Advocacy – Page 2 – Afghan American Artists and Writers Association

October 4, 2019June 14, 2020

Afghan Americans Stand with Hong Kong Protestors and Uyghur People

“Now hear this. You are mountain people. You are not permitted to speak your mountain language in this place. It is not permitted. It is outlawed. You may only speak the language of the capital. Your language is dead. Your language no longer exists. Any questions?” -Harold Pinter, Mountain Language

With 2019 marking the Centenary of Afghanistan’s Independence, we the Afghan American Artists’ and Writers’ Association, voice our support and solidarity with two groups currently being suppressed by the Government of China, the Hong Kong Protestors and the ethnic Uyghurs of Western China. As writers, we are students of history; as Afghan Americans, we are also the children of a generation deeply affected by imperialism at the hands of Communist Russia. From the 1979 Soviet invasion, to the US’s ongoing militarization of everyday life, our families have been collateral damage in wars led by imperial superpowers. As Americans, we will not remain silent. We recognize native populations who yearn for their land, for their independence, and we understand the necessity for many of them to struggle against the external forces who are attempting to impose an alien way of life and new laws. We are also very familiar with superpowers’ attempts to eradicate cultural traditions (including most notably language and religion, but also the freedom to assemble and voice dissent).

Ironically, the tone that is instinctively taken by the oppressor in such cases of oppression (be it the Chinese government of today, Soviet Russia in the 80’s, the Israeli government towards the Palestinian people, or even the U.S. government’s dispossession of Indigenous peoples) is one of defensiveness, as though the superpowers are themselves the oppressed. In the reproaches made by CCTV (Chinese State Television) in the recent “controversy” involving Darryl Money of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, the entire world has seen the naked face of insecure and paranoid forms of governmental nationalism (i.e.,“We oppose Silver’s claim to support Morey’s right of free expression. We believe that any speech that challenges national sovereignty and social stability is not within the scope of freedom of speech,”). We stress governmental, because we know and respect the people of China, who unlike their government, understand very well that in reality, people are often entangled in complex ways with the states that govern them.

Unlike the protestors in Hong Kong, the Uyghur people of Western China do not even possess enough freedom to be able to protest. They are quite frankly being overrun by Beijing’s repressive policies. The only voices of dissent come from those citizens who have escaped (including many of our own friends and colleagues here in the USA who have confirmed many of the horror stories that are now being told about detention camps and cultural whitewashing, and essentially, brainwashing). The world is beginning to take notice, and we applaud the US government for blacklisting 8 Chinese tech companies that were abusing facial-recognition technology to spy on Uyghur people and continue this obscene cultural genocide.

We urge all who read this to learn as much as you can about these complex situations, to have conversations, with your family, with your friends, with those who may know more about the subject (including people from Hong Kong and North Western China) and to continue to speak out whenever you can. Finally, as Afghan Americans, let us simply state that as writers and thinkers in the US, we enjoy the privilege of being able to respectfully disagree, to peacefully protest, and to practice whichever religion or way of life we choose. We use this privilege to wholly reject the notion of seeing any one people, culture or language as a “threat” to be either subdued, dominated, or “re-educated.”

Thank you.

Signed,

Yusuf Misdaq

Sahar Muradi

Wazhmah Osman

Zohra Saed

Gazelle Samizay

Helena Zeweri

June 13, 2016June 14, 2020

Afghan American Response to the Orlando Gay Club Massacre

June 13, 2016,

We the Afghan American Artists and Writers’ Association wholeheartedly condemn both the hateful homophobia that motivated the tragic massacre at the gay night club Pulse in Orlando and the hateful rampant Islamophobia that politicians and the media are perpetuating nationwide. We mourn the loss of and express our deepest solidarity with the largely queer people of color who were the victims and their families. As a marginalized people ourselves, we fully support the rights of LGBTQ communities and other QPOC communities, who have been historically and continue to be subjected to rampant violence at the state and society level.

The implications of the anti-Muslim rhetoric that media pundits and politicians have seized upon are equally dangerous. In the current pre-election political climate, Muslims are already othered as fanatic militants and terrorists whose core beliefs are antithetical to Western democracy, progress, and human rights. The corporate media has effectively created a false binary and antagonism between Islam and the West, feeding racist Colonial stereotypes of Islam that have gained new currency since 9/11.

Muslims have been systematically misrepresented in the mainstream media as innately backwards, misogynist, homophobic, and therefore dangerous and a threat to the societies we live in. Such irresponsible speech continues to instigate a collective panic that will lead to further targeting of us in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in airports. Some politicians have raised the level of hysteria by even suggesting that Muslim Americans be isolated in internment camps. Muslim have been subjected to increasing forms of scrutiny, surveillance, and violence.

March 15, 2012June 14, 2020

Statement Against the Massacre in Kandahar

March 15, 2012,

We, AAAWA (Afghan American Artists and Writers Association), a NYC based group condemn the March 11^th massacre of innocent Afghans in the village of Panjwai, Kandahar province. We demand a full investigation of the events and full disclosure of all information. The US Army’s explanation that a lone mad gunman was responsible is unacceptable not only because it is not in keeping with witness accounts but also because it evades the larger problem.

As recent incidences of Quran-burning, Kill Team, and urinating on the bodies of deceased Afghans demonstrate, this tragic killing of innocent Afghan villagers is endemic of the institutionalized racism and Islamophobia that is embedded in the overall culture of war that the US Army breeds in Afghanistan. There is a general lack of cross-cultural understanding and cultural sensitivity whereby Afghans are dehumanized.

We demand that the US Army take full responsibility and accountability, charge all those implicated in the chain of command (not only low-level army personnel like the cases in Iraq and Guantanamo), and pay reparations to the families of the victims. The army also must re-assess its failed counter-insurgency policies of launching aerial bombings and night raids against small villages which has caused the loss of innocent lives. This policy will only create more support for the Taliban and other extremists. We are calling for respect for the lives, dignity, and culture of Afghan people.

Signed,

Wazhmah Osman

Sedika Mojadidi

Sahar Muradi

Laimah Osman

Zohra Saed