Every time I hear that the Taliban have arrested women for reasons such as “not wearing the hijab” or “insubordination,” my heart aches. When I leave the house, the mandatory hijab is not only covering my body but also acting like a chain around my neck and mind. Security is meaningless even at home. The silence of the evening is broken with the thought that “tomorrow might be my turn.”

This nightmare is not personal. It is collective. Hundreds of thousands of women in Afghanistan today are experiencing this anxiety and repression. We are stuck in a trap that gives us no escape route and no courage to endure. But I have to say that this hell was not built by the Taliban alone. It is the direct product of dealmaking by great powers: The U.S., NATO, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia and China. Each have turned our country into a chessboard with their economic and military interests. A chessboard in which women’s lives and freedom are merely a worthless pawn.

This catastrophe is not just the story of Afghanistan. Fascism, regardless of its appearance and language, is an enemy of women’s freedom and equality, whether in the form of religious fundamentalists in Kabul or the new rulers in Washington D.C who use the language of hatred and discrimination to pave the way for violence and inequality. The rise of Trump in the U.S. was a global warning siren and not merely a domestic crisis. When a woman loses her right to control over her own body, the echo of this defeat also reaches Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Syria . . .

The history of women’s struggles has shown that fascism and authoritarianism can only grow when silence and complicity take over. This silence, whether in the form of indifference of nations or conciliationism among rulers is the oxygen that keeps the flames of authoritarianism alive. Women in the U.S., Iran, Palestine, Kurdistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Chile, Spain, South Africa, Afghanistan and many other parts of world have learned through struggle and resistance that emancipation is not a gift from above. Freedom has to come from below, from the heart of the streets, from the voices of women, and from courage and solidarity.

I am still here, in a country that wants to silence me and forget me. But every day, even if no one hears my voice, there is a flame inside me that says “no.” This “no” is not only directed at the Taliban but at any system that marginalizes women whether in the name of religion or under the cover of fake democracy.

Our emancipation is intertwined with taking charge of our own destiny. No foreign power, even with the claim to freedom, will liberate us. Just as fascism has no borders, our struggle also needs to be global, a network of women and men who rise up against domination, inequality and violence in all parts of the world.

I am an Afghan girl but my story is the story of all women who are struggling in today’s world for the right to breathe, make decisions and live. So long as this struggle continues, fascism will not become everlasting.

Azadeh Omid