On US withdrawal from Afghanistan

These are important suggestions that the Biden administration should take into account while ruminating on the nature of a possible withdrawal from Afghanistan. A complete withdrawal is a disaster that should be avoided and in fact, it should be off the table when negotiation over peace with the Taliban. 

The peace negotiation that was ensued by the previous administration based on narcissistic whims should be rethought. The whole negotiation scheme needs to be reassessed because it was a unilaterally designed between the US and the Taliban insurgents. The Afghan government and the people were not involved in this negotiation from the beginning and even now, they don't have much control over it.

The Biden administration should make a revision to the peace scheme and add mandates to commit the Taliban to reduction of violence; otherwise, any dodgy deals not only perpetuates war and violence, but also emboldens the Taliban and other insurgents for further violence. 

Afghan security forces open fire on civilians

In my previous post, I mentioned that the Afghan security forces have been deployed to Behsud, a Hazara district in Wardak province, to disarm locals who stood up against the Taliban atrocity. These Hazara civilians were peacefully gathered in front of the district's office to inquire why these forces were there because there was no reason for them to be there, unless they are there to weaken the local's resistance, which would provide some leeway to the Taliban's assaults. 

Here is a video as evidence showing Afghan security forces positioned in armored military Humvees opening fire on civilians and then run over them that is partially captured. So far, more than 10 people have been killed and nearly 30 people are injured. 

This video shows the murder of Hazara protesters in Behsud by the Afghan security forces. It shows some civilians running away and the Afghan forces firing on them with M249 & PK machine gun. Some Humvees can be seen driving towards people to run over them #BehsudMassacre pic.twitter.com/WRkJLUlgNU

— Basir Ahang (@basirahang) February 1, 2021

hegemony and the Hazara state of survival

The relationship of the Hazara people and the Afghanistan's state has always been a historical hegemonic relationship. Historically it has been the Pashtuns (and to some degree the Tajiks) as superior tribe ruling the country. Not the class, not the political party, but a tribe. The Hazaras have been scapegoats  for various problems that the state faced. As a result, they have become the primary targets of systematic persecutions, which has historically created a lingering hegemonic force that can be exerted against the Hazaras at any given time.

Let me contextual this historical hegemony. Recently, the Afghan central government deployed security forces to Behsud district, in Wardak province, to ostensibly quell the unlawfulness there, which is controlled by locals. The locals have armed themselves against the onslaught of the Taliban and to prevent their advance towards Bamiyan and the Hazarajat.

Yesterday, the government forces opened fire on civilians who were gathered in a local Bazaar to inquire why these forces were there. According to BBC, the government forces killed 9 civilians and injured dozens of others. Different sources indicate that at least 10 people are killed and 28 others are wounded. The government, simultaneously has shut down the telecommunication system, so that the locals can't report what is happening there.

We know that the Taliban has kneeled on the neck of Ashraf Ghani's government and it is gasping its last breath. And we know that sooner than later this government is gone and there will be an interim government installed. This is what the international communities that support the Afghan government has already decided. So, the end of this government is imminent.

What can the Hazaras do at this critical moment in order to end the government's onslaught? The Hazara leaders and elders should call on the Hazara men and women, who serve in the army and are now in the battlefield against the Taliban, to come home.

farewell my mtb

ah I'm missing my rad mountain bike. Rad is a term commonly used by mountain bikers, I like it a lot, especially if you constantly use it, like a rad ride, a rad bike, a rad drop, it does not only vigorously boast your self-assurance but also indexes something else, that you are a professional rider and close to others of that ilk. Another telling indicator is that you have successfully fetishized your bike so much so that you talk about it in a manner that no other can relate. Yeah, that's a bit of me, when I'm on the trail or descending down the hills. Anyway, I sold this rad icon but now I'm having a compulsive urge to buy another one. I'm thinking of Santa Cruz or Yeti. 

Iranian flag at pro-Trump rally

I just read a great piece by Sonja Thomas explaining about the presence of the Indian flag at the capitol riots. It's confusingly fascinating to see that among the sea of flags at pro-Trump rally on January 6th, there were flags of many other nations. I noticed an Iranian flag of the pre-Islamic Revolution monarchy with a lion holding a sword waving among the crowd, and signs that repeatedly read "we love you," "#Iranians for Trump," and "stop the steal." There is an article about it here. 

