Over 50 years ago, when my plane landed in Kabul after the short flight from Tehran, which was the final leg of a long trip from America, I entered a country that still looked largely as if it were stuck in pre-industrial times.
To be an Afghan in 1969 meant you were probably poor, illiterate and engaged in some sort of subsistence agriculture.
Of all the ethnic groups I became familiar with during my years there as an English teacher — the Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Aimaq, Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjari and others — none were as oppressed or discriminated against as severely as the Hazara.
Some Afghans justified this mistreatment by repeating rumors that the Hazara were descended from the Mongolian hordes of Ghengiz Khan, which had devastated much of Afghanistan many centuries ago. They repeated the same rumors about other groups, like the Uzbek.
But what was obvious was that the Hazara alone were treated like less than human, subjected to physical and verbal abuse as bad or worse than that afforded black people in the most racist sections of the Deep South in the U.S. at that time.
As one who had visited that region and seen what was happening with first hand as a civil rights activist and a budding student journalist, I had developed an ear for the stories of people living under racist and oppressive conditions.
Fast forward to last year and the ascendancy of the ruthless Taliban forces in Afghanistan as they took over the country in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal of all of its military forces and diplomatic personnel.
Many feared that one repercussion of the Taliban takeover would be the resumption of wholesale ethnic violence against the Hazara, who had been relatively protected during the U.S. occupation, sent their children to school for 20 years, and gotten jobs in the cities.
That ethnic violence has indeed occurred.
So I’ve been covering it here in a modest way courtesy of my young, anonymous Hazara friend in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, and distributing his stories through my pages on Substack and Facebook.
My correspondent is a remarkable person with a journalist’s eye as he records the details of life as he sees it around him. As we work together, his English is improving. That means he is emerging as a new voice for his people, not only the Hazara but all Afghans — a voice that deserves to be heard here in the West.
To date, I’ve published 30 pf his reports.
And today, thanks to my friends Mary Sturges and Elizabeth English, I am linking to two additional resources that provide context to the struggle facing the Hazara — an article from the New Statesman and a well-sourced entry on Wikipedia.
I will continue to speak out on this issue as long as it takes to bring attention to what is essentially the genocide of the Hazara people. Anyone who knows the slightest bit about my history as a journalist understands why.
TODAY’s NEWS (39):
Personal story: I am Hazara – and I fear for my persecuted people (New Statesman)
Persecution of Hazara people (Wikipedia)
The "Nobody Knows" Genocide: Afghan Conversation.30: The slaughter of the Hazara (me)
Ukraine says it hit Russian command post (AP)
Before visit by U.S. officials, Ukraine pushes for more arms (WP)
As Western Arms Pour Into Ukraine, Zelensky Promises Victory (NYT)
Putin abandons hopes of Ukraine deal and shifts to land-grab strategy (Financial Times)
Ukrainian reservists shift from civilian life to battlefields (WP)
Russia is "trying to depopulate the east of Ukraine," says Zelensky administration adviser (CNN)
Germany has a special responsibility to stop Putin’s evil (Financial Times)
Warsaw’s Welcome Mat Risks Fraying Under Strain of a New Refugee Surge (NYT)
UN: Over 5.16 million people have fled Ukraine (NHK)
The Belarusian railway workers who helped thwart Russia’s attack on Kyiv (WP)
Ukraine reports over 240 cases of damage to cultural heritage by Russian forces (NHK)
Emmanuel Macron wins France's presidential election (CNN)
Beijing races to contain 'urgent and grim' Covid outbreak as Shanghai lockdown continues (CNN)
Shanghai fences up COVID-hit areas, fuelling fresh outcry (Reuters)
Their mom died of COVID. They say conspiracy theories are what really killed her (NPR)
Only 29% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients fully well one year on: Study (CNA)
COVID shots still work but researchers hunt new improvements (AP)
Israel Closes Gaza Border in Effort to Pressure Hamas to Halt Rocket Attacks (WSJ)
‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens (NYT)
Overdoses, not COVID-19, drive spike in LA homeless deaths (AP)
VIDEO: Worried Sick: A Journey Into the Anxious Teenage Mind (NYT)
What Sarah Palin Really Wants Out of Her Return to Politics (Politico)
Kevin McCarthy and the intoxication of power (Dan Balz/WP)
The Plan to Make Michigan the Next Space State — Residents are up in arms about a proposed spaceport project, the first of its kind in the Midwest, which would involve launching rockets near the shoreline of Lake Superior. (New Yorker)
Parade of planets: 4 planets to line up in sky this weekend, joined by moon next week (NJ.com)
After the relentless rain, South Africa sounds the alarm on the climate crisis (Guardian)
Workers Are Changing Jobs, Raking In Big Raises—and Keeping Inflation High (WSJ)
Love Actually Star Bill Nighy Recalls Hilarious Incident Involving A US Customs Official And His Most Famous Line From Rom-Com (Yahoo)
Encouraging Reports Confirm Explosions Near Afghan School Kill Zero Ukrainians (The Onion)
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