The Road Not Taken

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

taken from the last stanza of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken
from The Mountain Interval, 1920

Thought Cloud

Tor_Khan تور خان

Farcebook

The recent Facebook contoversy has generated a lot of interest, not least because Pakistan and Muslims are in the news yet again. And whereas, there's nothing wrong being Muslim, it's a typical hysteric reaction from many different sides.

The Muslims, in the main, oppose this rather provocative trend of drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad PBUH that has gained pace since the Danish cartoon controversy. The government of Pakistan decided to ban Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc. in a gesture to control the spread of this, particularly after a "Draw Mohammad Day" was announced and promoted via some of these mediums.

I guess, the rights and wrongs of the ban are one thing. The greater wrong has been the media momentum with which the "draw" brigade has gained voice. There is absolutely no such thing as complete free speech and whereas, I too, use this blog to voice thought and opinon, I know that I concisously filter before I write. I know that there will be an audience somewhere that will read this - and that I can choose to write to inflame or not.

Facebook or Not

The Internet represents a window on the world, that is both cruel and fascinating and as such is the home of many undesirables. Pakistan's decision to ban Facebook, controls only parts of that. The country continues to have problems at home, not least with it's over-dependency on the US, chronic power and supply shortages, a restless population and a real sense of seperation between population and state in the Pashtoon and Baloch belt. In the latter there is an armed resistance movement that opposes the state and in the former, a people divided - with evidence to suggest that paid agents of the state have inflitrated and embedded within local populations so that everyone is caught in the quagmire that is the war on terror.

The cartoonist at the centre of the controversy - has apologised - but in terms of negative publicity, heightened alarm, and entrenched positions ... well the damage is deep, and that isn't as easily undone.

Thirsty World

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

The fundamental notion that environmental sustainability is only achievable through mass control on population growth, is one that needs some challenge. The reason is simple. People are not the problem. It is consumerism that strips the earth of the ability to recover in time, that is.

One of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals is Environmental Sustainability and interestingly, whilst many of the development goals look at what is happening in the developing world, here is one for the industrialised nations of the world. It is about balance, not necessarily about whole-scale reduction in lifestyle, but that key realisation that as Gandhi says, "is about satisfying need, not greed."

When we consider that fashionable "designer" waters are predicted to be an $86.5 million industry by 2011, let's also bear in mind that 42% of the rural poor around the world, still, don't have fresh, clean drinking water and that 2.6 billion people do not have access to safe clean sanitation on a planet that where the land surface is 70% water. There is plenty of water, but much, much, work to do.

Every 3.6 seconds

More than 30 per cent of children in developing countries – about 600 million – live on less than US $1 a day and every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of 5.

Poverty hits children hardest. The first, 2015 Millennium Development Goal is to work towards the reduction by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Some of these are very much connected. For example, there is a natural connection between the goal to improve maternal health care and child health care and movements towards the reduction of poverty focussing on children would be connected to access to universal primary education.

This still remains a Millennium Promise by the UN. Is it possible?

Five years will tell.

Who and Why?

The Hidden Enemy

Universal Primary Education is one of the Millenium Development Goals. I could write much more on this, but consider the picture here, taken from the BBC. It shows an outdoor school in an unidentified Pashtoon area. This, unfortunately is the plight of many Pashtoon children. These are the children who will, of course, shape the future.

In an earlier posting, I said I would return to this topic, so here goes. A report on BBC Pashto some weeks back began with:

په پېښور کې د اپريل په ١٩ مه نېټه د يوۀ ښوونځي د باندې چاودنه وشوه ، دا لومړى ځل نه و چې په خيبر پښتونخوا ، قبايلو يا د افغانستان په جنوبي ولايتونو کې ښوونځي په نښه کېږي

On April 19th in Peshawar, there was an attack on a school. This is the not the first time this has happened to schools in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, the Tribal Areas or the southern provinces of Afghanistan.

The question that was asked was:

پښتني سيمو کې ښوونځي څوک خرابوي او ولې ؟

Who* is attacking schools in Pashtoon areas, and why?

The responses to the question spoke of an "enemy" working to prevent Pashtoon educational progress. Who this enemy is - was not really identified, so the question about who* is behind the attacks remains. Fingers continue to point, but without knowing who the enemy is, can it be possible to begin to work out a solution?

For me, as an educationlist, and a Pashtoon, this is particularly troubling.

