| October 5, 2008 | Afghanistan, War, Freedom and Religion Reverend Jane Bramadat |
The most ambiguous reality is that we are flesh and spirit at the same time.
Afghanistan, war, freedom and religion. What do we know about this country and its experience with war, with freedom, with religion?
Afghanistan is a country - millennia old - about the size of France, completely landlocked and surrounded by Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and even for 76 miles or so, China. It has been called the Crossroads of Civilization because for thousands of years so many different ethnic and cultural groups have crossed through Afghanistan on their way to the east, the west, the north, or the south. Sometimes these groups stopped, fought and conquered the Afghans and after adding their own ethnicities and culture to the mix, moved on. The history of Afghanistan reads like an almost constant war scene. The Moguls, the Persians, the Britons, the Soviets, from within, the Taliban, now the United Nations (with a side-bar from the United States), the United Nations is not trying to conquer Afghanistan, it’s a peace operation in Afghanistan which works to help stabilize the national authority and democratic institutions. But....it’s beginning to have the feel of an endless, hopeless struggle.....and Canada’s involved too....and soldiers are being killed every week by suicide bombers and rockets in a peace operation. This is a strange way to conduct a peace operation.....
I often listen to the CBC radio’s “Afghanada” - a drama about Canadian soldiers on the ground confronting the chaos and violence of life near the front-line of the war. They don’t have the big picture; they’re not interested in the policy. They’re just trying to help the people, protect each other...and survive. Because they’re in a war.....no question about that....
One of the authors I read during my research recounted a mythical story told by a wise old mujahed of how God made Afghanistan: “When Allah had made the rest of the world, He saw that there was a lot of rubbish left over, bits and pieces and things that did not fit anywhere else. He collected them all together and threw them down on to the earth. That was Afghanistan...” (Taliban by Ahmed Rashid) A rather bittersweet way to describe a country, don’t you think? It is certainly a place with a harsh climate and for the most part (80%), land that is not usable for crops. So it is not an easy life for anyone. And perhaps that is why there are such strict rules - everything needs to be tightly controlled in order for survival to be possible.
Another story/myth/ from Jalaluddin Rumi gives a rather startling metaphor for the almost unconscious need to control. The story goes like this:
“A hawk belonging to a king flew away and landed at the house of an old woman. She had never seen a hawk before, and she decided to look after it. She trimmed the hawk’s curved beak into a straight line, cut off its crest and clipped its claws. “There,” she said, when she had finished, “Now you look much more like a pigeon.” (the Storyteller’s Daughter by Saira Shah)
Now you look much more like what I’m used to, so now you’ll fit in and survive.....
Religiously speaking, centuries ago Afghanistan had been briefly Zoroastrian and then Buddhist but for a long time it has been Muslim, and for the most part Sunni Muslim. Sometimes it is a fundamentalist form of Islam and sometimes it is slightly more liberal. But certainly not what we in the West would call liberal. At least not towards women or children.
It is hard for me to speak about the conditions for women in Afghanistan because it is so repressive and still very little appears to be changing. This is in spite of many attempts to bring change to the lot of Afghani women. It is not money that is needed; it is a change from centuries of a perception that women are simply vehicles to bear children and good bargaining chips if differences of opinions arise between families. There is very little freedom for anyone in Afghanistan...but for women...outside of the tenuous safety of marriage that can be ended at the man’s request....almost immediately....no freedom that I could see....
However, when I was the minister in London, ON ten years ago another woman and I started a group to help Afghan women. It was quite a learning experience. There were Afghan women who met with us regularly, but we soon learned that certain women didn’t want to come if certain other women were going to be there. It is like most places - you feel more comfortable with those who are most like you. We had no way of knowing that the various Afghan women in London came from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and they didn’t know how to explain it to us. As Canadians and Unitarians we were perhaps slightly more relaxed about different backgrounds. But it made it difficult to help the women.
Another time my husband and I organised some fund-raising dinners to benefit Afghan women. Both Canadian and Afghan people attended these dinners. Shortly after the dinner had been served, one of the women asked to speak to me privately and told me that my husband had touched one of the Afghan women and that that wasn’t allowed. Now this was not touching as in sexual touching, this was putting a hand on her arm to welcome her to our house. But no touching of any kind was allowed, or else it could mean trouble for the woman.
It was common in our home to welcome people with a hug but now we knew that this would no longer be appropriate if we were entertaining Afghanis. There is so much to learn about each other besides the language we speak.
And it made me more aware of just how sensitive one must always be to customs that are different from one’s own. But more than that, it reminded me that often people who come to Canada as refugees, come quickly without having had any opportunity to learn about customs of this country, or even to give thought to whether or not they wanted to be here in particular. For some people, conditions are so terrible that anywhere else is better than where they are.....
When I said I was going to present this topic I asked the question, “What is the religious liberal response to what is happening in Afghanistan? Is there more we ought to do?Let me tell you what has already been done. The CUC, in December of 2006, sent a letter to Peter MacKay, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning the Canadian military in Afghanistan and “asking the government to undertake a full public review of the impact and effectiveness of its military and other involvements in Afghanistan and [to] specifically request that the role of Canadian troops be examined to ensure that they are providing security to areas where they are welcomed, and are enabling the Afghans to rebuild their country. (The letter continues:) We believe that conflict resolution, peace-building, reconstruction and humanitarian support should be the main focus of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan...”
Regarding Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan......I believe we need to get out of Afghanistan because as long as there’s war as the base, nothing peaceful can happen.
But in talking to Peter Scales yesterday (Peter is a member both here and at Capitol Congregation...and he also sits on the CUC Board) - Peter has told me that the CUC has agreed to support the Unitarian Church of Vancouver’s request to sponsor an Afghan family of 13 who are presently in a refugee camp in Iran. Perhaps there is the possibility in helping those who escape. This project of course, will be a years long task of both time and money but it will help.
What should we do as religious liberals here in Victoria? What ought we to do about or for Afghanistan? What does our faith require of us? It certainly doesn’t want us to live in a fantasy land where we believe that all is sweetness and light, and that all we have to do is think “love” and “justice” and all will be well, in Afghanistan or anywhere else where struggle and tragedy is to be found. No, we know we must strive for these things to become reality.
We must do our utmost with heart and mind, body and spirit, to help the world in which we live and have our being be the best it can be. And this also means that we need to help where we can and not become cynical and despairing. We can’t do it all. But we can do what moves our heart and mind.
Our Social Responsibility Committee is working on so many fronts to improve the lot of so many.
What can you do? Find out what they’re doing and ask to help, help with your resources or your energy - or if you want to start another group, if one of the present groups isn’t working on what does move your heart and mind.....just ask....and you’ll find people willing to listen and help connect you. Or join Women for Women in Afghanistan.....I have the details....there’s a chapter here in Victoria...(British Columbia Chapter, P.O. Box 8613, Victoria BC V8W 3S2; (250) 361-4144...Jennifer Brown?)
Our book “Singing the Living Tradition” is full of readings to keep us as optimistic and determined as possible. Let me end with sharing two of them with you.
I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of despair and fear. My weapons are peaceful, for it is only by peace that peace can be attained. The song of freedom must prevail. (Paul Robeson)
What more needs to be said? Words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of despair and fear abound among us. Speak them! Listen to them!
The Roman historian Tacitus commented on the actions of a Roman general Agricola, who for many years was involved in ruling England. He said:
“Agricola was aware of the temper of the provincials, and took to heart the lesson which the experience of others suggested, that little was accomplished by force if injustice followed.
He began with himself and his own people: he put in order his own house.”
May we, likewise, make sure that our own house, individually and collectively, is in order.
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