“The change will come but it will not come if we fear, if we sit back and if we do not speak out”

Horia Mosadiq is an Afghan human rights defender living in London and she is a core member of Womankind partner Women’s Regional Network (WRN) in the UK. 

For Horia, Everyday Feminism is her 30 years of experience responding to and mobilising around issues like deportation and detainment. It is emergency applications for human rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists at risk. It is finding space for singing and reading poems with her circle of friends – a place of peace in their lives amongst activism and journalism. But also, it is those special monthly ‘mother – daughter’ moments with her daughters. 

My experience with activism  

The whole issue of activism is a very personal to me because I grew up and I lived in a society ridden with war, with atrocities, with violence, and I have been raised in a very patriarchal society. Women are always considered as second-hand citizens. This is where my story starts. 

I was a teenager in school during the Russian invasion and when Afghanistan was ruled by the Communist regime. I saw so many atrocities being committed not only by the government but also by the armed opposition and Islamist groups. I saw how people were deprived of their right to speak out, the right to freedom of expression and freedom of association. At 18, my brother, was forced to go and do military service.  

What #EverydayFeminism means to me

When we speak about women’s rights, honestly, I can’t believe that it seems like a never-ending struggle for us. Regardless of which part of the world we live or what context we are living in.  

For me, feminism means that you fight for equal rights and social justice. When you fight for abolishing gender persecution, gender apartheid, and fight to put an end to the suffering of other people. We are not just fighting for the rights of women in our own context. We are fighting for a bigger picture, for the rights of every citizen, for the rights of adults and girls and boys. We are fighting for the rights of women, for gender equality, for equal opportunities. My fight is for a day where I don’t see anyone as being sidelined or persecuted because of their gender or racial, political, ethnic backgrounds. 

What motivates me

In the 1990s when I started as a war reporter, I saw how many women and girls were used as a weapon of war. They were raped, forced into prostitution and early child marriage and sold. 

I started the first War Victims Network, which was predominantly run by women who were victims of the war in Afghanistan. I published the stories of many women who were victims of rape and torture and other forms of atrocities. This turned into my mission to fight for justice, accountability, and to put an end to the use of women as a weapon of war in Afghanistan. 

There were times that I felt the fear in my bones. Every day when I woke up, I always thought that it was my last day. That motivated me to do even more, because I was always thinking that I don’t have enough time and so I have to do as much as I can.  

When I talk to many young women across the country and they say “you just showed us the light and we are following that and you also showed us what resilience really means”. This means a lot to me. This is how we can really touch people’s lives and we can make a difference. For me, this is, what my day-to-day feminist life is all about.  

Day to day feminism for people in Afghanistan is not easy. It difficult to see how many women of my generation that once lived under the Taliban in the 1990s are witnessing their daughters experience the same trauma. But I always tell people that if you look at the history, not only just in Afghanistan but around the world, no dictator is big or powerful enough to not have an end. There is always hope that things will change. My message again is don’t lose your hope. The change will come and it will not come if we fear and if we sit back and if we do not speak out.