Maryam Aliyeva and her "Mountain Girl Diaries": why the blogger from Dagestan is idolized and hated

The blog of the activist from Dagestan Maryam Alieva "Diary of a Mountain woman" is human rights and educational, but despite this, it is systematically banned. Too many users are unhappy with what this smiling girl is doing, so complaints about her accounts are received daily. Nevertheless, the blog comes to life again and, to spite its detractors, gets more and more subscribers. Today, it is read by more than 360 thousand people from dozens of countries around the world.

Maryam started her blogging career as a local historian. She told about the peoples living in her native Dagestan, about their history, told about life and customs. It would seem that it was a completely harmless hobby, but even then there were people who were dissatisfied with it.

They believed that a Dagestani woman should not report anything that casts a shadow on her fellow countrymen, and Alieva touched on such topics. The blogger wrote about women's ritual tattoos, circumcision, which is still done to some girls, about forcibly married girls. All this, according to a number of users, "spoiled the image of Dagestan" and exposed some of its residents not in the most favorable light.

Later, Maryam Aliyeva published the book "Don't be Silent". After that, the dissatisfied murmurs of the opponents turned into shouts and threats. In her work, the material for which was collected for more than one year, the blogger spoke about women who became objects of sexual violence in childhood and adolescence. Often the relatives of the victims were guilty of this.

The book is a collection of monologues of women who tell sad, and sometimes terrible stories of their lives. The book's theme — "It is not the victim who is to blame, but the rapist" - contradicted the position that has been ingrained in Dagestani society for centuries. Each chapter of the book" Don't be Silent " provoked a violent reaction from Maryam's fellow countrymen. They asked, " What was the victim wearing? "and categorically stated,"it's a lie, we don't have it."

After the publication of the book, Maryam began to be written by women who had been abused by their husbands or relatives. Some wanted to know what to do to protect themselves, others asked for advice on how to escape, and others just needed to talk and get support.

Over time, the girl collected material for the second book - "Don't listen". In it, Maryam analyzed the stories of people in whose families the main tool of education was physical violence and humiliation. The release of the new book significantly increased the audience of readers of the "Diaries of the Mountain Woman", but it also doubled the army of haters, who became especially aggressive.

For hundreds of women, teenagers, and even children, Maryam was a ray of hope. The girl quickly realized this.

So the girl came to understand that now she is responsible for those who hope for her and wait for help. That is why in 2020 there was a "Marem" - a group of emergency assistance to women. It included activists, journalists, human rights defenders, psychologists and lawyers, and the name of this association became the name of Marem Aliyeva. This is a girl from Ingushetia who went missing in 2015.

The work of the human rights group in Dagestan has its own peculiarities, because it is necessary to take into account not only legal issues, but also the nuances of Islamic law, as well as the complex ancient customs of the peoples inhabiting the land of Dagestan. The blog "Diary of a Mountain Woman", which at that time was subscribed to by more than 150 thousand people, Maryam and her friends sometimes used it as a platform for ads. There were situations when the case required immediate publicity, and there was no better option.

Sometimes the work of "Marem" gave an immediate result. Thanks to her, a pedophile was detained in Kizilyurt. Maryam Aliyeva and her assistants created such a powerful public response that it was impossible to ignore the actions of the criminal.

Another result of the work of Alieva and her friends is to raise money for the treatment of the Chechen girl Milana. Since the publication of the appeal for help, only a day has passed and the amount of 2 million rubles necessary for treatment has been collected. Maryam says that requests for help come to her in Yandex. direct daily. Sometimes it's one or two messages, and sometimes it's as many as thirty!

The group "Marem" and the blog "Diaries of a Mountain woman" cause rage among those who consider themselves champions of traditions. Alieva claims that such people consider her activities destructive and dangerous, as through the group and the blog, victims receive information about their secular and Islamic rights and learn to resist violence.

Unfortunately, moderators of social networks often become unwitting assistants of scoundrels. They block the pages belonging to "Marem" and the blog of Alieva, responding to the flow of complaints from users. Maryam said that the attacks are organized. The people who organized them spared no effort, no connections, no money.

Every time Maryam Aliyeva starts a new page instead of the blocked one, she quickly gains subscribers and soon the blog is fully functioning. But the need to constantly distract from important things to restore information in accounts and blogs upsets activists. They could spend this time helping people and possibly saving someone's life.

"That's what she needs!", "she thinks too much about herself", " denigrates Islam!", "these femok should be driven away", " denigrates Dagestan!"," the smartest, or what?", "all the dirt is looking for and inflates, you might think there is no such thing in Russia" - such comments under the posts of "Diary of a Mountain woman" eloquently describe the people to whom Maryam and her like-minded people crossed the road.

An anonymous blogger with the nickname @tut. uganda, who supports Alieva, in one of the posts described what the phrase "she takes on a lot"means. This involves exposing a pedophile, denouncing a drug addict who sold child pornography, bringing to court the case of a blackmailer who threatened women with sex scandals. In fact, Maryam has taken on a lot and is ready to take on even more.