this is perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece in the collection of the louvre and no, it is not the mona lisa. it is the virgin of the rocks, 2 versions, multiple copies, and a hidden drawing. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps we just don't understand? the search for answers store to february 10th on d, w. for some it's an expression of face. for others, it's a symbol of systemic oppression. the head scarf may well be the most controversial garment of our time on world to job day activists want to create awareness of the discrimination and prejudice. muslim women face in many places around the world. but while millions feel empowered today by wearing their head scarves proudly in

places like iran and afghan has done empowerment precisely lies in shedding job. and for the women living under authoritarian islamic rule, showing defiance by showing hair can come at a tremendous cost. i'm to cough really kimberly, and this is the day for the woman that i decided i was going to win her job. i think that moment it became a part of my identity. became a part of who i was all to boston, whether he job is often seen as somebody who doesn't have that on the somebody who doesn't have their own agency was governed by what the men and then they said it was something that i discovered and chose we need to create in terms of societies inclusive faces. everyone, people from all kinds of shows that accepted also on the day,

it has been 2 months since russian president vladimir putin assigned a law banning so called propaganda for what the kremlin calls non traditional sexual relations. so how is that changing the lives of targeted l g b t q russians inches up a little. this is primarily anti western rhetoric nikki. the assertion is that the west is imposing certain values on us and that something must be done about that. ah, welcome to the show. freedom of religion is a human right and the ability to practice one's faith without hindrance is an important pillar of democracy. now for many muslim women exercising their religion the way they want comes with great stake mind scrutiny. the 2nd they walk out on the street wearing a headscarf on world her job day activists hope to foster a better understanding of why they choose to wear the garments we want to take a closer look at india, where muslim students have been protesting for the right to wear

a job in their classrooms, the protests and the southern stayed of karnataka last year began after a government ban. india supreme court still needs to decide on the matter, but for many muslim students in the country, it's a matter of personal freedom. rhythm will been, is getting her masters and communication at jammy, emilia islam university in delhi. she started wearing the job about 7 years ago and is one of 3 women in her class who do so. she believes that women across the world, irrespective of their religion, should have the right to choose what they want or don't want to wear. good us as people often stared at her, but that she has gotten used to it. it wasn't something that came to me. oh, cool family. it was something that i discovered and chose, saw at the woman that i decided i was going to read her job. i think that moment it became a part of my identity and became a part of who i was. last year,

the southern state of karnataka saw major protest bought for and against the he job . after 6 students were bought from attending classes for wearing one. officials shut down schools and universities for these because they feel while ends following the controversy, the could not at the high court upheld the ban on his jobs in classes stating that the her job is not essential to islam. later, when the matter reached the supreme court, it delivered a split word act. rhythm often talks about the tensions and cannot go with her friend nailer, who also with the hedge up more to see that the controversy had nothing to do with the who job post c. instead, it was about reach yaki and men wanting to control women's choices, as well as with rising islam of phobia in india. non kyla says she does not think women read the job because the men in their lives forced them to. they do so because of their faith and this is their right. but she ended the i bought against

the forceful imposition of a job. you can obviously, or a lot of the vest in media news media in general, which is always portrayed up a job. the woman as of breast of boston, whether he job is often seen as somebody who doesn't have their own opinions. somebody who doesn't have their own agency and who is governed by what the men in the life says. i did that agrees a job she has while to take legal recourse. if somebody she is told to remove her a job. i know a friend of mine who was refused a job offered the condition for the job. was she after to move her to a job? and unfortunately, she had to leave it. we need to creating through their societies inclusion walk faces, where every one people from all cultures accepted and all identities. an identical mark goes out accepted both nila andrew thus struggle with prejudice every day. whether it is from an individual stare or a national debate. but this struggle has only strengthened their beliefs and the feeling of empowerment. they say that he job has given them. now for some,

the choice to where he job is a symbol of religious freedom. but in iran that he job has become a symbol of oppression. more and more women across the country are choosing not to wear, had scar protests of swept the country since the death of gina masa, meaning after being detained for allegedly wearing her. he job improperly. also been several executions in the wake of those demonstrations. and joining me now from galway in ireland is the iranian feminist activist and researcher of maya aust of our, my are good to see that. how do you feel about countries banning the headscarf? hi. oh though, 1st of all, i mean i'm against banning the for the scarf and so i don't have anything against the men who choose really to wear a job. that's not ok. i mean that's none of my business to decide for them.

