A Timely Template for Reconciliation
As wild as Central Asia may be, the rule of law has deep roots. Just about everyone misses it. Beside Islamic law and western civil codes, are older unwritten traditions. These laws were, are, necessary if towns and cities are to ply the deserts, trading. The nomads control the hinterland, right up to the city wall. The great empires of the Persians, the Arabs, the Turks, the Mongols successfully integrated nomadic populations into a large scheme of food production - the temple, the state. In recent centuries the nomads have been crowded into settlement camps, driven off their lands, by 'modern states.'
Much of Central Asia is fit only for herds of sheep, cattle, horses, mules and donkeys. What else can one do with 'virgin lands'? Nomads can be found today in Turkey, Jordan, Israel, occupied Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan and India. These are the full or pure nomads, able to live outside strictures and structures. But even they had to trade with settled folk.
If you want to meet nomads just go to truck depots and hang out. It is expected that you know a common language. If so, then aim to travel with them. If not possible, then try to meet other older former nomads now living in the city or town.
The former Soviet republics, together with Mongolia, are undergoing great stresses. A lack of maintenance, a lack of engineers and funds, has led to intermittent clean water. That means schools cannot open. Thousands of acres of cotton fields receive water in preference to the poor human citizens. Since the Uzbek government(s) make so much off mono-cultivating cotton, there is little incentive to diversify.
All the former Soviet republics have made this decision: not to follow Russia, Islam or the West, but their own poets. We hope soon to have in place several poetry prizes. These contests have the potential of restoring to the Central Asian peoples, a classical tradition they all shared.
The world community can easily commission translations and reprints. The contests call for poems written in the classic style. What better way of fighting al Qaida propaganda?
This search for a means of reconciliation in Afghanistan goes back some 30 years. Exhaustion of all parties might impose a peace of its own. The recent lull of suicide bombs in Pakistan probably means the extremist commanders are now in Afghanistan.
We see nothing wrong about pretending to live in the 7th century. Most salafis are harmless. Certainly any attempt to command others, to boss them, bully them, puts them all at risk. Many in the Taliban are proud to be so poor, like the prophet, and there is nothing wrong in it. But once they join together to seize power or assassinate officials or critics, or explode bombs killing innocents, then they need be fought against.
The Tashkent film festival was a blow out, with over 20 bands playing...
As wild as Central Asia may be, the rule of law has deep roots. Just about everyone misses it. Beside Islamic law and western civil codes, are older unwritten traditions. These laws were, are, necessary if towns and cities are to ply the deserts, trading. The nomads control the hinterland, right up to the city wall. The great empires of the Persians, the Arabs, the Turks, the Mongols successfully integrated nomadic populations into a large scheme of food production - the temple, the state. In recent centuries the nomads have been crowded into settlement camps, driven off their lands, by 'modern states.'
Much of Central Asia is fit only for herds of sheep, cattle, horses, mules and donkeys. What else can one do with 'virgin lands'? Nomads can be found today in Turkey, Jordan, Israel, occupied Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan and India. These are the full or pure nomads, able to live outside strictures and structures. But even they had to trade with settled folk.
If you want to meet nomads just go to truck depots and hang out. It is expected that you know a common language. If so, then aim to travel with them. If not possible, then try to meet other older former nomads now living in the city or town.
The former Soviet republics, together with Mongolia, are undergoing great stresses. A lack of maintenance, a lack of engineers and funds, has led to intermittent clean water. That means schools cannot open. Thousands of acres of cotton fields receive water in preference to the poor human citizens. Since the Uzbek government(s) make so much off mono-cultivating cotton, there is little incentive to diversify.
All the former Soviet republics have made this decision: not to follow Russia, Islam or the West, but their own poets. We hope soon to have in place several poetry prizes. These contests have the potential of restoring to the Central Asian peoples, a classical tradition they all shared.
The world community can easily commission translations and reprints. The contests call for poems written in the classic style. What better way of fighting al Qaida propaganda?
This search for a means of reconciliation in Afghanistan goes back some 30 years. Exhaustion of all parties might impose a peace of its own. The recent lull of suicide bombs in Pakistan probably means the extremist commanders are now in Afghanistan.
We see nothing wrong about pretending to live in the 7th century. Most salafis are harmless. Certainly any attempt to command others, to boss them, bully them, puts them all at risk. Many in the Taliban are proud to be so poor, like the prophet, and there is nothing wrong in it. But once they join together to seize power or assassinate officials or critics, or explode bombs killing innocents, then they need be fought against.
The Tashkent film festival was a blow out, with over 20 bands playing...
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