Trump supporters hold a sign that says: "Iranians for Trump" (MEE/Ali Harb)

Iranians of pre-1979 Iranian revolution have strong feelings about their particular history that can be traced in their support of Trump and his policies against Iran. As far as I have been following the US politics, this particular group has always supported conservatives and their policies. They ideally think Trump aggressive policies may cause the current Islamic regime to collapse and the monarchy get restored, so that they can go back, but it seems that is unlikely to happen, at least now and perhaps, in the near future. But as a minority, their presence at this dangerous rally and their support of far-right groups, may hunt them in the future.

The semantics of racial slurs in Afghanistan

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on my Farsi blog about my experience with racial discrimination and racial prejudice in Afghanistan and today, I thought I should start writing a few posts about the semantics of ethnic slurs that Pashtuns, Tajiks, and even Sayyids, who are Shias and look like Hazaras, commonly use against the Hazara people. Here is one of the most popular racial slurs used toward the Hazaras:

"God forbid my dog to be a Hazara" (خدا سگ مره هزاره نکنه  khuda sagi mara hazara nakuna). 

Here are four common features of this racial slur:

1. Dogs are known to be loyal, friendly, and protective. Hazaras are so disloyal, unfaithful, and unfriendly that they do not deserve to be even like dogs, and as such, God has created them a different species other than humans.

2. Dogs in Islam are considered najis (Arabic word), meaning untouchable and unclean. Hazaras are so vicious, wicked, and dirty that dogs are way kosher and clean that deserve to be kept as friends but not Hazaras. They must be outcasts.

3. Dogs are animals, and Hazaras are even worse than animals. They have no culture, no religion, and no ethics, and they deserve to be annihilated. 

4. Dogs are also considered infidels. This trope is twofold. One is that Hazaras are infidels. Therefore, they are not Muslim. It has religious and historical bearings, so it is commensurate with the mainstream Sunni doctrine that the Shias are heretics. As a direct result, Hazaras have been subjected to genocide twice in history and almost 100 years apart. One was by King Abdul Rahman during the 1890s, which resulted in 60% extermination, and most recently by the Taliban between 1998 and 2001. Another meaning of this trope is that infidels (any non-Muslim) in the West keep dogs as friends. In a way, it lacks strength, but it also brings back the idea of infidelity and the dehumanizing view that the Hazaras are not part of Islam and should be dealt with like non-Muslims because, ultimately, the purpose is to deprive them of humanity and anything,, that aids this purpose is functional.

These are the four significant and important semantic features of the ethnic slur, "God forbid my dog to be a Hazara," that powerfully pervades the ordinary sense of Afghan racial discriminatory language and thinking against the Hazara people. It has a broader range of invisible but dangerous connotations beyond this blog post. I may come back to this later. 

The primary purpose of this kind of slur is to dehumanize the Hazaras, to dispossess them of their humanness, and to project or see them as less than themselves. Subsequently, what might follow would be cruelty and suffering through different means, resulting in killing Hazaras mercilessly. Based on dehumanization ideology, when you deprive someone of all human qualities, then it's easy to kill them.

and those for us who stammer

Many of us at some point stammer, either for a short or longer time, or often try to remember but we can't help ourselves. The repercussion is of course a multiplicity of psychological anxiety, but here's a video on the BBC website showing kids can't utter their names, a BBC journalist who experienced years of stuttering but worked her way out; a UK MP who is being ridiculed in the House; and Joe Biden who acknowledges that he has worked hard to deal with his stuttering. Also check out this video where an Irish fireman tells his story of fighting stammer stigma.

to speculate about targeted killings

Everyone wonders who is behind all these targeted killings in Afghanistan. No one knows the answer yet. I have been asking my journalist and pundit friends, they have no idea, and if they do, they just regurgitate what government officials have been touting. Basically, the prevalent view among the general public is that the Taliban are be behind all these attacks. The Taliban deny but if we look at the patterns of the attacks, we can see a repetition of the same tactics the Taliban have used in the past. The only difference is that they now go after every prominent figures irrespective of their political affiliation or ideological standing. 

