Afghan youth are quietly encouraged by the Egyptian uprising because the people of Afghanistan want what the people of Egypt want.
We are all Bouazizi.
We want dignified livelihoods.
Dare any scientist prove to us that 30 years of wars and more to come will successfully bring us decent livelihoods? Dare any human being prove to us that mutual killings somehow bring men and women some measure of murderous dignity?
Aren’t any of you curious about whether there are any ‘stirrings of Middle East change’ in Afghanistan?”
Are we Afghans so ‘animal-like’ that we are not capable of protesting for our bread and butter? Or is the world poised, in propagandic or silent complicity, to shoot any Afghan protester even before they take to the streets?
Why isn’t there even an Afghan ‘blip’ in the mainstream news?
The publicity-hungry Al Jazeera is also not picking up any ‘blip’ from Afghanistan, perhaps not even asking the needed questions, not even pursuing leaks.
No one notices us, not even when 103 of us burn ourselves, far less when we are dead.
We are saddened by the inhumane ‘oversight’ from the general public and mainstream media of the world. We are puzzled that Nobel Peace Prize Winners have neglected to comment about the War in Afghanistan. Is it perhaps because their 2009 ‘fellow-winner-friend’ Obama is the War Commander-in-Chief who is prosecuting War as the way to Peace. Do Nobel Peace Prize Winners approve of the approximately 2400 Afghan civilians killed in 2010 as just?
Come to Afghanistan, face ANY Afghan mother, and tell her that this is your justice.
We’re convinced that those in Power do believe that killing Afghans brings peace.
And we understand that the rest of the world is too busy, too remote and too uninvolved in human tragedy to ‘stir’. You would NEVER believe that this tragedy has strengthened our love for the non-violence seen clearly in our Egyptian friend Shereef and his People.
At least Wisconsin, and many other Middle Eastern places are stirring for themselves, so ‘Go for it, People of Wisconsin, People of Tunisia & Egypt, People of Bahrain, People of Libya, we ordinary Afghans share your moral rage.’
Didn’t we try to tell you? We are all Bouazizi.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy