Candle Lighting: A Symbol of Nonviolence Against Darkness and Injustice

In my earlier blog post, I alluded to candle lighting, but I did not elaborate on it. The candle lighting is important specially at the night of 40th anniversary of those 80 (or more) people who lost their lives and more than 250 wounded on July 23, 2016. In this post, I'm going to call your attention to some of its important aspects of lighting candles. I will explain why it is symbolically significant for Hazaras - and maybe others who sympathize with the cause - to simultaneously light candles in order to commemorate the lost ones' memories, while reemphasizing on their nonviolent movement against unjust and discriminatory policy of the central government.

Symbolically, candle lighting is intrinsic to the quality of life, the very matter that the movement has based upon. It directly relates with the nature of our demands, and with our struggle against an autocratic management, which does not only listen to its citizens, but tacitly allows terrorists to kill our nonviolent protestors.

At the night of 40th anniversary of those who perished in fight for their basic rights, and those who wished to bring changes in their country, let's light candles and remember them and their memories. With lighting candles, let the perpetrators and criminals, and those who blamed the victims understand that they perished our brothers and sisters, but their wishes and wills will not vanish from our hearts and minds and we will stand firm and steadfast in their/our ways and struggles together.

Candle lighting is a powerful tool to fight the evil, the inner heart of the devil that is doomed to darkness. With candle lighting, we all go to war against evil, which Afghan government is a perfect archetype of all malevolences and hostilities against its citizens. It is evil because its policy is against general good, against peace and prosperity; and its evil because it benefits at the cost of its citizens. Let's all stand up against evildoers and devils until they fear us and flea from us. At this point, we can light candles and burn their darken heart in order conquer them.

Let's all rise against injustice, and raise our voice against systematic discriminations, and with such a simply symbolic, yet powerful gesture, we send a powerful message to the evildoers that a sapling that is planted in the garden of our struggle for justice has watered with our blood shall never die.

Learning From Other Nonviolent Movements

Now, it is clear that we are battling with a government that is facing a crisis of legitimacy, that its leadership has lost its ethical credibility due to persistent lies and deceptions. What the Enlightenment Movement, at this point, can do is to defiantly answer to government's demands and rules by using tools of civil disobedience. It does not have to be feigning illness to go to work, or resigning from a post; although these tactics are important, currently, it is unexpected and unacceptable for any Hazaras to resign from any government job in protest at its discriminatory policy. The Hazaras must stay in their posts in order to remain as a conduit of communication and information between people and government.

Afghanistan has not experienced nonviolent movements before, therefore we have to look at other nonviolent movements in other countries. One of the most recent nonviolent movement took place in Iran in which the pro Green Movement turned their demands and angers against injustice and usurpation of power into a historic grass roots battle against autocratic and repressive regime. One of the tactics that was used by the Green Movement was to scream out 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) on their rooftops.

Since everyone is equipped with mobile devices and most people in Kabul have access to the internet, this kind of nonviolent protest can be easily organized and implemented. Nonviolent protestors can also light candles on their rooftops for 10 minutes, and simultaneously scream out 'Allahu Akbar' and then followed with some regular slogans such as 'no to discrimination' and 'no to injustice.'

There might be some other effective ways to raise our voice, but to scream out during the night, sometimes before people go to bed, would definitely make headlines, and it would definitely reach the deaf ears of our unresponsive president and CEO. Your voice will reach the palace and will disrupt their sleep, and eventually will create fear in their hearts (if they have any) that epitomize cowardice. 

What Could you do When Your Government doesn't Listen to You?

At this point, we all know what happened with the nonviolent Enlightenment Movement on July 23rd, 2016. The government is obstinately resistant to hear the movement's demands, not only that, but its security apparatus did not cooperate with peaceful protestors, and in some way, it showed a tacit green light to terrorist to kill the peaceful protesters.

The numbers of casualties have increased, there are now over 90 dead and over 200 individuals fatally injured. Some are in critical condition and need to be flown to another country for better medical operation. 

The movement's leadership has recently announced and warned the Afghan government that if there legitimate demands won't meet in near future, they are going to come back to the streets again. This time their tactics could be different than before, where government's tactic to block the streets with containers will not be enough. 