but the other part of the story and the other side of it though, should also be seen as you talked about, for example, you're on and you see similar stuff now gone is done as well. so the truth is that there are women who don't choose to her job, it can be by a law that there is imposed on them. it can be by their family or their muslim community that imposes her job on them. so what i'm saying with arguing here is that we should also see and hear this side of the story as well. and we shouldn't label it basically as a, as normal phobia. because there are people like me, i've, i've lived in iran for 25 years. they're half traumas of experience, of political islam, of men being, being basically forced to wear her job and their, their story should be also heard. then you're talking about her job. absolutely, and can you tell us what the headscarf or the job represents to you?

well, to me it says symbol of oppression. but because the experience that i have from her job is that i was forced to wear it since the age of 7. since i was going to school basically. and i know that this story of many of the men, and that's the story because, you know, there are minorities in muslim community. the men educate you people, for example, imagine a trans man or woman that or a 9 non binary person that doesn't fit even this agenda or to side gender. so if they choose, i mean if her job is 4th on all people, it's also kind of an operation for them. so we had this campaign little start that basically was asking a muslim be meant to talk about ex muslim be men and women who have experience with as long talk about basically their experience of islam on her job,

which might not fit many agendas. i might label a phobia, and there were minorities inside the muslim community who were against her job and who were against islam. so, so for them, their experience is much traumatic towards her job and their story is valid and important to be heard. yeah, yeah, definitely. you now live in ireland after living in or you are an island right now . you don't have to wear and the he job. what is not having to wear it mean to you . let's miss freedom and to be honest, i mean one of the reasons i left iran was was that because, i mean it's not only what you should remember about her job is that it's not only a clue. it's not only a piece of code that you, where you are basically you learn from child food that your body and your

body gets sexualized. and as you should cover it from, for example, man from a gates. and that's what you should remember about that that's, that's not a simple quote. it's basically, it has an ideology behind it. it has a religion behind it. it has political meanings that wants to impose that on your body. i mean the basic right that, that you don't have to really choose what you want to where. um, so for me it was, it was a, it was an important freedom to be able to wear. so what i want, because that's basically the basis for many other rights, many other freedoms. and it's, it's a freedom that many women and girls are now claiming in iran too, isn't it? how does it make you feel to see a score is a girls and women taking off their jobs to protest against the oppressive regime? to be honest, that's for me,

the bravest act of resistance i've ever seen. and i couldn't believe that i can one day see this kind of sense in iran because i know how brave they are on how to do operation and how, how i received and why on the operation can be on them. but they still decide to resist it. although they know that they can be cute, like, remember, 4 months ago, 2222 year old woman signed me for not bearing hedge of properly, not even, not really, not going to the standards of this limited public. so they can actually get to for not very good job, what they decide to resist. and you should respect that my us to learn a rating actually joining us from galway, thank you so much. thank you. it's been almost 2 months since russian president vladimir putin signed into law, a ban on so called l g b, t,

propaganda and russia. it prohibits what it considers the promotion of non traditional values. the changes already affected a wide range of books and films with now illegal material. being censored and removed, critic see this as another step and the russian government's fight against western values. should this book be banned? and you, russian law says yes. if it depicts same sex relationships positively introduced a month ago, this law criminalizes the positive portrayal of non hetero normative relationships . in advertising films, books and the media, the new legislation is creating unrest amongst publishers, film, distribute as an authors. this library in moscow has already been told to pull quite a few books from it. shelves was acquitted. there was a flicker on a guitar in our electric catalogue. there are now books with the entry,

borrowing is no longer permitted. what if it's unclear why these particular books were selected? unbelievable. albred's. last december, the duma, the russian parliament voted to toughen it so called gay propaganda law. critics complain that the criteria used to decide whether a certain work breaks the law or too vague. however, the target appears to be clear. it's an attack on what ostensibly western values. that's how the russian human rights activist, ego catch cough sees it inches up and that this is primarily anti western rhetoric . rickies of the assertion is that the west is imposing certain values on us and that something must be done about that was and the chairman at the state duma has some shop words for the west. you know them stop forcing alien values upon us. you've already destroyed your own, who knows where it will end. eloquence loading for catch cough. it's no surprise

