Pop star, feminist, TV presenter – Maybe Jamalzada is all the Taliban are fighting against
Thirty years ago, Moja Jamalzada was forced to leave Afghanistan because of the civil war that broke out in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. She fled with her family first to Pakistan and then to Canada. She told the State Security Service how she became a pop star in Afghanistan, about her career as a TV presenter and why the return of the Taliban to her homeland broke her heart.
DV: Why did you start making music about the political situation of women?
Maya Jamalzada: I started making music because I wanted to draw people’s attention to the fact that women are an important part of society and that they have always been. As the Taliban took control of the country, men began imposing restrictions on women and their families. My first video (for the song “Sher bacha”) was quite provocative: I was dancing and wearing a sleeveless top. I also had a tie and a top hat. My father wrote my next song – “Dukhtare Afghan” (“Daughters of Afghanistan”), dedicated to the young girls and women in my homeland. The following was also sung: “Don’t break my wings or my honor. I am a proud Afghan girl.”
DV: It seems that your father was a very progressive man. Is that correct?
He is a feminist and had a very strong influence on me. It may be hereditary, or it may be in my blood. But I know I’m a feminist, including because I was raised by him and because he said that in the 21st century, women’s rights should no longer be a topic. It is sad that the world is going backwards. This scares him, he himself no longer understands why this is happening.
DV: What happened after you returned to Afghanistan?
I returned to Kabul at the end of 2009. The situation there was pretty good then. After my first song, people already knew me, but the reactions after the second one surprised me a lot. It was a political song and I was really surprised by how many Afghans loved and supported me. Then I received an invitation to host a TV show on a new TV station in Kabul. In this show, we started talking about violence against children. We explained to people what it meant to start talking to their children instead of beating them. In Afghanistan, 90 percent of children are victims of violence or abuse. This is so sad.
DV: But you started receiving threats, didn’t you?
Oh, yes, we regularly received threatening letters. At first I was afraid because they kept calling us and threatening to blow up the whole TV. It got even worse when I raised the issue of domestic violence and other taboo topics. There were people who advised me to tame the ball a little, to be more careful. “You go too far and challenge your destiny,” they told me.
DV: Then did you have the feeling that women already have more rights and that the situation in Afghanistan as a whole is improving?
Absolutely. I will give you an example with my show: his boss was a 19-year-old young woman. All the men listened to her and carried out her orders – men of all ages. At that time there were many women in high positions – in government, the economy, many more girls went to school than in previous years.
DV: Why did you leave Afghanistan again in 2012?
I was forced – I had received a death threat again, but this time one that scared me. I was in Canada to see my family when my boss called me to tell me that the office had received a call: my body was in a hospital. Then there was a rumor that my head, ears and nose had been cut off, I had been raped and shot. It was awful. But still I came back.
DV: Please?
God knows why I did it. Maybe because I was young then and I still didn’t understand how great the danger really was. The people at the Canadian embassy warned me that they would not be able to protect me. I was told to get my things in order and to return quickly. So I finally returned to Canada. That was the end of my show. I was told that as soon as things improved a little in Kabul, I could return. But in the meantime, a lot of things changed for me – I started giving concerts, making new and new songs and it was just hard for me to give it all up.
DV: And you started singing again?
Yes, it didn’t take long. I started singing again and traveled to Afghanistan in a few months. I was often there for concerts or TV appearances.
I found out how strong the influence of social networks is. There I was free to express my opinion. I had many followers, including from Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands watched my videos on YouTube and Facebook. There I posted my photos with a short skirt, for example. This was my form of protest. The reaction was crushing. Gradually, people calmed down. When I posted my picture of me wearing a swimsuit top, they no longer reacted as violently as before.
This is what shows that change has taken place. People in Afghanistan have changed their minds. And this is exactly what worries me much more than anything else: that all these efforts, all this progress on women’s rights, will now be crossed out. The Taliban will bring everything back to zero. I want it to be different this time. But it’s very hard for me to believe.
The interview has been published HERE >>
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