While coming back to the streets is one of the options to raise our voice against the corrupted and autocratic management of the current Afghan government, there are ways and tactics to initiate in order to mount more pressure on government to listen our demands. What are they, and what can we do to protract our struggle against injustice? Well, there are numerous ways that the Hazara people can do in order increase pressure, to the point that the government can feel the devastation and finally come to the negotiation table. 

It's in fact the longevity of the Enlightenment Movement struggle that can wear down the irresponsive government, not the expedient or shortsighted solutions to the problem. The corrupted and disreputable warlord Mohammad Mohaqiq who shamelessly siding with the government blames Hazaras for fomenting and creating rift among Afghan people and despicably accuses Hazaras for demanding too much, has already tried to find solution but failed. Actually, he did not want to find solution, he rather dealt on Hazaras' rights and demands by securing some top level posts for his cronies. This is not new though, Hazaras are familiar with such deplorable games he has been playing over the years. It is recently that people decided to transition from a traditional corrupted and misusing pubic trust on his own advantages. One of the reasons that the Enlightenment Movement has taken root is as a result of years of mistreatment and misrepresentation of people by their own leaders like Mohaqiq and Khalili, who not only did no good to the Hazaras, but exploited them in various ways.

We all know what we can do and how we can do. We need to prolongate our struggle through various ways, which I will be writing some tactics in the next blog posts. We have to oppress our doubts in order crush the discriminatory attitudes of the government against the Hazaras with sheer bulk of civil disobedience, including writing our stories, criticizing, publishing pamphlets, organizing public events where poems could be read and songs could be played. In different stages, we have to change our strategies and even we should question our service to the current government, including serving in the Afghan National Army. We should ask this question from ourselves: Why do we have to serve a government that doesn't listen to us? Why do we have to fight for a government that unleash its terrorist to kill us?

We have to call all our services for this government into question and we should calculatedly decide which one is feasible and what would be the impact on ourselves and what would be an immediate blow to the government. We also have to be aware that the current government is about to fall apart, the Hazaras should not be blamed for any disastrous events that would lead to the collapse of the government in the near future.

Gefunden: A Goethe's Poem Translated into Farsi

I have been reading Goethe's poems every once in a while, and I found most of his poems, in symbolic form, mystical and transcendental, like the one below. I finally decided to translate the following poem from German into Farsi. I am not sure weather it is translated into Farsi already or not. I put it on my Farsi blog and asked my reader to comment on the translation, and I'd like to extend the same request here. I would welcome any comments and critiques.

Gefunden Ich ging im Walde so für mich hin, und nichts zu suchen, das war mein Sinn. Im Schatten sah ich ein Blümchen stehn, wie Sterne leuchtend, wie Äuglein schön. Ich wollt es brechen, da sagt' es fein: Soll ich zum Welken Gebrochen sein? Ich grub's mit allen den Würzlein aus, zum Garten trug ich's am hübschen Haus.

یافت شده در جنگلزاری قدم گذاشتم نه اینکه دنبال چیزی باشم همینطوری برای دل خودم نیتم چیزی جز این نبود ناگاه دیدم ،در سایه ای گل کوچکی ایستاده است درخشان بسان ستاره ها براق همچون چشمان ریز زیبا هوای چیدنش به سرم زد :ناگه، با ظرافت و نرمی، گفت من پژمرده میشوم اگر چیده شوم با ریشه اش از دل خاک بیرون کشیدم بردم اش به باغچه ای در مجاورت خانه ای که دوستش دارم در گوشهء دنجی نشاندمش از آن روز تا حال از شکوفه هایش در وجدم

Poet: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Source
(Trans. Nasim Fekrat, July 13, 2016)

Eine Postkarte aus Deutschland

Nothing compares to the happiness when you receive your first postcard from the country that you have love for. I have been to Germany a few times and upon every visit, I learned something new, something real and serious. I have heard stereotypes about Germans being austere in their mannerism. That may be true, not only about Germans but about a lot of people in the United States and around the world. But what I experienced and learned during the time I spent in different cities in Germany was unique. I found people who were serious in their promises, honest in speaking the their minds, forthcoming when asked for help, and beyond all that, sincere in their relationship. Germans also have stereotypes about Americans, and one of them is oberflächlich, which means superficial. It might be true to some extent, but again it could be said about any people or culture anywhere that we know nothing or know very little about them. Even that little information which is usually from TVs or the Internet can be misleading, unless we obtain firsthand experience.