that this legislation has been passed during the russian war on ukraine, which wound his justice. you, the timing's obviously not the authorities want to push through their idea that the country is not fighting against ukraine, but against the west as a whole. the u. s. and the you, they're trying to mobilize citizens and to convince them that they are our enemies, gays and lesbians are repeatedly victims of violence in russia. often they are discriminated against by the states. there is, for example, abandon l g b t q symbols a holding public assemblies under the rainbow banner. while same sex relationships as such, were decriminalized in russia back in 1993. critics say that the so called gay propaganda law is stoking homophobia in the country. it's soon immunized. it's uncertain signals and raises the question,

how things develop and this will, these people be sent to penal colonies at some point or even murdered, for whom it would be wise. the activists eagle catch cough doesn't think that things will get to that point, doug, but he is certain that the russian government is hell bent on turning back the clock to soviet times. and here in the studio with me to discuss this new laws, atlanta ton of us, she is with the courts here, an association of germany's russian speaking l g, b, t, q, community and its allies. good to have in the studio with us. so you are from russia, you've lived in germany for some 8 years. you fight for l g. we take you visibility, how does it feel to you to see that the government at home in your home country is trying to make this, your community invisible again? well, of course, for the russian eligibility community, it's another turn of drastic repression. but the thing,

it's not the worst that my government can do to educate people in russia. i mean, they're older to doing much worse things for eligibility to people and not only in ukraine. so those 2 situations are not to compare. but yeah, people are very worried and they're looking to leave the country and even after the 1st and to prevent a lot in 2013, there were many refugees from russia. and then we all know about china, which happened about the same time. and this is the 1st time we started working with the refugees from russia, but nothing prepared us for the amount of work, the number of people who seek help, who want to leave russia, which we are facing right now. yeah, this creates a hostile posture towards the l g b, g q community, doesn't it?

what are the, the real life consequences of this law for the algebra, q community in russia? you know, so last time, after it was 1st introduced in 2013, there has been witnessed a huge increase in i hate crime. ah, there has been a study of by russian. so she says, you'll a just about hate crime in russia, which is difficult to do because there is no such thing as there is no definition of hate crime against clear people in russia. but we've definitely witnessed how the population has become more and more hostile to sad towards the community because it's just, it is the safe impression. it's got the valley from every corner. you hear about the people being something i think something out of the world was something the western enemy has

imposed on the russians the size in cetera, cetera. and yeah, for people who leave in russia and basically here every day and have, don't have like critical thinking skills on. yeah. maybe extra lies whatever was being told. right. so are there any safe spaces left and russia for l g b t q people? some of them, yes. most of the organizations had to leave the country not only due to the anti propaganda law, but also before starting from the 24th february. there has been a menu was restrictions for civil society organizations for any kind of a protest or resistance against government. so many of them, like we've worked with many organizations in the, even in the previous 2 years,

they were threatened with being recognized as an international agents. and so it was already complicated it 2 years ago, and last year and this year and not last year, 20212022. it has become impossible. some of their goods ations were liquidated. legally, like, here are so many of them left the country and opened an angel like some entity legal entity outside the fresh to be able to continue to do some of the operations. they offer a lot of tutors online, but it's not the same as a physical connection with the community. but there are still some who can continue to survive, who continue to provide services even under the threat of being. and now that it's becoming a lot more important, right, this law is not only extremely discriminatory,

it's also very vague. what will the consequences be for russia's cultural landscape and for education of future generations to it's very vague because it's a differentiates between propaganda and demonstration. and propaganda is prohibited among all ages and demonstration is prohibited among my nurse. so basically that demonstration is anything like any the demonstration of affection, for example. and if it's, if it happens outside in the public in there are children, basically it's prohibited and it's illegal. there are very high fines and they are also considering to try to introduce even more restrictive for measures, for example, for for the 2nd time of, of being accused of propaganda. so you might get

a sentence in prison. i bet there has been some discussion about the 2 and a lot of content has been censored already before that. but now it's just becoming even more ridiculous. i mean they can not delete all the content, but they're trying to. but what's the worst thing is? the self censorship because a publishing houses and channels and media, they are so afraid to be associated with people because it's illegal. so they delete the content themselves and many of the articles. so that's the thing for clear people now in case they do, they need together information to apply for an asylum or humanitarian views them. they have to go online and find and save the articles if they are a public person. because i'm in the while there will be nothing to be found here in the russian internet. we don't have much time,

