© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Last week Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced that women would no longer be allowed to pursue higher education in colleges and universities, drawing widespread condemnation both from within and outside the country.
Now a video clip is going viral showing an Afghan professor tearing away his diplomas on live television to show solidarity with women who are banned from universities.
The professor’s gesture of solidarity was first aired on TOLOnews, a news channel based out of Kabul. This clip was later shared on Twitter by Shabnam Nasimi, former policy advisor to the Minister for Afghan Resettlement & Minister for Refugees, on Wednesday. “Astonishing scenes as a Kabul university professor destroys his diplomas on live TV in Afghanistan — “From today I don’t need these diplomas anymore because this country is no place for an education. If my sister & my mother can’t study, then I DON’T accept this education,” she wrote in the tweet.
The video has got over 5.9 lakh views and over 32,000 likes. Appreciating the unnamed professor’s act, a Twitter user wrote, “I don’t understand a word this man says but just watching his passion in defence of his wife and daughter is immeasurable in moving women forward in their culture. Much respect and admiration to him! Love it!”.
Another person commented, “His gesture is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting. We need men to be part of the fight for women’s rights, and it’s always wonderful to see it happen. But at the same time, it’s so sad that it needs to happen.”
