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mcicynesd-blog · 2 months ago

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As the Taliban continues its oppressive regime, it is important to not forget the stories of the women who have lost so much.

“My team-mates are my sisters. Our dream is to play together again, standing side by side.”

In June 2021, Fatima Foladi was a rising football star in Afghanistan when she scored against Tajikistan in an under-17 international match.

Two months later, her life was turned upside down.

The Taliban’s return to power led to the repression of women’s rights in the Asian country, restricting basic freedoms and banning teenage girls from education. The United Nations said such treatment could amount to “gender apartheid”.

Foladi, then aged 16, went to Kabul International Airport where, upon showing her national football credentials, she was assisted by the U.S. military in boarding a flight to America. She was not alone in fleeing Afghanistan; more than 75 people associated with the nation’s women’s senior football team — including players, officials and their families — escaped to Australia, assisted by FIFPro, football’s global players’ union. Others fled to countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom.

Fatima Foladi celebrates scoring for Afghanistan Under-17s (Published with permission of Fatima Foladi)

Women’s sports are banned in Afghanistan.

The regulations of FIFA, world football’s governing body, require recognition by a national federation for teams to compete. The Taliban-controlled Afghan Football Federation (AFF) does not acknowledge its women’s teams.

As a result, the Afghanistan senior women’s side have not played an official match since 2018 and a nation with a population exceeding 40 million no longer features in FIFA’s 196-team women’s world rankings.

Going forward, Afghanistan are excluded from the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers draw, which feeds into the qualification process for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil the following year.

In response, players and others are campaigning for FIFA to recognise the team and allow them to represent their homeland.

Last month, Nilab Mohammadi joined Skye United in Melbourne, Australia.

Mohammadi, a striker, captained Afghanistan when they last played an official game in 2018. Six months after fleeing to Australia, she was among the Afghan migrants to represent Melbourne Victory FC AWT — AWT symbolising Afghanistan Women’s Team — which began life in Australia’s seventh tier in 2022.

“Afghanistan’s women’s football team is a symbol of victory, peace and hope for Afghan women around the world,” Mohammadi says. “We will not give up fighting to play.”

She believes the symbolism of what the national team represents is crucial: “The rights and freedoms of women in Afghanistan must be highlighted and defended. This is our appeal to the world. Women’s football means fighting for freedom and respect.”

Mohammadi, right, captained Melbourne Victory FC AWT (Published with permission of Nilab Mohammadi)

Before the Taliban takeover, Mohammadi was in the Afghan army and had completed her political science degree at Kabul’s Kardan University — rights no longer afforded to females in her country. “My interest in politics was about defending women’s rights and showing that, in an Islamic society, women can serve a nation in the same way men do.” After migrating to Australia, Mohammadi combined studying English with her football career and again wants to serve in the army.

Foladi, like Mohammadi, has been able to continue playing football and enjoying career opportunities denied to their fellow female Afghans who did not escape their home nation. Having initially settled in the U.S. city of Boston, Foladi is now an aerospace student at the University of Michigan.

“Becoming an aerospace engineer has always been my dream,” Foladi says. “Growing up in that environment (in Afghanistan), you are not encouraged to do these things and are told to do something easier. But the more people tell me I cannot do something, I want to do it. My personality is to prove that to myself and to others. It motivates me.”

Foladi says she is “always grateful” for the opportunities afforded to her in America but admits it is painful to have had to flee her home: “Moving to the United States left behind a part of me. I am away from my country, the girls who were my team-mates and my friends. I left everything and everyone I knew for 15 years. It was heartbreaking.”

Foladi represented Afghanistan in a tournament for refugees in Boston (Published with permission of Fatima Foladi)

Khalida Popal founded the Afghan women’s side, and was the first woman to work for the AFF.

She fled Afghanistan in 2011, fearing for her safety, and now lives in Denmark, where she sought asylum. She pioneered female football in Afghanistan and had received death threats.

“Football is the platform where we can represent our sisters and be their voice,” Popal says. “These players have been through trauma, but they have not stopped advocating for their rights. We feel responsible for our sisters. We can show our adversity with pride and show that we exist. We believe this team can become role models for oppressed women around the world.”

Popal is an activist for Afghan women footballers (Jaime Saldarriaga/AFP/Getty Images)

Popal is cautious and realistic about a return to the international stage. Her experience of violent threats and sinister phone calls prompted her to advise female Afghan players to wipe their social media presence. “The players’ security is vital because if this group of players come together, they may be a target,” Popal says. “We need to think of risk measurements to take if they play a match in the region. Are we protecting them, or putting them in danger?”