But there are also those who argue that why the Taliban should kill people who pose no threat to them. For instance, in the past few months former journalists, activists, and not very high profile individuals have been targeted whose presence obviously considered innocuous because they were simply not very much active as they used to. Now, we can also speculate that it might be the ISIS group but that still leaves a room for doubt, specially when we consider their sectarian ideology. They generally target Hazaras because they are Shia who are considered heretics from Sunni extremists perspective.

Superficially, I think that behind these latest strings of attacks might be a criminal group but that is anachronistic and one wonder why now. My sense is that there is a parallel ultra criminal religious group forming that is ideologically not far from that of the Taliban or ISIS and it is going after those individuals who are considered liberal and socially influential. Generally these are journalists, writers and pundits. 

the irony of yesterday's events

In the aftermath of the attack on the capitol in Washington D.C., a lot of leaders around the world reacted, some condemned Trump for inciting the violence, while others expressed anger, horror, sorrow and sadness. In the Muslim world, the attack turned into an interesting topic of satire and reticule of Americans and their democracy. In the Arab world, people draw cartoons of the attack, they satirized and criticized the US for being hypocrite, the fact that its leadership can't deal with its own problem at home, they have no right to point fingers at others or meddle in their affairs. 

I also saw some Afghan leaders on social media expressing their concerns about the future of United States and the transition of power. They called for calm and urged Trump to respect the people's vote. I laughed at this bitter irony that Afghan leaders are now worried about the integrity of the US presidential election. It sounds like one of those April fool's jokes, but it's for real.

When democracy dies

Photo credit: Getty images

Today, I was watching the live session on Biden's certification of electoral college on NYT when suddenly a chaos ensued in the congress. The camera was running but the sound disappeared immediately. Lawmakers rushed to the exit doors and then suddenly the video stopped. It was sad to see what was happening at the capitol after. I used to believe that Americans are more civilized than what I saw today, but today's events changed my mind. Today's events showed that even in a civilized nation violence is inevitable and that what happens sometimes in the developing world can happen in the most democratic country like the US as well. I just looked at the international news headlines, the world laughs at the US. It's sad and full of sorrow. I feel there are some Americans who grieve and mourn their dying democracy.

Terror and chaos in Kabul

The Times speculates that behind the targeted killings might be some factions in addition to the Taliban. It's not clear what factions might be in point, but it is pretty clear at this point the Taliban is behind such attacks. It's possible to assume that they carry out their attacks through their third-party criminal groups but what makes the difference? It's still Taliban carrying out these attacks against innocent civilians. The claim that magnetic bombs are homemade is also questionable, at least we should cast doubt on Afghan government officials who make such claims under anonymity. How does the Afghan government know that the sticky bombs are homemade? We know that every one of those bombs are exploded so far and the question is, how did the government find out about the nature of the bombs after they blasted? The degree and magnitude of explosion of all these magnet bombs reveal that they are not homemade, they are rather imported from one of the two neighboring countries. 

Discovering Marx too late

For the past few weeks, I have reading Marx. To have a better understanding of his social, political, and economic theories, I visited Feuerbach and Hegel. How happy I'm for this late discovery, and how much I envy those who discovered him early in their lives, and those who read his works and understand him better. Today, I thought if had I discovered Marx 20 years ago, I would have a better understanding of the world and situation that I grew up, and the situation that I'm in now. Perhaps, my life would be different, perhaps, I would be different person.

For the past few days, I had a heavy feeling of some sort of loss, loss of time and opportunity. I told myself, alas, what opportunities that could have produced strength and ability I missed! Or opportunities that I took for granted and now I have to work hard to revive or repossess that in some sense is not too late but frankly it's late. Anyway, I feel contented to have spent the latter part of the month of December 2020 in reading Marx and understanding him a little bit.

reMarkable 2 pdf and ebooks review

Here is a short review of Remarkable 2. It's strictly about the reading features and how adaptable this device is to pdf and eBook files. I did not look at other features since I did not see the need. I have read a lot of good reviews but they did not mention anything about its capability of handling pdf files and eBooks. As you can see in the video, eBook files are fine but there are some issues with pdf files, especially if you want to zoom in. 

