‘Because I can and someone had to do it.’

Check out this interview with the fearless and awe-inspiring activist Malalai Joya. As a vocal advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan, she was elected to parliament, only to be ousted last month after criticizing the government.

Joya calls her suspension “an illegal act” and doesn’t regret her harsh words. “I stress that most of these parliament members are worse than an animal stable, because they massacred 65,000 innocent people and [committed] lots of violence against women,” she says, referring to fighting that took place in Kabul in the 1990s when ethnic militias battled for control, killing, maiming and raping civilians in the process. Several of those responsible for the violence now hold high-level posts in Hamid Karzai’s government.
Joya admits, “it’s more risky than ever” for her to return — one parliament member said he would put a bomb on himself and kill her, she alleges. After at least four assassination attempts, other documented incidents involving threats of rape, murder and water bottles being thrown at her within the Parliament, Joya vows to return.
“Even with these risks that I face — for example, I’m going outside wearing a burqa, I must have bodyguards, I’m changing houses, I can’t live with my family — but just because of that, I want to go back to this warlord-ism, druglord-ism Parliament to tear their masks off in front of them in their own house, because nobody dares to.”

For more on the film about Joya, Enemies of Happiness, click here.