There are other factors too, Popal says. “These women have been traumatised several times, so do they have the player care that they need?”

Providing a safe environment in which to play would be the responsibility of the football authorities.

In March, in response to a report by the Sports and Rights Alliance (SRA, a coalition of rights groups), FIFA pledged to “promote the wellbeing of women and girls in Afghanistan” and provide “measures to promote the provision of playing opportunities and other forms of support for those players who are currently outside of Afghanistan”.

World football’s governing body said it would engage in “advocacy and diplomacy” with the relevant bodies “to explore ways to reduce the exclusion from sport of women and girls in Afghanistan over time”.

Popal has praised this “collaborative” approach. FIFA says it supported the evacuation of around 160 people in total from Afghanistan in October 2021, around 70 per cent of whom were women and children, including female players.

Afghan players in Australia continue to promote and represent their nation (Published with permission of Nilab Mohammadi)

“I have had good conversations with FIFA, and I am glad they are finally listening to the players,” Popal says.

FIFA has not, however, communicated whether it intends to officially recognise the Afghan women’s teams or how any specific funding would be allocated. Its position is that the situation is ongoing.

The body acknowledged that time would be required for the Afghan teams to achieve their goals, but also spoke of their “duty to do (its) best to use football’s power to unite, inspire change and create opportunities”, committing to continued engagement with the players and SRA.

“FIFA should be questioned as to why our team is not recognised,” says Mohammadi. “We are working so hard to continue our fight. Not being recognised is a huge disappointment, but we will not give up. We will continue to fight and speak out.”

Mohammadi also explains that the team set up an online petition for recognition by FIFA. At the time of writing, it had amassed more than 185,000 signatures.

Afghanistan Women Under-17s, before the Taliban takeover in 2021 (Published with permission of Fatima Foladi)

“FIFA’s statement is a step in the right direction, but it is very small,” Foladi says. “There have been years of silence, which have been very painful for us. The statement alone is not enough and promises only matter if they result in meaningful action.

“Our existence has been removed, and we have been denied access to normality. Football needs to place humanity over politics. This cannot be delayed. Football is supposed to be a place where all humans can come together regardless of their nationality or politics. Sport needs to remember these values.”

Football is not the only sport to face questions over Afghan women’s participation.

Cricket’s global governing body, the ICC, requires its members to recognise a national women’s team and have female pathway structures in place for full membership status. Afghanistan remains one of just 12 full members of the ICC, despite its women’s teams no longer being recognised.

Afghanistan’s men’s team have retained their Test status, reached the semi-finals of last year’s Twenty20 World Cup and played in the 50-over-a-side Champions Trophy this February, where they defeated England. Ahead of that match, a cross-party letter signed by nearly 200 UK politicians was sent to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to call for a boycott of the game. The ECB said the situation in Afghanistan was “heartbreaking” and was “nothing short of gender apartheid”, but the fixture went ahead.

Last month, the ICC announced the formation of a dedicated task force to support displaced Afghan female cricketers. The organisation said it would “establish a dedicated fund to provide direct monetary assistance, ensuring these cricketers have the resources they need to continue pursuing the game they love”.

It added: “This will be complemented by a robust high-performance programme offering advanced coaching, world-class facilities and tailored mentorship to help them reach their full potential.”

Displaced players from the Afghanistan women’s cricket team in Australia in January (Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images)

After suffering a career-ending knee injury, Popal set up her own organisation, called Girl Power. She believes sport motivates and empowers minority groups in Europe and enables refugees to connect and assimilate with locals. Popal wants football to do more to help displaced players, including those from Afghanistan.

‘There is no integration for our players to continue careers,” Popal says. “The sports system discriminates against refugees. These players risked everything to play football. They managed to flee Afghanistan, but they arrive in countries that will not empathise with them.

“For instance, some arrive in the UK. They go to a job centre and are told that any financial support will be removed if they play football, because it is not a priority career. So what option do they have but to sacrifice football? If you are a refugee from a Muslim country or the Middle East, the system is not made for you. Football has no system in place for those who go through these challenges. Which door should we be knocking?”

Foladi and Mohammadi are, by any measure, privileged in comparison to many of their fellow Afghan women. They both escaped the nation and so avoided direct Taliban oppression, could continue with their educational and career pathways, and continue to play sport without fear. They speak positively about the U.S. and Australia, respectively.

