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We need to stay in touch with 'normal people' in Afghanistan
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I refuse to leave Afghanistan in 'outside-of-relevant-mainstream-news' land, so, here are stories about the 'normal people' in Afghanistan. I'm sure, like me, you've been curious about how life has been like for them since the Taliban took over the country last August.
Okay, where do I start?
Alive in Afghanistan (AiA) is a good starting point. AiA focuses on covering the people of Afghanistan in provinces that have been out of media attention so far. Recently, they've co-published with ProPublica (a huge non-profit newsroom that investigates abuses of power), working on a pretty significant story about the untold first-hand accounts from Afghan civilians and U.S. Marines who were at Abbey Gate, Kabul airport's last entrance, on August 26.
But back to the stuff they cover that doesn't get much media attention. Here are few things I've learnt reading their articles:
- Some girls cannot go to school even if they wanted to. Not because the Taliban won't allow it but because they have to work to financially support their families. They make carpets, sell plastic bags, polish shoes, wash cars, etc.
- Afghanistan is famous for its woodworking skills. However, in the last few years, deforestation (sometimes on purpose, other times trees were burnt down during combat) has led some timber salespeople to want to become carpenters.
- To get a feeling for this, read this story by Khalid Khadim and Abdul Ahad Poya. It follows one busy working day in the life of 52-year-old Abdul Khaliq. He's a carpenter in Kotaki in the Kunar province. The Taliban takeover has significantly impacted his daily income, from making about US$34 per day to a daily wage of US$6-11 after paying his workers. According to Abdul Khaliq, if the government does not remove the restrictions, the work of carpenters in the province will decline and eventually collapse.
- Miniature art is the sh*t in Herat. It all started with Ostad Kamaluddin Behzad; a man who brought miniature art to its peak in Herat in the 15th or 16th century, with its fame reaching European countries. Centuries after his death in 1450, people in Afghanistan still practice the art of miniatures Behzad-style.
- This story by Abdul Karim Azim is about a family of artists, the Hashemi family in Herat. They decorate glass bottles with miniature painting and have been dependent on the income from selling these objects. Since the Taliban takeover, the Hashemi family has been struggling to make a living.
Are you on Twitter? Follow them if you like their work; they only have 1,540 followers right now.
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We are mourning the death of another female leader in Somalia – Rest in Power, Amina Mohamed Abdi
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There are a lot of political leaders in Somalia; some of them are women. However, a lot of them, especially the women, end up getting killed. The latest victim is a famous member of the Somali Parliament: Amina Mohamed Abdi. She was killed in a suicide bomb last week as she was campaigning for a third term. The militant Islamist group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack but not everyone is convinced.
Why this matters: There are not many young women in Somali politics. Amina Mohamed Abdi was one of the Somali government's most prominent critics. Her death may be linked to the biggest political scandal in Somalia at the moment.
Tell me more about her
Born in Mogadishu, she was an academic and a teacher – later she became known as the outspoken politician who kept running for office (first time was in her early 20s), and kept winning, too. Somali Wire quotes one of her interviews, ‘I was ... brought up ... in a country when there was no government. It is necessary for our children to have a government in order to get the basic rights: security, clean water and quality education.' Still, it was super risky.
How risky?
So risky that the list of female leaders who were politically active and then got murdered is, unfortunately, very long. To mention a few:
- Istarlin Arush, a human rights activist. She was killed at her home in Nairobi in 2002. Some say it was a robbery, others are like 'nope'.
- Saado Ali Warsame, a singer turned politician. She was shot in her car in Mogadishu in 2014.
- Almaas Elman, a Somali-Canadian aid worker. She was shot at the Mogadishu airport complex in 2019; and you know how much security there is at airports.
- Hibaq Abukar, the adviser on women’s rights in the prime minister’s office. She died in a suicide bomb attack in Mogadishu last year.
- Ikran Talil, a 24-year- old intelligence officer. She went missing on 26 June last year, and has not been seen or heard from since. The say that 'it was al Shabaab' but her case is super controversial. It is believed that she had proof that senior government officials in Somalia had sent thousands of Somali soldiers to Ethiopia’s Tigray region to support the Ethiopian military, and to commit atrocities as The Globe and Mail flagged as early as January. They are now all suspected to be dead. However, the government keeps saying, 'We didn't send anyone there, all lies.'
I suppose Mohamed spoke out against the government in support of Talil.
Exactly. 'President Formajo, you're getting rid of Talil to cover up your dirty secrets, right? I know,' she said (I imagined that but you get the picture.) Now, she is gone, too. Mohamed’s friends and family believe that her murder was politically motivated – an assassination. They have demanded an international investigation into the killing.
What does the government say?
The presidency has condemned the attack that claimed Mohamed’s life, and sent condolences to her family. However, Somalia's prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, is like “I’m as certain as death itself that those who killed Amina were the same people who killed Ikran,” he said, speaking at a prayer meeting in Mogadishu in Mohamed’s honour.
In other but Tigray-related news, there is a maybe-ceasefire on its way to Ethiopia's Tigray region but everyone's still so very skeptical. Why? It's been a week since it was a kind-of declared by the Ethiopian government but no humanitarian aid has arrived in Tigray yet. (Btw, I talked about this in German in last week's episode of Die Wochendämmerung podcast.)