Anyway, here is my first postcard from one of my great German teachers, Herr Schneider. If you read this blog post and would like to have a pen pal friend in Athens, GA, here's my address:
101 College State Rd
Apt A204
Athens, GA 30605

Eid with Mirza Bidel

Eid is arriving
everyone is in preparation,
Everyone is taking pleasure
whether rich or poor

But me,
without you,
I look at my state
I see that Ramaḍān is still
ahead of me.

عید آمد و هر کس پی کار خویش است
می نازد اگر غنی وگر درویش است
من بی تو به حال خود نظرها کردم
دیدم که هنوز هم رمضان در پیش است

Eid āmad-o har-kas payī kār khish ast
mināzad agar ghanī wa-gar darwīsh ast
man bi-tu ba hāli khod nazarhā kardam
dīdam ki hanuz ham Ramaḍān dar pish ast

Poet: Mirza Abdul-Qadir Bidel
(Trans. Nasim Fekrat, July 06, 2016)

Ustad Sarahang has sung this lyrics in a very commendably touching sense. Here is the video that you can enjoy listening.

Pashto Love Poem

Millions of people speak in Pashto language, but not many people around the world know how beautiful the language is. Today, I was searching for Pashto landei - literally means short, only two lines - I stumbled upon a four lines love poem, which I thought deserved to be translated into English. That is what I did.
---------
Lover,
he cries
day and night,
the pain of his love
but the beloved is a stony-hearted one
who spills blood from the lover's heart

Oh, her eyes!
her eyebrows,
like bows of war
shoot the eyelashes
into my heart.

O people!
Don't you see the wounds of her arrows in my heart?

مین چه آشنایی کا، شپه ور څ به گریانی کا
شهی، ده ستمگاره، خوشحال ز ړ و به زخمی کا
لندۍ لری د ورڅـیو، با ڼو غشی کاری‌کا
پرهار می گوره خلقه، دَ دلبر دَ تیر نبنان سو

In Farsi

عاشق، دردِ عشق خویش می‌گرید، شب‌ها و روزها
معشوقه‌، جفاکار است، می‌ريزد خونِ سرخ قلبش را
ابروانش کمان جنگی است و تيرهايِ مژگانش کشنده
ای مردم زخم‌های تیر كمان یار را در من ببینید

Poet: Unknown
(Trans. Nasim Fekrat, July 03, 2016)

The Mystique of Mystics: Spiritual Energy and Sufi Meditation

You can feel the spiritual power of this Sufis dancing in this video. You can feel the energy that emanates from their chanting, their circling, the clapping and pounding.
This kind of ritual is rare in the Muslim world, but still exist in some part of the world.

They are Chechen Sufis as part of a larger group of Sufi brotherhoods. Chechnya is mostly Muslim, and they relate to the Shafi'i school of thought. Their mystical tradition is mixed of muridism (according to Arabic Al-Ma'ani dictionary, murid means adherent or disciple) and in which a Murshid (spiritual teacher or guide) plays a central role in the spiritual journey. Some of Chechen associate themselves with different branches of Sufism. Mainly there are two tariqas (order) in the north of Caucasus region: Naqshbandiyah and the Qadiriyah.

The word that they keep repeating is 'Yahu or Yahoo (which in English means oaf or a lout person),' not the website though, it is an Arabic term and is a pronoun for God. In Hebrew language, it means God. You also here the chant, "La ilaha illallah," which means there is no deity but God.

I shared this video with someone who asked me, "where are the women?"
I wrote back and said: That is a question that can't not be answered so easily. There have been women Sufis but not many, and they were mostly secluded from public gathering like the ones you see in the video. The reason is very obvious. From religious and Sufi point of view anything that is considered distracting, or source of temptation must be avoided. This is a backward belief, which dates back to maybe one thousand years ago, but there are some changes made in recent decades. Let's hope that one day Sufis wouldn't think women as threat to their purifying spiritual endeavor, rather see them naturally a graceful and blissful companions.

Sultana's Story And Her Educational Aspiration

If you haven't yet read this week's incredible about Sultana on the New York Time, a young girl living in southern Afghanistan who dreams to study in the United States, I highly recommend to read it. Sultana is definitely in of some attention for her future. If you want to donate money towards her education, there is a page made for her in which money goes directly into her account.

Sultana at her desk, photo already published on the NYT.

