The other day I went by Malalay High School, a public high school for girls in Kabul supported by the French Government. It turns out that Malalay was a young woman hero of the Anglo-Afghan Wars who, according to a website on the war, saved the day against the British Army at the Battle of Maiwand in 1880. Malalai was there to help tend to the wounded and provide water and spare weapons. Eventually there came a point in the battle where the Afghan army, despite their superior numbers, started to lose morale and the tide seemed to be turning in favour of the British. Seeing this, Malalai took off her veil and shouted out:
"Young love! If you do not fall in the battle of Maiwand, By God, someone is saving you as a symbol of shame!" |
This gave many of the Afghan fighters and ghazis a new resolve and they redoubled their efforts. At that moment one of the leading flag-bearers fell from a British bullet, and Malalai went forward and held up the flag (some versions say she made a flag out of her veil), singing a landai:
"With a drop of my sweetheart's blood, Shed in defense of the Motherland, Will I put a beauty spot on my forehead, Such as would put to shame the rose in the garden," |
Malalai was, I guess, the Barbara Fritchie of Afghanistan.
But what a perfect choice of school for the French to support! Not only does Marianne associate herself with an authentic woman hero, but she also gets to knock the British... ever so gently. Vive les droits de la femme! Vive la France!
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