Thesis Book - Seeds of Hope

Afghan Artists now have buried their paintings in their homes and compounds in
fear of history repeating itself. Well-known filmmakers have fled the country
after burying their hard drives of films created in a secure location. In fear
of being punished, booksellers have also either burned or concealed books that
are deemed offensive to the Taliban such as the translated religious books into
Dari and Pashto. The History of destroying precious art, film, and music has
reopened people’s fear and anxiety about protecting and preserving their culture
2.5 Present Issue Endangers Culture Once Again
During the first Taliban rule, there was a ban on music including
all instrumental music. This Period was considered the “Dark Age” of music
because during this time, the Taliban were destroying music cassettes and
video-tap instruments and even arrested musicians and hosts. No public performances,
music, festivals were allowed, even in private events like weddings
and engagements. Radio stations which had a prominent role in developing
the golden age of music were used to record and play their chants (Sakata).
(Raghavan). Many fear that the Taliban will soon reverse the development of
freedom and speech with their extreme vision of Islam righteousness. The Taliban
believe that when painting a human being or an animal, you are giving life and
spirit to a piece of paper (Raghavan). “Those artists will not easily be able
to work as freely as they used to. And they were so free.” Said Sahraa Karimi
(Raghavan). Artists in today’s world are a big part of the country’s society. After
the recent takeover in 2021, many artists such as Habibi had meetings with the
senior Taliban official in the Cultural Ministry to convince them that art is not
against sharia law and that it is the main part of the Afghan culture which also
helps strengthen the country’s economy, however, he has yet to hear from them.
The Taliban group has mentioned they will not let history repeat itself
and will let the citizens of the country keep their art galleries, bookstores, and
music stores open. However, there is a complete difference in what the Taliban are
saying on camera and their actions off camera. In August 2021, the fighters shot a
well-known Afghan singer Fawad Andarabi in the north mountain village of Kabul and
it was barely mentioned in the news as the Taliban control most of the news television
channels (Raghavan). The Taliban also silenced the population when protests
were going on about the flag change of the country during the Afghan independence
day. Sadly, the protesters were met with violent crackdowns by forces (Finnegan).
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