodies while some were matched with parka jackets.
Speaking backstage to The National ahead of the show,
One, who now runs his 20-year-old label Amato out of D3, said sustainability
was another important message he wanted to communicate with his latest
collection.
"In our atelier, we have been practising slow fashion
and upcycling since the very beginning and I want to inspire new designers with
the same concept so our industry will be more sustainable for the next
generation," he said. "This season, I have introduced sustainable
fabrics, produced locally by indigenous groups and communities from different
parts of the world as I also wanted to support and boost local suppliers."
He said Miss Universe Bahrain Khalifa was "the
epitome of grace, passion and beauty".
Khalifa, 24, who's just returned from a pageant boot
camp in the Philippines, said walking the runway at Arab Fashion Week for One
was another dream come true.
"It is my honour to represent the stories Arab
women as I walk and open the Arab Fashion Week before I head to wear the sash
of Bahrain and the Gulf at the stage of the greatest competition of its kind —
the Miss Universe," she told The National.
"As Arab women, we were strengthened by several
challenges in our history as we continuously defy norms and break stereotypes.
We embrace the power of our roots as we navigate our roads to innovation and
modernisation without losing our culture and beautiful virtue."
Khalifa won the Miss Bahrain 2022 crown in September,
and is only second beauty queen from the Gulf to represent her country at the
Miss Universe 2022 pageant, to be held in New Orleans in January.
The beauty queen, who was picked from more than 300
applicants, was recently in Manila for two weeks along with Miss Universe
Bahrain national director Josh Yugen, where she was trained by some of the best
in the industry.
“Being the new face of her generation, Evlin Khalifa
is a symbol of hope and respect as she carries the flaming torch of the new
generation of Arab leaders, movers and shakers. I can’t wait for you all to see
what this amazing lady can do," Yugen said.
Source: The National News
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Saudi Arabia participates in CEO Women conference in
Egypt
October 12, 2022
CAIRO: The CEO of the General Commission for
Audiovisual Media, Esra Assery, stressed the importance of Saudi women to
achieving the targets of Saudi Vision 2030, during her participation at the CEO
Women conference in Egypt.
Assery stated female participation had led to progress
in the labor market, with women now making up 38 percent of the workforce.
Saudi Arabia has also risen on the World Bank’s Women,
Business and Law rankings to 80 points out of 100 over the past two years.
During her participation in the conference, which was
held under the patronage of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Assery
noted that such conferences have an important role in looking for solutions and
opportunities, and overcoming challenges that face Arab and African women.
She added that Saudi women hold leadership posts
across multiple sectors, and have greatly contributed to the country’s
development.
Assery said that Saudi Arabia has also granted women
all means of empowerment through enabling policies and regulations, adding: “It
is important for us as a commission regulating the (audiovisual media) sector
to seek, with our partners, to guarantee the best application of these
regulations and measuring the impact, efficiency, continuous development and
cooperation … to grant women a bigger opportunity for representation and
membership.”
She noted that the commission works with partners in
the media sector to improve the image of women through content constraints
derived from Saudi Arabia’s media policy, and to find jobs for women at all
levels of the media.
Assery suggested exerting more efforts to show women
in non-stereotype positions, such as calling on public, private and third
sectors to highlight successful images of women working in all fields.
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2179511/saudi-arabia
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Pakistan: WHO’s mobile labour rooms to help pregnant
women of ‘difficult areas’
October 08, 2022
Zubair Qureshi
ISLAMABAD: In order to meet the overwhelming number of
child births daily in the flooded areas — around 2,000 deliveries a day — the
WHO has devised mobile labour room modality to reach the areas where women’s
access to hospitals is difficult.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has targeted 32
priority districts out of a total 84 affected by the recent floods in Sindh,
Balochistan, KP and Punjab.
People, particularly women and children, there, are
facing risk of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, malaria, dengue fever, skin
infections and typhoid due to limited health services.
Country Representative of the WHO, Dr Palitha
Mahipala, at a media briefing on Saturday spoke at length about the challenges
his teams were facing in providing medical assistance to the flood-affectees
and said it was a catastrophe whose scale was too huge and unheard of so far.
Referring to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) figures, Dr Mahipala said around 580,000 people are currently
displaced due to floods and one can see countless families sitting in camps
along the roads waiting for food, health assistance. The situation is alarming
particularly in Sindh and Balochistan, he said.
Malnutrition, stunting among kids to be addressed
Besides, malnutrition and stunting among children are
also posing severe health risks, he said.
The WHO is working in close coordination with the
government and the donor agencies as well as stakeholders on multiple fronts,
said the Country Representative.
To meet the malnutrition challenges, 100 new nutrition
stabilisation centres will start functioning in the next two week.
330 teams working in flood-hit areas
The WHO has already released $10 million (Dh36.73
million) to support health response to floods to treat the injured, deliver
medical supplies to health facilities, and prevent the spread of infectious
diseases and outbreaks.
Besides, $618,048 have been funded for providing
essential medicines, emergency stockpiles, medical supplies, water purification
kits, tanks, tents, ORS sachet and tents, he said, adding among provinces,
support has been distributed in response to flood emergency.
The total support with medicines, equipment and other
logistics stands at $2 million, he said adding medicines and diagnostics in the
pipeline were over $5 million. The mobile clinics — vehicles to be donated
amount to approximately $500,000.
Water and sanitation equipment partially distributed
and some are in Karachi warehouse worth $ 174,000 while diagnostic worth $7.83
million are in pipeline under procurement.
The WHO has prepared dashboards including a logistics
dashboard to provide an overview of its operations and the current situation in
flood-hit areas, he said.
In the flood-hit areas, already 330 teams recruited
and trained by the WHO are working for healthcare and medical assistance. The
WHO has also provided 4 million water purification tablets.
The WHO has also undertaken construction of half of
the fully-damaged 400 primary healthcare centres and 30 of them have already
been completed, he said.
Source: Gulf News
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