Farida Nekzad kämpft auch in Deutschland für

Medienpolitik
Der lange Weg
zur Freiheit
Farida Nekzad kämpft auch in Deutschland für
Pressefreiheit, Gerechtigkeit und eine
pluralistische Öffentlichkeit
in Afghanistan
M
enschenrechte, Pressefreiheit und Gleichstellung sind keine Selbstverständlichkeit – die afghanische Journalistin
Farida Nekzad hatte die Vision einer pluralistischen Gesellschaft bereits in ihren Kindheitstagen. Heute gehört sie zu den renommiertesten Journalisten ihres Heimat landes. Der Weg dorthin war
riskant und führte über viele Umwege: 2002 aus dem Exil in Pakistan und
einem Studium in Indien zurückgekehrt, leitete sie als Chefredakteurin
zwischen 2004 und 2009 die größte afghanische Nachrichtenagentur
Pajhwok News. Sie engagierte sich in ihrer Position als Chefredakteurin der Wakht News Agency für die Gleichberechtigung der Frau, arbeitete als gewähltes Mitglied und Leiterin bis Juni 2014 in der Media
Commission und schulte junge Journalistinnen. Morddrohungen, eine
versuchte Entführung und der stetige Kampf gegen Korruption sowie
die vorherrschenden gesellschaft lichen Gegebenheiten hielten sie nie davon ab, ihre publizistische Tätigkeit weiterzuverfolgen. Dank der Hamburger Stift ung für politisch Verfolg te verbringt Farida Nekzad nun ein
Jahr in Deutschland. Es sind die ersten Tage in Ruhe und Frieden nach
13 Jahren Angst.
Der Wunsch nach einem Land ohne Terror und Gewalt verstummt
dabei aber nicht.
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PRINT&more 3/2014
PRINT&more sprach mit Farida Nekzad über ihre Sicht der Pressefreiheit und ihre Pläne für die Zukunft.
PRINT&more | Ms. Nekzad, you have been in Germany since June.
How did you experience your first three months here?
FARIDA NEKZAD | When I arrived in Germany I immediately felt the
freedom and safety of this country. For the last 13 years I have never had
the chance to rest and relax. It is a great pleasure to see my daughter
playing. She will go to preschool soon. We don’t need to be afraid of the
Taliban or other attacks anymore.
Despite the threat of radical Islamists, as an investigative journalist
you decided to stay for a long time in Afghanistan. What was the
deciding factor which led you to leave Afghanistan after all?
The main reason was my daughter, she was affected and shocked by the
killing of AFP reporter Sardar Ahmmad and his family; the attack on
the Independent Electoral Commission and my office building.
One day, she asked my husband why Taliban kill children. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night crying, afraid that we will
die because of an attack.
Here in Germany we have the opportunity to learn and experience
something new, to build a better future.
I had a great job. I was a hard working person and well-known in my
country. Due to the political and safety circumstances I had to move to
Pakistan. When the US stabilized the situation in Afghanistan I came
back. However, in the end, I couldn’t continue my life there and left
Kabul on the 15th of July, one day after the election.
I think the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse day by day. I saw
a remote possibility to stabilize the situation in the short term. Will we
see a peaceful country where our children can enjoy their childhood? –
Allah knows.
If you remember the situation before the military intervention in
2001 and the situation after, what are your impressions of that time?
Before 2001 it’s just a dark period of Taliban. No presence of media, no
education for girls, no presence of women. There were only narrowminded and Taliban ideas.
We lost everything and carried my injured father – God Bless him –
to Pakistan. It was not easy for him, he always looked after us by providing us with all the amenities we needed.
Does the withdrawal of the international troops from Afghanistan
actually have any negative influence on the security of the journalists
right now?
For sure, it has – the attention and support
of the troops had improvements not only
for journalists but also for the main
part of our society. Particu larly the
provincial reconstruction teams PRT
which contributed to the reconstruction of schools, mosques, roads,
hospitals, etc. If the international
troops leave Afghanistan, journalists won’t feel secure.
Which perspectives do you see for
free and independent journalism in Afghanistan?
Our situation is not
comparable with the
1990s anymore.
Now adays there
is freedom of the
press after defeating the Taliban
groups. We feel
the support of
the international community
and the local
gover n ment
to inform us about most of the issues, such as progress, reconstruction,
development, crime, traffic, corruption, violence against human rights
specifically dealing with children and women.
Currently in many countries of the world critical journalists are prosecuted. What is your point of view of the development of the freedom
of the press?
As I mentioned before, after defeating the Taliban the media law and constitution were reviewed. Unfortunately, the implementation of the new
regulation failed. Journalists still have problems when covering and
writing about corruption, rape and sexuality, violence and other issues.
Our biggest problem is probably that many of the illegal businesses
still have the support of the government.
Those who try to write about these issues have been killed and nobody follows or investigates their cases. For instance, since the fall of the
Taliban in 2001, 43 reporters and journalists have been killed up until
now. No one has investigated these cases to punish the criminals.
It’s diﬃcult to be a critically reporting journalist in a corrupt, authoritarian system with the threat by Islamist Taliban – it’s even
more diﬃcult to be a woman in this society. So why did you choose
this diﬃcult path for yourself?
First of all, it was my childhood dream, secondly I always wondered,
why women were discriminated in our society. So, I started this job and
wrote much more about human and woman rights.
Afghanistan is a man-dominated country. Therefore I wanted to
protect women’s and children’s rights. However, I am not a feminist.
How is it possible that the patriarch of a family decides to marry
his 13-year-old daughter with a 50-year-old man? I want to build a bridge
between the society and the government by sharing news in order to
find solutions and to inform the international community about what
is going on in Afghanistan.
What are your plans for your stay at the Hamburg Foundation and
do you already have plans for after?
No, I have not made any decision yet because it depends on the
situation in Afghanistan and my daughter’s safety. I
love my country and my profession as a journalist.
And even though, we still have a long way to
go, but I would like to thank president Hamid
Karzai. Hopefully the next president respects
these big achievements and values the freedom of the press in Afghanistan.
Hannes Wiesel
Freier Autor PRINT&more
Farida Nekzad
www.vdz.de
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