Friday, June 03, 2011

Green Is The Colour.

The BBC notices our comrades in the Afghan Baseej (Besij e Melli - the People's Mobilization) and our dear friend Omar Parwani, all in one go:

The internet may not be widely available across Afghanistan but it's increasingly popular among young urban Afghans in their 20s and 30s, who log on via their mobile phones. In the past few weeks these young users have set up a wave of new Facebook sites to support the National Movement.

Among them, is the Anti Taliban Movement, a Persian and English language site set up by Kabul university student Omar Ahmad Parwani. Omar says he is inspired by the uprisings sweepings across the Arab world and how they found focus and support with educated youth online.

The Anti-Taliban Movement already has 8,000 members and the number is growing every day. In postings on the site people share their fears about the fragile state of their country and say it is time for change to come through the internet rather than the power of the gun. "The government of Afghanistan wants to subject all of us to the Taliban again," says Omar. "We don't want our people to be drowned again. We want to save them."

Omar is a nephew of my friend and collaborator Abdulrahim Parwani, co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee. Here's a photo of Omar I snapped at a family gathering at the home farm near Charikar last summer:

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