Like Sultana, there are thousands of girls in areas under the Taliban control who can't go to school. It is unfortunate that Sultana and girls like her are forbidden to go to school, but there is always an incorrect perception that deludes our understanding of the nature of south, where Sultana comes from. ( It is not known where exactly she comes from. The impression that I have from the photos that she has provided to her supporters is that she lives in city).
Most of often people think that the Taliban are foreigners, they come across the boarders from Pakistan, while this might be true to some degree, it belies the sympathizing nature for the Taliban in the southern Afghanistan - mainly in Pashtun areas. Those that hold this kind view that the Taliban are not Afghans, they are either proponent of Ashraf Ghani and Krazai who have been calling the Taliban 'brothers' or they are those that are influenced by misconceptions on the nature of Afghan war and politics. If the Taliban would not have sympathizers among the people in the south, Afghanistan would be much safer today and girls like Sultana would be able to freely attend school.

I am also a little bit doubtful about the story of Sultana. It seems that exaggeration is a fun thing - especially that she is intrigued by dark matter and she aspires to solve its mystery - and Kristof has used it well in his article, though he states that he can't verify everything Sultana says. I hope everything is written there turns out real. There are many girls like Sultana who needs support, but not all can make their stories so theatrical to get American readers' attention. Let's wish her all the best.

Also, you can listen to Sultana's Skype short interview (pull the bar to the end of the program, the interview starts at 36.40) with her friend Emily Roberts, a student at the University of Iowa. 

The "Beautiful" and "The Greatest" is Gone

Picture: Muhammad Ali Credit: Michael Gaffney

He was beyond words to be described. Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time, the greatest who ever lived, and will be the greatest athlete who ever will be. Rest in peace, the beautiful man!

Here is a great quote of him:

"A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at 20, has wasted thirty years of his life." Muhammad Ali

Here is a video of Muhammad Ali on goodwill visit to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Libraries Destroy Books

Yesterday morning as I walked into the UGA science library, I saw huge stacks of red boxes ready to be loaded into a big truck. I passed by without paying much attention. I assumed that the boxes are filled with books that might be transferred to a new library.

Curious and maybe a little worried about the books, I walked to the main gate and approached one of the guys who was loading the truck. I asked him where the books go and how many truckloads do they make a day. He kindly explained to me that the boxes are filled with books and they are going to a warehouse, which finally will be destroyed. He added that for the next two weeks, they are going make one truckload every day. 

"How bad." I said to myself. I felt a profound sadness due to thousands of books are going to be destroyed one day. As I walked back to my desk, I thought that this is an indication of an ominous future that is looming on the horizon. I am worried that one day libraries' shelves are being emptied. In fact, it is already happening as the books are being digitized. It is an incontrovertible truth that we are living in a digital world where a small device can hold thousands of books and easy to carry around. I am worried about that one day libraries become irrelevant and the virtual library take over this valuable tradition.

How to Erase Desert Tradition?

I have never seen this in my life until now. A group of men - who don't look to be students because they look in their 40s and 50s - just arrived in the coffee shop with their own thermos and cookies. I watched them carefully because they are sitting next to me. From their accent, I can tell that they are not from the Gulf. Surprisingly, only two of them bought coffee, the rest didn't. They even brought their own cups and sugar. I can't fathom the depth of this contradiction.

It is a fascinating social and cultural paradox to see this mingling odds from two different world. I asked myself whether people in the Middle East and North Africa take their food out to the restaurants and coffee shops to eat? I don't think so and I don't know it. This is an odd thing that I saw this evening at this coffee shop.

I am a regular coffee shop camper, especially in the evening because the library is closed at night. I also go to the coffee shop because I find my solace in drinking coffee and tea in a common place while doing my work. After a while - maybe two or three hours later - when I see my coffee has dried up, I usually start feeling uncomfortable because I feel I am leeching off the space, free Wi-Fi, and the spirit of the social harmony in a small space like the coffee shop.

With respect to all cultures and traditions, I think social etiquette, having sense of decency and awareness in a different environment is a primal value that can get us close.

Vergessen: Poem of the Month

In March this year, I submitted a poem in German to a monthly poetry competition called "Gedicht des Monats" at the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at University of Georgia. A few weeks later, I surprisingly received this message from the head of the department:

Dear Nasim,
Congratulations! The committee has chosen your poem “Vergessen” as the winner of the Poem of the Month competition. Please see Ms. Petti in the departmental office (Room 204) about your prize; she will need to get some information from you in order to put in a check request.

