If I Arise: Talking with Malalai Joya, Afghanistan’s Youngest Revolutionary

On December 17, 2003, a 26-year-old woman named Malalai Joya joined hundreds of others in a large tent in Kabul, Afghanistan, to adopt a new constitution for their war-torn nation. The gathering, called a Loya Jirga (traditional grand assembly), was dominated by U.S.-backed warlords who were responsible for mass slaughter and violence in the 1980s and early 1990s. Malalai Joya was present as an elected delegate from the remote Farah province in western Afghanistan.

Like the rest of the independent delegates in the tent, she despised the warlords, and when Joya was granted permission to address the assembly for a few minutes, she did what no one expected by publicly and unequivocally denouncing them.

My criticism on all my compatriots is: Why are they allowing the legitimacy and legality of this Loya Jirga to come under question with the presence of those felons who brought our country to this state? . . . The chairman of every committee is already selected. Why do you not take all these criminals to one committee so that we see what they want for this nation? These [men] turned our country into the nucleus of national and international wars. They were the most anti-women people in the society . . . who brought our country to this state, and they intend to do the same again. I believe that it is a mistake to test those already being tested. They should be taken to national and international court. If they are forgiven by our people, the bare-footed Afghan people, our history will never forgive them. They are all recorded in the history of our country.

Her microphone was cut off before she could finish, but the two-minute speech changed Malalai Joya’s life. She became a heroine of the Afghan people and a target of the warlords’ wrath. Since 2003, she has had her home and office ransacked by warlord supporters, and has survived four assassination attempts. The BBC has called her “the most famous woman in Afghanistan.”

In September 2005, she ran for Parliament and won the second-highest number of votes in Farah province. During the opening ceremony of the newly elected assembly, she boldly promised, “First, I [will] represent my people here; and second, I will continue my struggle against warlords.” Her plans include introducing legislation that will “protect the rights of the oppressed and safeguard women’s rights.”

In February 2005, I interviewed Malalai Joya in her office in Farah City, Afghanistan. A year later, in February 2006, we continued our conversation via e-mail.

Written by Sonali Kolhatkar for Clamor Magazine. Read more at www.clamormagazine.org.