Out of many cases, here are a few that merit your support

* Afghanistan, where 19m of them are imprisoned at home or under dark robes by uneducated & violent talibans

* Iran, where Mahsa AMINI & thousands of women aged 11 to 72 have been killed, tortured, violated since 1979, especially since 2022 & the Movement ‘Woman, Life, Freedom

‘* Nigeria, where Boko Haram has attacked, killed, detained or violated hundreds of yound women in schools, simply because they were studying…

* Mali, the only French speaking country in Africa, where 89% of girls and women are being excised every day & wgere the law has still not forbidden it…

Focus : Violence against women and girls in Afghanistan, 2021-2026

Thousands of young girls, female teenagers, female students and women are being beaten, scared, outraged or killed since August 2021, when the Taliban regime went back to Kabul. Here are 2 of the articles I used to write this article

• Courrier International, CI N°1868, du 20 au 26/8/2026, page 22 ‘Afghanistan. Cinq ans de féminicides étouffés’
• Theguardian.org, 7th August 2026 :  www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/aug/07/afghanistan-women-taliban-violence-battered-beaten

Violence against women in Afghanistan has escalated significantly since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, because of Trump & Biden abandoning the Afghan population & taking away the last American troops in the country.

This is a significant setback for democracy, following 11th September 2001 terrorist attacks (19 Saudi terrorists hijacking 4 civil planes) vs the Twin Towers, New York (American Trade Center 110-storey towers fell within hours), Pentagon & Flight 93, crashed in Shanksville, Pa, killing more than 3,000 in the USA and the throwing out of the Talibans in 2001 by the US. Coalition and troops, including Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Japan and other allies and a 20-year experience (2001-2021) of democracy, education, music and NGOs permitting the Afghani population to open up to the world and educate millions.

Back to Dark Ages

This Taliban institutionalized violence against women is characterized by widespread femicide, targeted assassinations of activists, and a culture of impunity. 

Documented Femicide and Domestic Violence 

An investigation by Zan Times journalists documented 231 violent deaths of women and girls across 10 provinces in the first few years of Taliban rule, with many more cases likely unreported.  Key findings include:

• 53 cases were officially recorded as ‘suicides’ despite evidence of violence and murder, a designation that typically ensures no accountability for perpetrators. 
• 165 victims (71%), aged 6 to 65, were homemakers with no independent income, highlighting the vulnerability of women lacking economic power. Indeed, any girl aged 6 may be forced to marry husbands aged 50 to 70. Worse, over 4m young girls and female students have been thrown out of schools, forbidden to learn or study since August 2021.
• Arrests were made in only 58 cases, and many suspects were released immediately or within 24 hours, reinforcing a system of impunity. 
• High-profile cases include the murders of Liza Shams and Freshta Imadi, where medical evidence of beatings and huge violence was ignored in favor of suicide or poisoning narratives. 

Targeted Killings of Women and Activists 

Beyond domestic violence, women in public roles face lethal threats:

• Frozan Safi, a women’s rights activist and lecturer, was shot dead in Mazar-i-Sharif in November 2021, becoming one of the first known female rights defenders killed after the takeover. 
• Mursal Nabizada, a former Member of Parliament, was assassinated in her home in Kabul in January 2023; she was one of the few female lawmakers who remained in the country. 
• Lailuma, a women’s entrepreneur and activist in Badakhshan, was shot dead in May 2026, an event that terrified other women working in small businesses. 
• The Centre of Information Resilience’s Afghan Witness project recorded over 300 reported cases of femicide and identified Taliban officials as responsible for more than half of reported gender-based violence incidents. 

Systemic Erasure and Broader Context 

The violence is part of a broader campaign to erase women presence and rights from public life:

• The attorney general’s office, which previously collated data on violence against women, was abolished in 2023. Public data are then no more accessible. As if women had no importance at all, ie 50% of Afghan population ignored. 
• Women face restrictions on clothing, movement, education, health access and work, where many are forced into hiding or facing harassment from both state actors and private individuals. No woman is anymore authorised to go to court, be that mothers or grandmothers for their daughters or grand-daughters assassinated.
• Incidents such as the 2022 suicide bombing at a learning center in Kabul, which killed 53, mostly female Hazara students, illustrate the lethal risks facing women attempting to access education. 

François P. VALLET, former Oxford student, ESCP Europe

Cet article Violence against women in Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Mali and other countries est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.

On June 5th, the last 3 verses of Verlaine are pronounced to announce the imminent Overtlord operation on 6th of June, 1944, the famous D-Day. And these last 3 verses are « Les sanglots longs des violons de l’automne .. blessent mon cœur d’une langueur monotone » = 

Over 132,000 Allied soldiers will courageously land on the beaches of Normandy served by the most powerful war fleet ever seen and 15,000 airfighters, who will protect the troops and especially the gliders depositing the paratroopers behind the German lines. Over 17,200 of them will die on D-Day as well as 87 French Resistance fighters prisoners of Caen prison, who will be executed by the local Gestapo chief. This major D-Day where British troops will on a very Gentleman-way let the 177 French members of the Kieffer Commando land first on French beaches will lead to capitulation of Nazi Germany and Hitler’s death. Kieffer 177 commandos will get 7 killed and 60 injured on D-Day and will take over Ouistreham, with the British troops. They will keep fighting until the end of the war.

Paul VERLAINE (1844-1896) is one of the greatest French poets of 19th century. Very early, onlu aged 22, in 1866, he writes the ‘Saturnian Poems’, before he meets Arthur Rimbaud in September 1871. Rimbaud will ruin his marriage with Mathilde, with whom he has a child. Their very tumultuous relationship will last from 1871 to 1873.

In March 1875, Verlaine decides to settle in London, where he will teach Greek, Latin, French and drawing. He spends his holidays with his mother in France. He will also meet in London Germain Nouveau, a former friend of Rimbaud, and he will teach in several British cities until June 1877, before coming back to France. Paul Verlaine will thereafter publish several books and sets of poetry as well as some novels (Complete works in Gallimard’s La Pleïade’), but he will also have a strong influence on late 19th century French poetry, and among others on famous Guillaume Apollinaire.

Automn Song

by Paul Verlaine

The long sobs
Of Automn violins
Do hurt my heart
With monotonous
Languor

All suffocating
And pale
When the hour strikes

I do remember
The Ancient days
And I deeply cry
And I walk along
The bad winds

That take me

This way or that way
Where the wind leads me
Like the dead leaf

Out of ‘Poèmes saturniens’ 1866

You will note the originality and soupleness of the French version, assembled and poetic verses of six lines.

We are here nearing The Japanese Haïku, with a number of Verlaine innovations, which will be followed by other French speaking poets.

Please be kind to share with us some of your 6th June, 1944 personal or family memories and of D-Day in Normandy. This OVERLORD operation will change the face of the world and will be decisive towards a victory conclusion of World War II for the Allies. We are looking for complementary documents on the 177 members of the Kieffer commando and their training in Scotland, so as to further share on these incredibly motivated men, who wanted France back to democracy and to freedom. Tribute and honor be given to them and to the British commanders who left them the honour to be landing first in Normandy, with the British commandos following in the next minutes. 

French troops and De Gaulle have been welcomed and equipped by the British government and forces during World War II. We will never forget it.

François P. VALLET, ESCP EUROPE

Cet article POETRY chosen for French resistance fighters of World War II est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.