Is it OK for us to display your poem on a bulletin board in Joe Brown and on our departmental website or Facebook page?

I am not a poet by profession, but I am glad to be the winner. I was also hesitant to share the news with my friends, because I wanted to avoid any boastful pretension. But finally, I thought, since no one reads blog posts anymore, it would not be harmful to share it here after all. So, here's my poem "Vergessen," which in English means forgetting. You can also read this on the department's Facebook page.
------------
Vergessen

Schließlich, entschied ich mich,
dich zu vergessen
Dein Name
Wo immer ich ihn gefunden hatte
In meinen Notizen
Postkarten
Briefen
Auch in meinem Tagebuch
Seiten, gelöscht oder zerrissen

Gestern, habe ich ihr Bild von
der Wand abgehängt
Und dann leerte ich die Rahmen

Mein Plan scheiterte
Als ich versuchte
Sie aus dem Rahmen meines
Herzens zu leeren
-------

Bidel: I Just Recalled my Love

Dew is perished
as soon as the dawn’s veil has taken away
Companion!
I just recalled my love,
au revoir!

Tā sahar bi-parda gardad, shabnam az khod rafta ast
Al-widā' ay ham-nishīnān! delbaram āmad ba yād

تا سحر بی پرده گردد، شبنم از خود رفته است
الوداع ای هم نشینان! دلبرم آمد به یاد

Poem by Mīrzā Abdul-Qādir Bidel

(Trans. Nasim Fekrat, May 26, 2016)

Afghanistan's Economic Prospect: From Troubling to Bleak

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has just released its quarterly report on Afghanistan to congress. The special project's report contains a list of reports that are highly concerning about Afghanistan's future. Among the many of concerns on the country is its economic prospect.

Despite more than a decade of reconstruction and development efforts, the Afghan economy remains in fragile and worsening condition. Intractable insurgents, cutbacks in foreign military personnel, persistent emigration of people and capital, and a slowing global economy are shifting Afghanistan’s economic prospects from troubling to bleak. Source: SIGAR Quarterly Report

Giving the fact that the country has been in turmoil for decades, long enough that the infrastructure eventually extirpated, it is considerably hard to measure Afghanistan’s economy growth on a global economic index, but there are some reports that give a good estimate of how has Afghanistan’s economy been doing in post-Taliban era. Since 2002, the slowest growth that Afghanistan economy has experienced was in 2014.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the highest GDP growth was recorded 14% in 2012. Then, in 2013, it surprisingly experienced a drastic decline which was recorded 3.9%. In 2014, it dropped lower to 1.3%, and in 2015, it even went steeper to 1%, which is lowest than it has ever exited. But now there is a report that came out just yesterday indicating Afghanistan’s GDP growth may drop even lower.

Considering all these facts about Afghanistan's economy, it is safe to say that Afghanistan's economy in 2016 may not change if there is not any improvement in its current political instability and violence that is overwhelmingly increasing throughout the country. Based on SIGAR report, Afghanistan has become more dangerous today than the years before. It reports that the Taliban now have control more territory than at any time since 2001. It estimates that roughly 71.7% of the country's districts are under Afghan government control, or influence.

In the end, the negative yield curve in Afghanistan economy could only change if there would be any outside help not only to fragile economy, but as well as to its security. 

Hazara Female Models on the Catwalk in Kabul

A decade-and-a-half after the end of Taliban rule, women in Afghanistan still face pressure to dress conservatively in their Muslim-dominated society. That makes holding a fashion show with female models a risky endeavor. But some young women are making a fashion statement, defying threats and social taboos to take to the runway. (RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan). Source RFE/RL

Here is another example of bravery that is presented by Hazara women defying the threats against themselves. However, there is just one caveat to remember. We must be careful and distinguish when we are talking about women in Afghanistan. Ethnic plays an important role in women's freedom. You won't see women from other ethnic groups among them. These young females are ethnically Hazara, the most persecuted and downtrodden people on earth. If chance given to them, and they receive support, these women can be an embodiment of courage and freedom that can exemplify it for others.

