Los Angeles, Nov 27, : .Leena Alam is a well-known actress from Afghanistan.
She explains what she faced when she made the unthinkable decision, reports Variety. “Who would not know better than I how dangerous it is being an actress with the Taliban?” “You cannot inflict on me with one more drop fear than I already have,” Alam, a California-based actor, says during a virtual performance of a monologue to the LA Writers Center.
“You offer me death, my children, or life with them?” What would you do? I will go home.” Alam, who was a star in popular shows like the feminist drama ‘Shereen,’ breaks down as he rocks on Zoom in front a backdrop of an airport wait room with signs for Paris.
The monologue was based on an interview with Sabera Sadat, a close friend and former costar.Sadat is also one of Afghanistan’s most renowned thespians.
Sadat declined a rare opportunity to travel to France earlier this month in Kabul.It turned out that there were no seats available for her and her two young sons.
She is among hundreds of female journalists and artistes who are still waiting to be evacuated.Or else, they face a lifetime of fear and danger “wearing a hijab, lying to strangers who don’t know [their] faces” as figures in media and arts.
Although the Taliban claim they are no longer the same terrorists that ruled decades ago, a new set of eight religious guidelines was issued to local media this week.It shows that their dehumanizing view of women has not changed.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has issued the first missive of its type to inform women journalists that they can no longer be seen in soap operas and dramas on television.
Taliban pressure has forced Afghan TV stations to blur out the cleavage of female body parts and self-censor since 2010.
However, a complete ban on the female figure would set the country back many decades.
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