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Svetlana's inner tumult is relatable to all women. I pray that she finds courage and does not disappoint supporters who have faith in her.
Svetlana’s inner tumult is relatable to all women. I pray that she finds courage and does not disappoint supporters who have faith in her.
“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great. Some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them”
This Shakespeare quote. I find very apt for this unassuming young mother of two, who by her own admission would prefer frying cutlets in her kitchen than addressing political rallies. Dismissed by her seasoned political detractor as ‘a little girl who does not know what she is doing’, she is slowly stirring up a storm in a teacup.
Belarus, an obscure landlocked country in Europe, a breakaway faction of erstwhile USSR , is making it to the international news page section of my newspaper thanks to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, an ex-teacher turned novice politician who has been garnering strong support from feminists and countries alike.
The country’s president Alexander Lukashenko has been ruling the country for over 26 years with not so covert help from his friend in need Vladimir Putin. He has now been sworn in again in a clandestine ceremony notwithstanding serious allegations of rigged elections. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s husband, a youtube activist and pro democratic citizen clearly gauged the country’s turmoil, its growing dissatisfaction and fomenting dissidence against the ruling President.
However his candidature was rejected and he was arrested. With no other serious contenders Svetlana stepped in and became the poster girl for change in a country which in Lukashenko’s words “does not want a Woman President.”
Svetlana’s inner tumult is relatable to all women. She had to send her children to safety, face threats, galvanise support and be strong in the face of a ruthless regime. Her contradictory statements also reveal the bedlam in her heart and mind. She confesses she will step aside after her mission is fulfilled; her mission being dethroning dictatorship, freeing political prisoners and holding free fair elections. I hope that this diminutive, well meaning, sincere woman who is now in exile will find the courage to quell her fears and demons.
I pray that she finds courage from the stories in history of other women leaders and does not disappoint supporters who have reposed faith in her. There are many young girls worldwide who are encouraged by her rightful rebelliousness and are waiting for her to put to shame Lukashenko’s misogynistic statement that Belarusian society has not yet matured enough to vote for a woman.
Picture Credits: Still of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya from a EuroNews video
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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