WATCH: Afghan women flood social media with songs of defiance after Taliban's new morality law

Days after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan introduced a new set of vice and virtue laws that banned the sound of women’s voices singing or reading in public, Afghan women took to social media to express anger over the draconian law. The best way to do so was to sing their hearts out.

Several Afghan women have now launched online protests by uploading videos of themselves singing in defiance of the Taliban’s latest laws. Women from both Afghanistan and abroad challenged these rules by singing about their struggle for freedom.

The videos of the women singing and raising their voices of discontent flooded the social media. Most of the women sang in their burkhas keeping their identities hidden, yet expressing their anger over the matter.

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Raise Your Voice for Freedom Of Women!

—This is the answer of brave Afghan women’s on the Taliban's new laws.

—Afghan women are boldly countering Taliban’s New Draconian law by singing out louder than ever.#MyVoiceIsNotForbiden #WomenRights #UN pic.twitter.com/xszvCV0Rvp

— Jahanzeb Wesa (@JahanzebWesa) August 27, 2024

The songs of defiance

In one video, a woman was seen singing with her face and her body fully covered, lamenting the restrictions imposed by the Taliban. The lyrics of most of these songs referenced the harsh realities faced by Afghan women since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, including bans on education and public speech.

“You placed the stamp of silence on my mouth until further notice,” the woman sang in the viral video. “You will [not] provide me with bread and food until further notice, you’ve imprisoned me inside the house for the crime of being a woman," she added.

Once again, Afghan women are raising their voices to oppose the ban. "You have silenced my voice until further notice, but my voice is not 'Awra,'" sings an Afghan woman. pic.twitter.com/cU7JhSpZ9D

— Zubaida Akbar (@ZubaidaAKBR) August 26, 2024

Afghan women from South Asia and Europe are using their voices to resist the Taliban’s oppressive regime. In another clip, a woman who left Afghanistan for Germany after the Taliban returned to Afghanistan, sang about the role of women in shaping the country’s history.

“If I don’t exist, who are you? Where are the true men among you? Without Ameneh and Rudabeh, where would Mohammad, Rostam, and Sohrab be?” she sang, referring to the mothers of the Prophet of Islam and other famous male figures from Persian literature.

The draconian law

On Wednesday, the Taliban issued the country’s first vice and virtue restrictions, requiring a woman to conceal her face, body and voice outside the home. This meant that women could not sing or recite the Quran in public, and their clothing must not be thin, tight, or short.

The law also forbade women to speak loudly inside their homes in case their voices were heard outside. Earlier this week, Volker Turk, the United Nations human rights chief, called on the Taliban to immediately repeal the “egregious” laws. The UN official insisted that the law is attempting to turn women into shadows.

Afghan Women Voices 🇦🇫

—Afghan women have joined the protests rallying behind the phrase "My voice is not private."

—They sing as a powerful act of defiance using their voices as a symbol of resistance against the oppressive rule of the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/gTB88LEo9B

— Jahanzeb Wesa (@JahanzebWesa) August 28, 2024

Meanwhile, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN’s Afghanistan mission, said the restrictions indicated a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future.

With input from agencies.