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WOMEN’S STRENGHT
Laura Punzo
Two faces, two stories, two fighters who have faced head-on the difficulties imposed by their
condition. Two aspects: the escape and the prison. THEY are the example of the contradictions that
strike on the international scene: the sad reality of the daily struggles of women all over the world
on one side and the agenda "feminine" of international politics on the other. This situation has
prompted our staff to ask two women, two journalists, Loredana Cornero and Lucia Goracci, to
enlighten us on what is not said, a bit to "laziness" and some for "fear."
Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan student became famous at the age of 13 years for the blog, written for
the BBC, which documented the condition of women during the Taliban regime. On 9 October
2012 she was seriously wounded to the head and neck because she is considered the symbol of the
infidels and obscenity by the Taliban. Rescued at the hospital in Peshawar, she was transferred to
the hospital in London for the risk of a new attack.
Nasrin Sotoudeh (born 1963), Iranian lawyer and defender of opposition activists but also of young
people sentenced to death, women and political prisoners. Nasrin Sotoudeh is the winner of the
2012 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, established in 1988, despite being held in Evin prison
since 2010 on charges of propaganda against the system and conspiracy to undermine the security
of the State.
WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING?
Lucia Goracci
Two events can accelerate history enough to suddenly turn the daylight into a dark long night,
which can then come back shining. They are wars and revolutions and the Arab world has
experienced both in 2011 and their backlash has not yet stopped. The awakening of the Arab
population, that we are used to call springs, has deeply transformed the political and social
landscape we had been used to. Many analyses have been produced on the issue of the role media
had in these events. Generally, communication plays a key role in wars and revolutions and today
the internet supports the revolutions at various levels, as it provides for alternative information and
unmasks regimes’ falsehoods. But a citizen journalist is always a partisan fighting for a cause he
thinks is the right one. So the informative distortion these sources rely on presents many risks.
The first social networks spurring the Arab Spring were families, universities, editors and squares
where women were in a large number. Nevertheless, this number dramatically reduced, when
reconstruction started in countries where protests had been stronger. It was on that moment Arab
revolutions had to become gender revolution.
Translation: Laura Punzo
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