Yet both are also refugees, unwillingly separated from their country, friends, family and team-mates. They have faced adversity, challenges and worries that most people, never mind athletes, ever even contemplate.

Mohammadi has fond memories of representing Afghanistan (Published with permission of Nilab Mohammadi)

“We want people to appreciate their privilege and not take it for granted,” Popal says. “Your privilege is your power. I have more privilege and freedom than most Afghan women, so I need to use my voice for them.”

Mohammadi wants women who remain in Afghanistan to know “you are not alone” and says their struggle is the motivation for the nation’s dispersed footballers: “Us Afghans outside the country will never allow your voice to be silenced. We will struggle for you.”

Foladi believes that through these “darkest times” for Afghan women, their pain will turn into power and the return of an Afghanistan women’s team will be a “symbol of resistance” for girls and women across the nation.

“It feels like the world has forgotten us, but I promise that we will never forget each other,” Foladi says.

“Afghan women’s voices matter. Their resistance matters. We are stronger than anyone else can imagine. We will be free again, we will play again, and when that day comes, the world will see the power of Afghan women.”

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mcicynesd-blog · 3 months ago

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This scene is so weirdly alluring to me.

What’s meant to be a fairly standard fantasy sequence (from what I remember) has a lot more symbolism going for it than you’d initially expect. I’m gunna go full the-author-is-dead on this one INCOHERENT TANGENT WITH A LACK OF A CLEAR THESIS GO

To me the arcade setting is symbolic of innocence, youth and escapism. This childlike mise en scene is being utilised to explore the dynamic of Jake and Roses relationship. The use of a two-sided tabletop arcade machine as a central prop is clearly emblematic of their (more specifically Jake’s) innocence and childhood as a whole being lost to their rivalry. Video game iconography represents competitiveness, specifically how Jake and Rose are destined to continue playing the same game of cat and mouse. Moreover, arcades being a place for leisure and escape exemplifies their desire to break loose from their circumstances.

The concept of a rite of passage is only reinforced with Rose’s activation of the jukebox, a device often associated with the rise in teen culture in America. With this connotation in mind, the initiation of the music evinces Rose’s maturity greatly surpassing Jake’s. Rose inserting the coin before Jake even enters the building also shows how her innocence was long gone before Jake’s involvement in her life. Moreover the fact neither of them activate the game on the table they’re occupied at indicates that this ‘game’ they’re playing is completely out of their control. I also like to think this scene is foreshadowing how she is literally going to change her tune on dragons (ba dum tss🥁)

Despite their maturity, their status or identity, they are both equal and see eye to eye - unlike their ancestors before them. While games are designed to have the same form and structure every single time you play it, only the players can change the outcome.

Though the specific use of anachronism with the retro arcade cabinets is lost on me. Okay now that I think about it, this stylistic device only further accentuates the centuries long conflict between the huntsman and the dragon race.

When viewing the motif of a fan through an anachronist lens, the fans serve more as a western and modern translation of a traditional fan. This appliance clearly represents the interplay of the status of a Huntsclan member and being a Dragon in their relationship. Not only do fans connote sophistication, social status and romance - all those traits relating to Rose but also their relationship as a whole. Furthermore, in a Japanese context (yes I'm aware that Jake is Chinese jus let me yap) fans are associated with cross-cultural exchange which the highlights the star-crossed forbidden aspect of their love. Additionally in Victorian era fans were used to non verbally communicate romantic interest. While idk much about each movements specific meaning I choose to believe its just to visually indicate that Rose is romantically interested in Jake wow who would've known XD.

I want to say the glass of water could symbolise how

Rose's longs to control her destiny much like how water is used to control our bodies temperature. Also accentuated with the way she doesn't drink the water but only applies it against her skin

She's out of her element/ doesn't belong. Water also connotes adaptability and survival. Maybe reflecting her survival against odds (odds being a Dragon hunter bein with her half human half dragon lover) (if that wasn't obvious haha)

Or if we continue with the rite of passage stuff, seeing as water is associated with rebirth, the interaction with water but not direct contact can be foreshadowing how her life is about to change seeing as well .. well you know dragon hunter.. half huma-

Okay I just realised these interpretations are the same thing just in different fonts nevermidn SDFJHSAHHAS

Yes I do believe this scene was a way to communicate how Jake finds Rose hot. Yes I do believe my interpretation is just as valid. Thank you for coming to my ted talk. PLEASE feel free to add on in reblogs or comments I'd love to see what people think.

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