The normal view which is 100% is too small for me, so I need to increase the text size but unfortunately you can't customize the percentage of zoom in and zoom out. So you are strictly left with some preset options that you can select from, and if you do, the text goes off the edges. That means you can't pull up or pull down or pull to the right, you are stuck with 100% normal view which is really small, at least for me. 

On the other hand, you don't have issue with eBook files. It has a perfect normal view but if you zoom in or zoom out like you do on iPad, you have similar issues with pdf files, meaning text goes off the edges. It is so pricy, I paid $557 (including a marker and a sleeve case) and it took four weeks to arrive. I don't think it's worth it. I will return it and keep using my iPad for now. 

 

a bizarre delusion

It's hard to believe. I spoke of human rights violation and massacre by the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan today in class; a guy on a zoom class who seemed to sympathize with Islamic extremists accused me of being a government propagandist. Worse yet, he asked me to stop talking about it. I can't believe this happens in academia. I must be in the wrong place or the person is placed in the wrong place. What a bizarre delusional world!

to keep blogging

Just thought this morning that I need to come back to this platform and post something, which could be text or photographs. For the past few months I have been trying to keep journals about some of the events taking place around me. I haven't had the opportunity to chronical as much as I hoped and whatever I wrote so far has been tucked under my pillow. That sounds like hiding. I don't need to hide, I told myself this morning. So, I promised to do blogging regularly. This is a place where I can post non-academic stuff, just for myself and perhaps for others, if anyone would cross this path.

Playing Mountain Dulcimer on the Summit of Mt. Aeneas

From my summer journals:

Yesterday, I took my mountain dulcimer to the mountains and gave a concert to the mountain goats. It was a windy day, excusably, I couldn’t hold my concert on the summit because the wind would not let me play as I wished to and the sound would travel with the wind (I don’t know where). Also, there were a few two-legged predators nearby that goats did not like them, they became more skittish. Therefore, I had to scramble down a scree field and find a spot on the cliff edge, at which, at the bottom, the goats had congregated.

First, I gave an Athenian oration and tried to highlight the rocky mountain goats’ sufferings for millions of years at the hands of the growling wind, the cruel winter, the savage blizzard, and the bitter cold. Then, I admired them for their climbing skills and applaud them for resilience and perseverance for adapting to an extreme climate and at last, I was sorry that human species have encroached to their territory and disturbed their natural ecosystem.

They patiently listened. Some were regurgitating and some got a bit excited and started bulldozing the ground with their horns. Some were grooming their beards with their cloven hooves and some were wagging their tails. I think they really enjoyed my concert.

Remembering September 11 After 18 Years

It is 18 years after the September 11 attacks happened. I was in Dubai working for a used car company as an accountant. It was getting dark and we were about to close the gates to the garage. I walked inside the office, as usual, looking around what needs to be done at the last minute. The TV was on and it was on Al Jazeera Arabic channel. Back then, that was the only widely watched channel in the entire Arab world. I saw a plane hit the facade of a big tower and about 15 minutes later another plane hit another tower. I thought I was watching a movie. It didn't seem real. The clip was shown over and over and suddenly I saw from the upper part of the building smoke rises and later both towers collapsed.

In my befuddled state I changed channels, and saw similar images. The Arabic channels and their commentators were speculating that Japan might have attacked the United States to take a revenge of 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some commentators were pointing fingers at Jews, saying Jews have attacked the United States. I then searched other channels and finally I found BBC. Back then, my English was not that good but I could get a sense of what was in the news. What eventually I got was that the United States is being attacked but up that point, it wasn't clear who did it. I thought it is not a big deal.

The next day when I woke it wasn't a normal day. The local Arabs gathered on a roundabout near my work. They were happy and their utterances were "Subhanallah" (glory be to Allah) and Allahu Akbar (God is great).
It was rumored that some Muslim freedom fighters crashed the planes to the twin towers. Two days later, I heard from the news that al-Qaeda whose base was in Afghanistan was behind the attacks. Once again, everyone was happy because of the attacks. Arabs and other Muslims were celebrating and rejoicing over the death of nearly three thousand humans in the United States. To them all those who died in the attacks were infidels, but the perpetrators were called martyrs.