but i do want to ask you about the work you do. and if it has increased since this law was yes, of course, it has increased since the full scale war on the 24th february, because clear people are very much involved in anti war activities in russia. and they didn't want to stay in the country. ah, but for now, so the more we have a lot of requests to help with a vacation in migration to very important job during spanish, a ton of i thank you so much for coming in today. ah. oh, francis is on day 2 of his visit to the democratic republic of the congo, one of africa's most catholic countries, a pontiff lead a huge open air mass in the capital kinshasa, an estimated 1000000 people, turned out to hear his message of peace and forgiveness and recent months, conflict in the east of the d. r. c has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

ah, a day of pure joy at anticipation congolese catholics have long been waiting for this. pope frances, on his way to lead a massive open ass service in their capital kinshasa most of them were not yet alive. the last time the pope came to the city. many people here camp actually outside this airport just to get a good position to see the pope with their own eyes. many told us there were so excited about the paypal visit, the fast since 1985. i was wrong, so happy to come to bob, visit our country, and we hope that visit gun. it can give our vote b. it's in our country because we have some difficulty act up. okay. i understood the message that we should show mercy for each other. that we should reconcile her so that piece can come back to our country to ne, would he got to gauge it, but visit with you there? pulled the pony culture piece. we called for them to put an end to the war in the

east. and i gave her the lester, even though geographically people here are far away from the conflict in the east of the country in their hearts and minds. then yeah, peace and reconciliation of the 2 cornerstones of pope francis trip to the dear sea and later to south sedan. he came to draw attention to pull countries with protracted and neglected crises, and to remind the international community not to ignore them. he also criticized rich countries of exploiting the african continent. newly mom, you know, hands off the democratic republic of the congo. my hands off africa stopped choking africa. it's not a mind to be stripped or to be plundered with coolers. okay. john. these words struck a nerve with the congolese, says this civil society leader. he says the neglect of the international community became particularly visible during the war and ukraine. why you saw the

international community mobilized against the aggression from russia against ukraine. now look how they mobilized against the aggression for a wanda against our country and we're in the same world. same humans saw that the support from the international community is reluctant to absence of means. absence of sanctions to us. this is unfair. he and other catholics hope to hear more a clear messages from the pope. in the coming days. on friday, the pope, a continuous trip to south dawn, west message will also be about peace and reconciliation. to criticize the international community, had grown accustomed to violence in this part of the walls. with this trip, his aim as to highlights another neglected crisis. and farewell for the end of the show you aircraft maker boeing has delivered it's final 747, jumbo jet thousands of current and former. boeing workers attended a ceremony in washington state to bid farewell to the plane that held democratize

air travel. when it 1st took to the skies in $969.00, over $1700.00 of the aircraft were billed over 5 decades, but demand for the fuel hungry jain declined with a rise of more efficient plains of production may have ended. the $747.00 won't be disappearing any time soon. hundreds are still in service. the skies around the world. and that's our time, but to stay in touch, follow our team on twitter at d. w. news, you'll find myself. nicole underscore, florida. thank you so much for spending part of your day with ah, with

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dependent on coal, it's a tough message to sell, global 3000 in 30 minutes on d, w 2, o 3 or not to own. what about a sharing economy instead? a change in thinking is changing the economy to create something new. the economics magazine was made in germany 90 minutes on d w. oh, hello guys. this is the 77 percent. the platform for africa. you repeat issues and share ideas. ah, you know, or this channel, we are not afraid to happen. delicate topic,

africa population is growing fast. and young people clearly have the solution. the future belongs to the 77 percent every weekend on d. w for many of the wood i am lana and see i knew sky i am running for president of the republic of beller road with john dunn dar searches for the truth again. this time, the exiled turkish journalist meets svetlana tihano, sky, exiled leader of the opposition and bella roost. i mean, there you go, because i'm tired and tired, physically untied, morally is too much on my shoulders, but i have to hold this weight because i'm responsible for the future fall country

for the people who are behind the boss. sh gardens of truth starts february 18th on d w. ah, ah, ah, this dw news lie from berlin, mourners gather in memphis, tennessee for the funeral. tiring nichols, vice president pamela harris and reverend al sharpton pay their last respects to the young man whose death at the hands of police officers last month brought excessive force. once again into the national debate, also coming up.