About The Song
I was inspired to write the lyric after hearing Iranian authorities threatened to burn Nika Shahkarami’s mother, and she replied, “You can’t burn women made of fire”.
In a time when social media, anti-social media a more apt name, dominates, and people are more concerned with the vapid lives of celebrities, and influencers, than real world problems. The suffering of millions of people in Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, and so many other countries is forgotten as soon as the news cycle moves on.
Where people are starving, abused, beaten, tortured, raped and murdered for no other reason than their faith, beliefs, race, or sex. One mother’s courage and the thousands of girls and women risking their lives to be free of the shackles imposed by frightened old men and their brutal enforcers should be an example to all of us.
“You Can’t Burn A Woman” started out as a poem, then evolved into a song co-written with John Roby.
It’s an anthem and a call to arms to rise up against the weaponization of religion by extremists, be they Muslim, Christian or any other, who distort and deprave their religion in order to attain power, control and wealth.
Lyric
Dedicated to Malala Yousafzai ملاله یوسفزۍ and to the memory of: Nika Shakarami نیکا شاکرمی Mahsa Amini مهسا امینی and the many other women and girls who have fought and died for their freedom to be. drowning in sadness drowning in anger facing the darkness facing the danger i won’t be broken i won’t be silenced i won’t be defeated by force or by violence you may beat us you may mistreat us you may try to delete us But you can’t stop the movement you can’t kill desire you can’t burn a woman no you can’t burn a woman you can’t burn a woman who’s made of fire we are the mothers we are the daughters we are the sisters we are the wives standing for freedom standing for justice saving our futures saving our lives you may beat us you may mistreat us you may try to delete us But you can’t stop the movement you can’t kill desire you can’t burn a woman no you can’t burn a woman you can’t burn a woman who’s made of fire you may kill her dreams and the silent prayer you may burn her home and cover her hair you may beat us you may mistreat us you may try to delete us But you can’t stop the movement you can’t kill desire you can’t burn a woman no you can’t burn a woman you can’t burn a woman who’s made of fire
Quote
“When donald trump and his sycophants were elected, I thought I could be upset and rant on social media, which would do absolutely nothing. Or, I could create beauty as an antidote to their ugliness. To that end I created music, lyrics, poems, and books. “You Can’t Burn A Woman” is the most recent creation”
Malala – Mhasa – Nika
Malala Yousafzai, (born July 12, 1997, Mingora, Swat valley, Pakistan), Pakistani activist who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the prohibition on the education of girls that was imposed by the Pakistan Taliban.
As Yousafzai became more recognized, the dangers facing her increased. Death threats against her were published in newspapers and slipped under her door she began to receive threats.Eventually, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman said they were “forced” to act. In a meeting held in the summer of 2012, Taliban leaders unanimously agreed to kill her.
On 9 October 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai as she rode home on a bus after taking an exam in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Yousafzai was 15 years old at the time. According to reports, a masked gunman shouted: “Which one of you is Malala? Upon being identified, Yousafzai was shot with one bullet, Two other girls were also wounded in the shooting: Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan,both of whom were stable enough following the shooting to speak to reporters and provide details of the attack.
22-year-old, Mahsa Amini, died in custody after she was detained last month by morality police in Iran’s capital, Tehran, for allegedly failing to fully cover her hair and defying the country’s strict dress codes.
The official IRNA news agency quoted the coroner’s office saying examinations found that Mahsa Amini died of cerebral hypoxia — in which oxygen supply to the brain decreases. It said she suffered multiple organ failure but “her death was not led by blunt force trauma to the head, organs and vital parts of the body.”
The family has said Mahsa Amini’s corpse showed clear signs of being bruised and beaten while in police custody.
16-year-old, Nika Shahkarami, went missing hours after being filmed standing on an overturned bin, waving a burning headscarf and chanting “Death to the dictator” along with crowds of protestors. Over a week later, her family learned she was dead. Again, Iranian authorities denied responsibility over her death, claiming they found her body at the back of courtyard after she had fallen from a building.
Shakarami’s aunt claimed in an interview that Shakarami’s nose had been completely destroyed and that her skull had been “broken and disintegrated from multiple blows of a hard object”
Her mother, Nasrin, said she believes her daughter was killed at the protests. Members of her family were forced into making confessions to the Iranian media corroborating the authorities’ story. Her mother refused then after authorities threatened to burn her, she said the line, that has now become somewhat of a slogan for the protests, “You can’t burn women made of fire”.
Bios
Keith Whiting (lyric/producer)
Rehearsing
Contact
For more information contact Keith Whiting
Ph: 416 658 7070
email: keithwhiting2020@gmail.com