Among the cheers of jubilance, you could hear some Afghan voices too, however, they were not happy over the death of three thousand people, their elation was at regaining hope for survival, they were hoping that these attacks would trigger the United States to strike and destroy the Taliban and free the country. They were individuals who escaped the Taliban's systematic massacre in Mazar-e Sharif and Bamiyan. They were the Hazaras who were hoping for their country to be liberated.

Now you can delete Facebook account permanently

Do you remember that nearly three weeks ago Facebook agreed to a sweeping settlement of notable allegations regarding how it mishandled user privacy and pay $5 billion civil penalty, and also agreed to implement robust new protections of user data?

Well, as part of the new privacy settings, Facebook has enabled the permanently deleting account option. Until recently, you could only deactivate your account, but now you can delete the entire account with one click. Remember that nothing will come back after you push the delete button. It is scary and I am hesitant to do that though I do want to stay away from Facebook. I created my Facebook account in 2007 through the help of a friend. Back then you couldn't create independently (especially if you were living in Afghanistan) you should have been invited by someone. I had a friend at Duke University who sent me an invitation.

Just as a reminder if you want to delete your account, make sure to take a backup of all your photos, videos, status and posts. You will still be able to see them not on Facebook platform though. If you delete your account, you may not be able to use certain services if you have signed up with your Facebook account.

One final thing for deleting your account permanently, obviously there is a 30-day window for you in case you change your mind.

Lots of postcards to be sent out

Sometimes, I think I live an old fashioned life. Yesterday, I went to a used bookstore in downtown Charlotte and bought tons of postcards. I thought I am not going to be a slave of convenience of texting, e-mailing, or calling, I want to write my messages on a postcard. Though calling and texting have immediate advantage, I think it can't be equated with the impression that a postcard makes. Postcard becomes a memory and you can come back to it later, but you can't do it with phone call or text message.

I haven't seen a lot of people in this generation writing postcards. Last time I received a postcard was from my German teacher from Germany. I still have his card as a piece of friendship and teachership. I have an affinity with this medium. It takes me back to my roots where writing letter was the only means of communication. I find values in such tradition since it has become a lost art.

The postcards I bought yesterday were all old and whimsical. Interestingly, I found several Russian postcards capturing famous landmarks in Russia. They are from the Soviet era, between 1970-1990. I wonder who kept them all this time and why? I also found postcards from Germany. Again, they are old from the 1970s and 80s. I found a postcard of Marilyn Monroe wearing white swimsuit, probably from early 1950s. I immediately sent it to my American host dad.

If you like to receive a postcard from me, e-mail me your mailing address and I will send you one with a Rumi or Bedil poem, or simple greetings. This should be only in the US. Please indicate what language you prefer, I can write it in English, Farsi, Arabic, Russian, German, Pashto, and Urdu.

Fieldwork revitalized my native language

For the first time in nearly a decade, this summer, I had a chance to speak in my native language Farsi more than I did before. It was during my fieldwork that forced me to speak Farsi, though it have been comfortable and beneficial had I been able to speak English for the most part. That is what I also preferred, but not all participants were fluent in English. At any rate, I'm content with what have happened.

In my four years of college, I almost forgot Farsi. In college, I barely spoke my native language because there was no other Farsi speakers around. There was a benign retired US diplomat who lived nearby and we hang out a lot. He often called me or I went over to his place, we chatted in Farsi while cooking and drinking.

I have to admit that for the last ten years, I have never read a book in Farsi though I read the news regularly. That is a shame! (I tell myself). I did not have access to Farsi resources either, and honestly, I had no interest. I am a little bit biased towards Farsi and for that reason, I don't read scientific books other than in English. Farsi is good enough for poetry, storytelling and perhaps, Sufism, but not a language that you can use for critical thinking, logical reasoning, especially in the field of philosophy, technology, and science. I know this statement has ideological values, but what can you say when you compare two things. Well, one might say, languages are not things, they are culture and history. I agree, but what could you do in a short blog post than doing a gross simplification.

But getting back to the main point, living in DC with a community of Hazara immigrants this summer was gracefully beneficial to me. I noticed yesterday that my speech has become more smooth and I have become more confident to control myself from code-switching.