A Brief Review: The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation atWar

I posted this on my Facebook page, then I realized that I must have first published it here to make it an official piece, but then I thought an official piece means that I have to do a thorough review of the book. Well, I might come back and do that soon, before my classes start, but for now, it is not a bad idea to share a glimpse of the book which contains inspirational stories of young Hazara girls at Marefat High School. Contrary to other books that so far have published on Afghanistan and have tried to give a grim outlook of the future, The Last Thousand is the opposite, it gives an optimistic picture of Afghanistan's future, while noticing the lack of insecurity and warning about the fall of the country into the hands of the Taliban. 

I just finished reading The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation at War by a renowned journalist Jeffrey E. Stern. The original version of the book will come out on January 26. I started it three days ago, and thought that my incremental reading would last for a week. I was wrong. When I started reading, it was hard for me to even take a break. It is so elegantly written, so masterly told that it feels more like leafing through the diary of a dear friend that one tries to discover the secrets, than an excursion through the current historical experience of Afghanistan that centers around the young Afghan girls who are thirsty for education.

The Last Thousand is all about hope, and happiness that Afghanistan needs for its futuer, like Najiba, a mother of four children who starts school at an old age because she wants her kids to be raised by smart parents; like Tamana who despite her loss and ordeal becomes a symbol of hope and strength in the school; like Yunos Bakhshi who brings his telescope to school to teach Marefat students about the universe, the other planets and our solar system; and like the Teacher Aziz Royesh, the main character who revolutionizes the minds of young girls, turning them into powerful contributors to social change and education.

These girls are the powerful determinants of their lives in Afghanistan’s future. The epicenter of all these changes is Marefat, and finally it tells the reader that the crust of the Afghan society must adjust itself to the nature of ever-increasing magnitude of change that is brought by young girls.

A deep and hearfelt thank you to Jeffery Stern for writing such a painstakingly beautiful book - of hope - which is full of inspirational stories!

In Egypt: Freedom of Expression is Under Military Attack

The 'Egyptian Shakira (Suha Mohammed Ali) and her recent album is call "al-Kamoun"

In Egypt, freedom of speech has been worsening since the military has taken over control of the country after it ousted President Morsi, in 2013. Recently, an Egyptian court sentenced two women to six months in prison. The two performers are famous belly dancers and known as Bardis and Egyptian Shakira (Suha Mohammed Ali and Dalia Kamal). Their charges are committing debauchery and promotion of immorality through their videos. If carefully watched, neither of the two videos contains nudity or promotes immorality. So, why the court has charged the two singers into six months prison? What is in the video that could be assumed offensive to Egyptians?

For Egyptian Shakira, the video clips starts with a scene where a dancer swings her hip while clinging to the wall. Then, the scene leads to a decorated room, more looks like a bar, or a nightclub, than a studio. The main character of the video is the singer who emerges with extravagant makeup. A few scenes later, the singer and dancers appear in school uniform. Thus far, everything looks normal, but what come next could be provocative parts for some religious viewers in Egypt, which could be one of the reasons that the court might based on its charges against the dancer. At one point, the singer appears in bare shoulders, while dancing in a close-up view for the camera, she bites and sucks her lips, which could be interpreted as deliberately and sexually enticing. In many Muslim countries, singing, dancing and demonstrating any sign of explicit sensual acts are forbidden and the consequences might be dire.

Another controversial part is when the singer holds a hot red pepper (felfel), which is among aphrodisiac spices in Arab culture and traditionally, it is considered one of the spices that men need for awakening sexual desire. This scene is aggravated towards the end of the clip where the singer closes her eyes, and acts in an orgasmic manner by adding a groaning sound affect towards the end of a verse and then lands on the floor, next to a white scooter. Though all these gestures seem childish and insecure, zooming in on red lips, moving hip in short skirts that reveal dancers thighs could be provocative to religious viewers, but again, it all indicate that the singers use them tongue-in-cheek.

By looking at some traditional belly dancers videos from the 1980s and 90s, in which the dancers appear in a more inadequately clothed, Suha Mohammed Ali and Dalia Kamal Youssef are very modestly looking. Suha and Dalia are not the first to be prisoned. In July, another woman, Reda el-Fouly and her boy friend, who made a homemade video, was convicted of similar charge.

Similarly, in March, a well-known dancer - Safinaz - was sentenced to six months in prison. But what is different between these dancers and those dancers from twenty, or thirty years ago, is not how decent, or indecent they appear in their videos, rather it is the relative freedom of speech that once existed under the Hosni Mubarak role, which is now has gone.

