Afghanistan Between Survival and Cultural Heritage -

Afghanistan Between Survival and Cultural Heritage

by Giulia Cristofoli

Before I start, let me make some things clear. This article has been written from a Western perspective. I have been raised as a catholic white woman. And although I don’t claim any religion, it still influenced my upbringing and my conceptions of the world. I have always lived in democratic countries that praised freedom and where I, as a woman, felt (to some extent) that I could fight for my right to have a voice. My experience with censorship is very limited. My strive for, and deep belief in, freedom of speech is a clear bias when interpreting and thinking about issues from elsewhere. Thus, although a clear research process was executed for this writing, all interpretations are dependant on my own cognitive biases, just as they will be read and interpreted by your own biases. What I’m trying to say is don’t take what I write here as a universal truth. Take it as a starting point for reflection.

If you read, watched or listened to the news at some point in the last three months, you have most likely seen the chaos that is happening in Afghanistan after the retreat of the American troops and the rise of the Taliban. Many have tried to flee the country fearing for their lives, seeking refuge elsewhere. Some succeeded; some are still living in a game of hiding and seek with their survival at stake.

The rise of the Taliban has brought all sorts of questions for the future of the country and its people, one of them being the cultural heritage. They claim that this time it will be different. The group says to have learned a lot since 2001, promising a different Taliban that respects minorities and protects women’s rights within the limits of the religious laws of Islam.

Yet, the past comes to hunt us. In 2001, the Taliban destroyed two giant Buddhas from the 6^th century at Bamiyan, shocking the international community with this attack against cultural heritage. Instead of leaving it in the past, the Taliban reminds us of the tragedy by nominating the new interim Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the one responsible for ordering the destruction of the statues back then. To complete their reminiscence, the statue of Abdul Ali Mazari, a Hazara leader tortured and killed by the Taliban in 1995, was decapitated and replaced with a replica of the Koran in form of a sculpture earlier in the month (10/11/2021).

The Taliban’s aversion to iconography had an immediate impact on Afghan artists. From hiding paintings to simply destroying them, many of them try to find ways to stay alive. The search for projects abroad that could take them out of the country has risen. It is up to the point that their main preoccupation is not their art anymore or the destruction of a life’s work, but the simple survival of their country.

The rather rapid death of artistic practices doesn’t come only from artists’ attempts to not be persecuted, but also from the Taliban’s deliberate attempts to take art out of everyday life. Although no official claim has been made, music lessons and radio casting of songs have stopped; film production is rarely existent. The imposition of those rules comes often from forces that are out of the Taliban’s official control. Indeed, there was recently an attack on a wedding for playing music. Although the government has condemned the actions and detained the shooters, it doesn’t have the power to prevent something like that from happening again.

The Taliban believes that the art present in Afghanistan is mainly propaganda of the former government. In a context where everything is censored, any art becomes subversive. That is why the project ArtLords, in which artists painted over the walls that served as barriers for explosions before, have been painted over in white. Now, the colourful image of hope the murals brought is covered with religious poetry.

Practicing art in Afghanistan was never easy. Even during these last 20 years of American occupation, the cultural sector had been struggling with explosions attempts and precarious conditions. But difficulties on the way didn’t stop Kabul, for instance, from becoming a thriving cultural centre. However, the issue is much more complicated now. Traditional society frowned upon Fahima Mirzaie because she was a woman performing a Sufi spiritual dance. Before, “heretic” was just a label. Now it’s a death sentence.

I could keep on naming personal stories of artists that are in danger, that have fled or that have witnessed the erasure of their work. But the point is that we are facing a horrible situation here. The destruction of works, be it a 6^th-century Buddha statue or a contemporary exhibition that never got to its opening, art has the important function of remembrance. A lot of what we learned about our past as humans became known through art objects that have survived to tell the tale. Major changes in society have been reflected in artistic practices. Movements of resistance usually pass through the subversive power of art to fight for their rights. It is moments such as these that we realize the importance art can have for us as a society, as humans.

And I’m not saying that we should focus on exporting paintings instead of saving people. What I’m saying is that we are facing an impossible situation. Of course, artists that are in danger should be rescued. Musicians who are close to starvation because they had to stop their practices, or artists that are hidden in fear that showing their faces will mean their end, should receive help. However, we need to think of the consequences of removing the creative minds of a country. Art is about expression; it is also about contesting power through questioning dogmas and inciting reflection; it is subversive by its appeal to sympathy and empathy in a segregated hierarchical society; it is an inspiration of hope and actions for people. If you cast aside art practice to the underground, it is dangerous for those who practice it to be discovered. Also, their work will only be seen by a small part of those who have access, which would contradict the purpose of the diversity of expression necessary to achieve art’s subversive role. But removing artists from a place would be erasing the very possibility of it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the solution to this conundrum that I believe many are experiencing right now. However, we should be aware that the problem exists. One moment, Afghanistan will stop hitting the news because it won’t be novel enough and journalists will grow out of new angles. And at this moment, it is our duty as citizens of the world to remember. I agree that we can’t move mountains alone. But what we can do is pay attention to what our national actors are doing about it, how they are planning to help. Are they willing to negotiate and legitimize the Taliban by believing in their reformed image? Or are they going to use their geopolitical influence to help Afghans in the way they need and want to be helped (and not by just holding another American occupation)?