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BY MAKHFI AZIZI | Since their takeover, the Taliban have announced that women cannot work in high-ranking posts in the new government; women civil servants have been ordered to stay home until further notice; and co-education has been banned in public and private universities, among other policy changes. 

But despite the fluid and uncertain situation and at grave risks to their lives, Afghan women have held protests and marches for several days starting in Herat and Kabul, and extending to Mazar-e-Sharif in the north. Without women’s meaningful participation, they say, the government cannot function.

BY JANELL HOBSON | Award-winning Haitian-American/Canadian writer and scholar Myriam Chancy’s newest novel, “What Storm, What Thunder,” commemorates the devastating January 12, 2010, earthquake that struck Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, killing 250,000. The book has taken on new relevancy with the recent August 14 earthquake on the island.

Chancy discusses her new novel, the fate of her birth island, and why more people need to listen to Haiti’s women.