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We finally have a labour union at Amazon in the United States – it's the first one worldwide, too
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People working at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, United States voted 'yes, we want to be represented by a labour union!'.
Why this matters: This is the first labour union at Amazon (it's got 1.6 million employees globally) and one of the biggest victories for organized labor in a generation in the United States.
Wait, what?
I know, SO exciting. This is all thanks to the work of Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer and countless others at Amazon Labour Union, short ALU. ALU is an independent group made up of current and former workers at Amazon in Staten Island. To be honest, "it was a union organizing campaign that few expected to have a chance," write Karen Weise and Noam Schreiber for The New York Times.
Why did they think that?
Well, a handful of employees at Amazon’s massive warehouse on Staten Island, operating without support from national labor organizations, taking on one of the most powerful companies in the world? Yeah, sure. Also, a similar effort last year fell short in Alabama.
Okay, I get it now. So, how did they do it?
By holding picnics, getting arrested, delivering free pizzas, organizing at bus stops and sharing videos on TikTok. Josefa Velasquez talked to ALU for The City to understand them better.
- Are you on TikTok? Follow the organizing campaign at @amazonlabourunion. I personally only saw one of their videos on my For You page but I saw other similar ones like this, this and this one.
- Btw, the fact that this union organizing campaign got so much public exposure is "pretty unusual," says Joshua Freeman, a history professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. Thank you, social media.
What are the workers' demands now?
They’re seeking a US$30-an-hour minimum wage (they currently get US$17) and better working conditions, including two paid 30-minute breaks and an hour-long paid lunch break, along with transparent promotion policies.
Tell me more about Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer. Who are they?
Smalls is the the president of the Amazon Labor Union. He lives in Newark, is 33 years old and he's got gold drills and tattoos of his kids' names. I mention the way he looks because Amazon back then tried to discredit him because of the way he looks. In a leaked memo of a meeting, Amazon executives, including CEO Jeff Bezos, said Smalls was "not smart, or articulate." They even wanted to create a media narrative around him to make Smalls "the face of the entire union/organizing movement. "However, many of the employees look more like Smalls — largely young, Black, Latino, working class and urban — than Bezos," writes Velasquez. Basically, Gen Z of color. And Palmer? He's a simple guy, also 33 years old. Smalls was his supervisor but now they're friends. Together, they had the idea to form ALU. He grew up in New Jersey, wanting to become an actor like Denzel Washington. His mom has been his rock.
What's Amazon's reply?
"We’re disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees." Basically, they're butt-hurt as they spent US$4.3 million on anti-union consultants nationwide last year.
Zoom out: In South Africa, workers were not so successful in unionizing. Daniel Motaung spent six traumatic months moderating isiZulu content on Facebook. After he tried to unionize – to demand fairer pay and better working conditions – he was fired. He is still determined to fight for colleagues still in the digital trenches.
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OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING
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First, the bad news
United States: There was another mass shooting. This time, it was in Sacramento, California. Six people died.
Qatar: The country banned gay symbols in its events for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The neutral
Sudan: The trial of another a**hole responsible for the war crimes in Darfur in the early 2000s is about to start. His name is Ali Muhammed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kosheib. (I put this under 'neutral' because I don't yet know what the trial will be like.)
Jordan: A former Crown Prince of Jordan, Hamzah bin Hussein, said that he'll remove the "Prince" from his title because his personal beliefs are not in line with the "modern methods of our institutions". He has been under house arrest since last March after he accused Jordanian leaders of corruption and incompetence. (I put this under 'neutral' because let's not idolize people for doing the bare minimum.)
El Salvador: March 24 marked the 42nd anniversary of Monsignor Romero’s death. Saint Oscar Romero, a very famous human rights spokesperson, was assassinated in 1980 after celebrating mass in El Salvador.
And now, the good news
Poland: A regional court in the border town of Hajnówka ruled that pushbacks against migrants on the Belarus–Poland border violated Polish law (Polish).
Yemen: The Saudi-led military coalition suspended all military activity in Yemen. Why? 'Ramadan Kareem', basically. Let's see.
Madagascar: Madagascar has finally joined the African Court for Human and Peoples’ Rights. (You should know that this is not a very efficient court.)
Algeria: The country wants to help its many young unemployed people (it is one of the first countries in Africa to do so). As a result, a new unemployment benefit programme will pay about 600,000 people aged 19 to 40 around US$100 a month.
Tanzania: Three newspapers that got banned under former president, John Magufuli, are officially allowed to operate again. The newspapers are Mawio, MwanaHALISI Mseto and Tanzania Daima.
Science: The Hubble Space Telescope discovered the star with the biggest commitment issues in the universe. Its name is Earendel and it is 28 billion light-years away from Earth; meaning it is 900 million years old.
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On a terrifying Sci-Fi level note
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Drones, artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance towers, and now military-grade ‘robo-dogs,’ might soon be deployed to the border between the United States and Mexico. This is how they look... and walk.
Todd Miller and Petra Molnar wrote more about this in The Border Chronicles.
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That's it from me for this week. If you want to stay connected on social media, follow me on Twitter or on Instagram.
Bye,
Sham
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