While suppressing freedom of speech, in the time of Mubarak had been systematically motivated by political intentions, during the current regime - which leads by the military commander, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – suppression of freedom of speech is motivated by fear. The military ruling government which demonstrates itself as a savior of the “January 25, 2011 Revolution” is now cracking down not only on Muslim Brotherhood, human rights activist, secular and leftist elites, but also going after artists who even do not seem to be threats at all. The current military regime in Egypt carries out all these crackdowns and violence against its own citizens in order to establish itself an indisputable authority and as the only liberator and guardian of the Egyptian people since 2011. What is now happening in Egypt makes people nostalgic of the Mubarak era and according to what is coming out of Egypt and what analysts believe is as long as the country is being governed by the military and the clamp down is continued to such a horrific level, the prospect of freedom of expression will be grim and gloomy.

I wrote this post in the beginning of September, but for some reason it was lost among other files.  

Karzai! No One Cares What You Think

Who cares what Karzai thinks, today? No one, really. In a recent interview with the BBC, Hamid Karzai said, Americans have thrown hundreds of millions of dollars without any useful or beneficial purposes. Well, Karzai might be right on this partially, but it was his family members who benefited the most from American money than anyone else. Among members of his family, the one who directly received American money was Hamid Karzai's controversial half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai. (Wali was assassinated in 2011, and later, it was speculated that he was shot by one of his family members.) Ahmad Wali used American money for various purposes, one of which made him well-known and rich was illegal land grabbing, in Kandahar. While Wali was engaged in illegal land acquisition by using Karzai's influence, who also tried to cultivate power and buy support of Polpalzai tribesmen; others were engaged with Americans as private security contractors and they also owned several construction companies.

According to news sources, Major projects in Afghanistan had been first contracted to companies owned by Karzai's brothers, and then were subcontracted to other companies, but again, it was Karzai's family who collected major profits out American money which was supposed to be spent on construction.

When it comes to refugee crisis, Karzai appears utterly oblivious to the fact that it is his legacy and due his support of the Taliban insurgency throughout his term that has turned the country a dangerous place for all Afghans and particularly for the Hazaras who are being mercilessly targeted by the Taliban on daily basis. The majority of Afghan refugees who are now crossing the borders alongside Syrian refugees are the Hazara people. Karzai knows it, but he is afraid to pronounce it.

Charging and blaming Americans for wrongdoing is Karzai's favorite way for not only trying to dodge public disapproval and loathing, but also trying to win hearts and minds among the Taliban members whom he calls them his brothers. Like his successor, Ashraf Ghani - whose government is about to fall apart - Karzai is not a reliable person, at all. He says, he is not a coup maker, but he now is actively attempting to undermine the current government.

It is astonishing how Karzai relentlessly appears to be the number one enemy of the United States. He calls al-Qaede a myth and rejects that 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan. His schizophrenic behavior is not new, in fact, his erratic temperament began in 2009, when Obama took office. At any rate, whatever Karzai believes or says today is not really important. He does not have anything new to offer for improvement of the current situation of Afghanistan, and its government, which is teetering on the brink of collapse.

What an Ignoble World we Live in

Lets imagine ourselves living in a boundary where lines have divided us from each other based on our colors, ethnicity and language. Imagine that we are being told throughout our lives that it is our noble duty to protect our national values from others; others who are different from us in many ways, and there might not be even a single sign of commonality between us and others. What would happen hereafter?

It is encountering others that sometimes ignites our sense of ignobleness, and it projects fanaticism, which then let us discharge hatred towards others. The sense of otherness that infuses with ire and then invades our conscience; and eventually replace our morality and ethics with zealotry. That is when humanity disappears.

Zealotry is a threat to human civilization; Petra Laszlo is a small example of what could happen if we let our conscious be governed by zealotry that is often reinforced by political entities. It might recur in the future. We are definitely experiencing a moral problem, not only that it reflects badly on journalism ethics, its mirrors dispassion and lack of consciousness that could be embedded not in an individual, but in a greater number.

As a final note, we should not forget that what Petra did was an insult to herself first, then to her profession, and most importantly it reflects badly on Hungary, and its people. If Franz Liszt would be alive, he would certainly be ashamed of his countrywoman's detestable manner towards vulnerable refugees who are escaping war in their countries.