خادم الافغان- کابل
څرګنده ده چې د پښتنو د ښوونځیو سوځول د پښتنو د دښمنانو کار دی. دوی نه پرېږدي چې پښتانه له تعلیم برخمن شي

Khadim Al Afghan - Kabul

Apparently, the buring of Pashtoon schools is the work of the enemies* of the Pashtoons. They do not want Pashtoons to be educated.

حکيم الله ـ هندوستان
دوی د پښتنو په سيمو کې ښوونځي سوځوي، ځکه چې پښتانه يووالی نه لري، دوی نالوستي او د افغانستان دښمنان دي، دوی په دې کارونو سره امتياز اخلي

Hakimullah - India
They* can burn schools in Pashtoon areas because the Pashtoons are disunited and they* are the enemies of [ending] illiteracy and Afghanistan. It is to their* advantage to do this.

*whom exactly?

Tor_Khan تور خان

I Feel Black

Black is a good word. Tor is a good word.
True to my name, I feel black.
I am تور خان .
I am the Dark Prince.

Millennium Development Goals

"We must not fail the billions who look to the international community to fulfil the promise of the Millennium Declaration for a better world." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

Without a major shift in how we run our economies and the politics of power and money, nothing much will change.

When I read that in today's Bangladesh 40 percent of population of 150 million lives on less that $1 a day, I'm reminded that the UN Millennium Goals may end up being empty rhetoric. 10 years from the Millennium Summit in 2000 when the goals were agreed and with 5 years left to achieve them, I wonder at the vastness of the task.

I completely agree with the principles. I'm consumed by a kind of pessimism that means I can't see the change, unless there is that massive shift in economic politics in order to achieve this. To remind us of the goals that were agreed in 2000 (be achieved world-wide by 2015):

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
• Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Whilst we are distracted by war, greed and power games, we need a reminder that we have five years left. This is an incredible task. Over the coming postings, I'd like to look at some of these.

Falsum in Omnibus

I'm a democrat - in that I subscribe to the idea of free citizenry and the right to vote. I live in the UAE, where I am not a citizen and where there is no real tradition of voting, but in the UK, where I was raised, voting has long been a tradition.

Or rather an ever decreasing tradition. There has been a major shift away from voting in all the major Western democracies since the 1960s with the exception perhaps of places like Australia (where benefits of citizenry and the duty to vote are closely linked - even then, it's not what I would call a free choice, which is what one would expect of a democracy.) Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama writes in Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity that social welfare and government involvement in people's lives reduces voter participation. When your bellies are full and the problems seem far away, there's less inclination to vote. If there was a hypothetical election on the Gulf, where nationals are well taken care of - from cradle to grave - I wonder if people would just vote for the status quo? In the UK, the increasing interference in peoples lives by the government has not gotten any easier in all the time that I've known. I wonder, at times, if a society like that can actually call itself truly free?

Political Blur: Falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus*

Distant governments, perhaps, are better at motivating people to want change. The UK, voted this week and recieved in return a hung parliament. No outright majority and a scramble by the political parties to form coalitions, partnerships and to play a game of watchmanship and secret meetings. To my distant eyes, it might be fair to say that voter turn out may be influenced (as well as by busy lives) by the perception that at the top it makes no difference. Be it Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, they will find ways of interfering in individual lives. Political choice is like choosing between McPlasticFoodBurgers and McMoreoftheSame. I guess it was easier when the parties represented widely differing philosophies, but in today's politically safe world of middle-ground electioneering, plastic food for plastic people is the sole political offering.

Mmm ... political blur ... not a very exciting menu, I think.

* false in one thing, false in everything

Books, Pens and Bombs

With the reported re-emergence of the Taliban in Swat, the news that the Pakistan army operation in Waziristan did not succeed in 'eliminating' Hakimullah Mehsud, the recent report that a French missile strike killed children in Kapisa and that the US reports that the violence in Kandahar is set to get worse, the mood is mixed. I look at the situation with confusion. Nothing appears to be black and white. What does the world want with Pashtoons? Why are we unable to find the solutions to move forwards? We have such a wonderful culture, so why must I lament?

نه مې کتاب ملگرى ، نه زۀ قلم پېژنم
Na mi kitab malgaree, na za qalam pejanam
Books are not my friend, and nor do I recognise pens

This song comes from the BBC studios, 1999. Sung by Hashmat Asmand, composed by Mohammed Karawan. The words just break my heart. The discussion - who is ruining schools in Pashtoon areas is explored here. This is something that I would like to come back to in a future posting, InshAllah. Meanwhile may Allah, keep us all safe.

Tor_Khan تور خان