Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, belongs to the breed of courageous reporters – many of them women – who travel to some of the most dangerous countries in the world to see for themselves exactly what is going on there. They send back honest reports about what they have seen and heard from ordinary people rather than politicians and religious fanatics with their weaselly words or military commanders proudly showing off their deadly toys. Time and again, Sala shows how brave individuals of her young generation have stood up against these different regimes’ attempt to crush their spirit.
The Fire consists of her extensive reports from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran from many trips made in recent years, first published in Italy and here fluently translated by Oonagh Stransky. Just how risky her profession is can be seen from the fact that when visiting Iran at the end of 2024 she was imprisoned for several weeks for “violation of the Islamic Republic’s laws” and only released thanks to a prisoner swap with an Iranian held in Italy.
The Architecture of Invisibility
The section of the book devoted to Afghanistan is entitled Ghosts, as the Taliban are implementing what Sala calls “a system where girls are considered ghosts.” She travelled there in 2021, during the early days of Taliban rule following the withdrawal of American and other Western troops. Most of the people she interviewed were young women, seeking strategies to ensure that twenty years of a more open, democratic society were not entirely erased by the new regime. People like Zarifa Ghafari, the youngest local mayor in the country, determined to promote education for girls, with the argument that “One year of educated girls will save ten generations of Afghans”. Sala’s optimistic conclusion is that: “It would be a huge miscalculation to consider twenty years of life without the Taliban as pointless or a waste. A large segment of Afghanistan will never go back or give up; people will not conform to the regime, except in minimal and performative ways.”
The Exhausting Normality of War
A similar desire to see for herself how people not only cope with war but try to resist took Sala to Ukraine four times soon after the Russian invasion in 2022. What most strikes her here is what someone tells her: “the war started long before you realized it”– in fact, back at least to 2013-14 with the Russian annexation of Crimea and fighting in the Donbas region. Again, Sala excels at bringing out the complexities of a situation often reduced to brief news reports on TV or radio. She talks mainly to young people trying to lead as normal lives as possible in the midst of war, but perhaps the most poignant interview is with Vladimir, a former Soviet commander man in his nineties, trapped in his apartment in the northern city of Chernihiv for more than a month.
Vladimir tells her that he fought the “real Nazis” in the Second World War, and now protests: “Aren’t they aware of the absurdity of it all? Doesn’t the Kremlin know that we are all Slavs, that millions of Ukrainians live in Russia, and vice versa?”Journalists like Sala like to claim they are writing the “first version of history.” They have been to the epicentre of conflicts and brought back truthful accounts of what they saw. Unfortunately, history moves on at breakneck speed, making what they have written quickly seem out of date. What has happened in Iran in the past few months is a supreme example of this, framing Sala’s reports as snapshots from a bygone era.
Women’s Rights Weaponised
Her reports from Iran in The Fire takes us back to 2022-23, when there were mass protests over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, after being taken into custody for not wearing a hijab. She again reveals the many different ways individuals succeed in resisting the repressive regime, even if it is only growing grapes in a garden to get round the law banning alcohol. In so doing, she captures the kaleidoscope of life in the country: who knew for example that Tehran was famous for its party scene? Or that there could be a female gay kick-boxing champion like Nabila, who actually supports the ayatollahs’ regime?
Sometimes, Sala’s attempts to fill in the background history of the three countries can detract from the vivid depiction of these extraordinary/ordinary individuals. The situation in all the three countries Sala reports from has only grown worse since she wrote The Fire. Despite this, the many brave initiatives she describes, the courage and ingenuity of the young generations suggest they will not allow their hopes to be crushed forever, whatever the odds against them.
Reviewed by Nick Caistor for BookBlast®
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