Riz Ahmed lauds two Pakistanis advocating for women's rights

The actor says he feels inspired by Gulalai Ismail and Hadiqa Bashir and their never-ending struggle

British-Pakistani artist Riz Ahmed is making waves! The singer-cum-actor recently joined British Vogue as a Contributing Editor for its August issue. The Night Of star, herein, talked about life in quarantine and moving forward. Ahmed has also been very vocal about social issues in his writings, many of which, he says, are inspired by the noise made around him. There are activists that inspire him.

“Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, the educator and award-winning spoken word poet, who consistently blows my mind with her work and her activism," the Venom actor shared with the publication. "Jumoke Abdullahi and Kym Oliver, who are doing amazing work reframing disability with their group the Triple Cripples. Femi Nylander and the team behind the Rhodes Must Fall campaign to remove Rhodes’s statue at Oxford University. Ayesha Siddiqa, who mobilised 300,000 in a climate change march with her Re-Earth Initiative and Polluters Out. Hassan Akkad and Waad Al-Kataeb, who, as Syrian refugees, have both (separately) used film and TV to tell their stories, sweep the BAFTA awards and change government policy.”

He added, “I [also] love the film posters by the Legally Black collective and two young women working for women’s rights in Pakistan, Gulalai Ismail and Hadiqa Bashir.”

Ahmed’s stance on diversity in Hollywood is quite prominent and firm. However, he says that the difference should start from ground level. “The issues in the industry are just a highly visible reflection of the imbalances in our society at large and so, in order to address them, we need interventions at every level, from supporting young people in broadening their horizons and accessing a range of opportunities, all the way through to challenging agencies, studios, and distributors to question the biases they are compounding and take measurable action.”

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