Fighting for Peace

Afghan women 'fighting for peace'
By David Loyn
BBC Developing World correspondent

Woman boxing
Some of the women aspire to take part in the Olympics
The barked instructions and sounds of feet running round on a matted floor are like any team anywhere in the world warming up.

But this training session is unique.

The people running round to warm up before putting on their boxing gloves are women - and this is Afghanistan.

A new generation is challenging the usual stereotype of Afghan women as shadowy figures concealed from head to foot behind powder-blue burqas.

And the training is tough.

Occasionally the trainers, who run the national male boxing team as well, sprinkle water onto the floor to damp down the dust flying into the air as the women pace round, then warm up on punch-bags before squaring up in pairs against each other for training bouts.

Reclaiming space

The gym is in the football stadium, notorious in the Taleban years for frequent public executions, including of women.

Women practice boxing
Organisers hope boxing will build self-respect

But in agreeing to come to box these young women are doing more than exorcising the ghosts of a dark period in Afghan history.

The training is sponsored by a peace group who want to give women more self-respect, and reclaim boxing as a sport in a country scarred by conflict - making martial arts constructive and not destructive.

They call it "fighting for peace".

The boxers are in their late teens and these unlikely ambassadors for peace challenge pre-conceptions both about boxing and about women, particularly Afghan women.

Like most of them, Maleeha says she is there for recreation, but in halting English, she does understand the reason behind the project.

She says they are "fighting to end war".


If you get involved in sport then you stay out of war.
Shala

A few want to take the sport further.

Women's boxing is not yet an Olympic sport, but if it becomes one, Shala hopes to be on the team.

She points out that the boxers come from all corners of Afghanistan, not divided by tribal loyalties that have split Afghanistan in the past.

More than just sport

"If you get involved in sport then you stay out of war.

In the past there was war between different peoples in Afghanistan, but a sport like boxing brings people together. It's not fighting. It's a competition."

Between training sessions the boxers sit down and discuss non-violent approaches to conflict resolution.

The NGO backing the project, Co-operation for Peace and Unity, is headed by Kanishka Nawabi.

He says they are teaching women to be confident and regain self-respect in a male-dominated society.

New Photos

So when I went up to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving break I took advantage of the fact that my parents own a bar. I wanted to use other surroundings for my women in war photos. The whole experience was pretty funny and kind of difficult. For one the lighting is horrible in this bar, there is like one window in the whole place and it is not where near the actual bar. The other thing was that even though I did most of my shooting early, some of the few customers that were there were kind of irritable about me disrupting their usual groove. But it was pretty amusing when people were walking through the door while I had my face covered in army paint and a helmet on. People kind of jumped when they came through the door. It is really difficult involving the public in this. I am going to continue using other areas, but I'm not sure how well incorporating the public is going to work out right now. This section of my project is definitely ongoing. I hope that by the end of Sr. Portfolio next semester I will have come up with some nice shots using the public and muster up more courage.

Up in P.A.

SO right now I am in PA. My parents own a bar up here and i am going to do some of my project up here. I want to take pictures of myself in army camouflage and a army helmet with womanly or girly clothes on, while sitting at the bar, or at a table. The idea is that women are constantly stereotyped. They are boxed into one stereotype, just to find themselves suck in another. I will wear the camouflage like a scar.

Progress?

Another article I saw in the paper spoke about the life of a woman of 92 who served her country in WWII. She said that women, at the time, believed they were releasing a man from combat." It is also said that not everyone was in favor of women in uniform. A Sounthern congressman asked, :who will then do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself?" This woman (Young) just wondered if she could do anything to help. In 1942 she enrolled in the second class of officers to be trained for the corps. She said they trained in the ways men were trained and the were issued Khaki underpants and bras! (haha) She considered saluting too masculine. After graduating she was sent to train other female soldiers how to set up cooking and baking schools for the troops. But, in 1943, Congress passed a law officially established the Women's Army Corps as part of the Regular Army. They couldn't command men, but it was the first time that women, other than nurses, were allowed to serve with the regular army.

The progress is inspiring, but irritating at the same time. While we should not have had to overcome these obstacles, at least they were overcome. Although, women are still not placed in direct combat units, or "the front line."

85th American Soldierwoman to die since the 2003 Iraq invasion

I was reading in the paper that a female soldier died in a roadside bomb attack on her patrol south of Baghdad on Thursday, and she marked the 85th Soldierwoman to die thus far. The article also said that women are "technically" not assigned to offensive combat missions in Iraq, but that they often participate in raids, patrols and other active duty in the variety of roles (flying, dealing with Iraqi Women). It also states that women have seen more combat during th Iraq war than in any previous U.S. engagement and that their causes of death are largely the same as those of male counterparts.

using text more

So, I really enjoyed using text in my one performace project and have been thinking about using text as camouflague on myself. For instance, how I use the military camouflauge on my face, the words will be used as the camoflauge. The words will obviously relate. Words like "Killer" which i used on myself in a previous project. Other words would be anything from, "mother," to "degradation," to "Femininity" and "Masclinity." I am always thinking of ways to incorporate text into my images, and this seems like a less superficial way to do so.

While continuing to work on this project I have found that I am becoming increasingly closer to my subject matter. After beginning this and talking to people about it I have found that others (specifically females) are very into my subject matter of women as aggressors (and in the military). Whether they are supportive or opposed to my ideas, it is definately something that gets people talking. I think for myself it is because it deals with the overall feeling that i have as a woman... always being compared to men and still feeling that men are considered overall superior. It is interesting how into the conversations women can get on the subject, like in class when everyone knew what the show "Snapped" was and the overall sound of excitement in peoples' voices. Therefore, I am definately taking into consideration having others in my photos, like the idea of going to a public place. I want to see how women will react. Although, I have to admit that I am kind of scared to put myself out there, but when I do it it will be a learning experience. I believe I am scared because not only will people most likely associate me with maybe something negative, but maybe because I am beginning to associate myself in this way. I am trying to understand the idea of being and woman and being violent, doing what has to be done, maybe killing someone, and it doesn't feel that far off.... (not that I am looking for someone to hurt, just that if I had to I think I could) its funny that i even feel compelled to write that little disclaimer.

10 Violent Women

The Picture in the top right corner of the blog of the "10 violent women" is one of the first images that came up when I typed in violent women on Google.... Does it bother you?

the two pictures above deals with the "hum..." post. I find it so interesting how two pictures of women holding a gun can be so unbelieveably different. I think if a women even took any piece of clothing off and held a gun it would be considered sexy (it wouldn't have to be to this extreme) and if a man was in just shorts with a gun he could still be about business. Women are so versitile.

hum...

The Army is investigating a group of National Guard women who allegedly posed nude with their M-16 rifles and other military equipment. I guess this is not the wholesome image the armed forces want to portray electing to use more family friendly material as the killing of enemy combatants. The women may face court martial.

I’m placing bets that Willtuck would hit these women like the fist of an angry god. Any takers?

I find myself drawn to this sort of redneck porn for reasons I can’t explain. I’m not a huge fan of guns, but if they’re in the hands of women who look like Jessica Alba I’m suddenly a big supporter of the NRA. Then again, if they look like the women below I become an unabashed gun control advocate. Yeah, I’m really shallow.