There is an African proverb stating that, “if you want to go quickly, go alone; and if you want to go far, go together.” In my case, however, I need to go quickly AND far. The better future is now knocking our doors in Afghanistan and I believe I have the power to seize the opportunity and define my own future.
Fortunately, I have already known about the “Open Society Institute” through Karl R Popper’s most famous book named the same as the institute. I read that book sometime ago and was fascinated by it. And, now I consider myself fortunate indeed to pursue my desire for furthering my higher education under the auspices of this institute.
After returning to Afghanistan from a grueling and harsh refugee-of-war life in Iran, I have started working as an editor and columnist in the socio-political section of a widely-read newspaper ‘Asre Goftogo” published in Kabul and other big cities in Afghanistan.
Since the multitude of problems facing college students in Afghanistan always deeply concerned me, I decided to break out of “safe” topics and write about, and discuss, students’ rights and issues that are vital to their livelihood and success. I did, and my article seemed to have galvanized university students across Kabul and encouraged them to start organizing for their rights and staging protest rallies.
Currently, by helping pro-bono a Ph.D. candidate from the US, who is doing her research on Afghan Media Wazhmah Osman, I have recognized the fact that I have a deep understand of my country Afghanistan and its peoples, anecdotally and through my research works. I can therefore confidently proclaim that my first-hand knowledge of Afghan media networks, their activities, their survivability, what they are mostly up against, effectively compliments the theoretical knowledge of any journalism student from abroad. This in turn empowers me to propose more effective ideas for the advancement of free media in Afghanistan, and integrate it as part of my planned academic work in completing my thesis at a graduate program in journalism in Canada.
I am also preparing to compose an in-depth history of Afghan media after I finish working with this Ph.D. researcher. Additionally, I am thinking of translating her dissertation into Dari (the lingua franca of Afghanistan) since I believe that journalists of Afghanistan need, and can benefit a lot from, her great work of research and scholarship.
Further, to gain a more thorough understanding of issues pertaining to the field of communications in Afghanistan, I secured the formal permission and have therefore started translating a book by a Kabul University professor Esmatullahi about new thoughts toward journalism, from Dari into English.
Recently, I have also proposed to a popular TV network, Negaah, in Afghanistan to produce a program on informing public how free media contributes to the development of civil society and freedom of speech in Afghanistan and, how independent press can neutralize the surge of threats that may very well undermine the human rights in our country. This proposed program will additionally cover the ethics of journalism, and ways public and private communication media can take root here.
As a director, a columnist, a member of the fragile Afghanistan’s Journalists Union, a prolific translator, and as a literary critic, I have begun writing a book about the taboo of homosexuality in Afghanistan so that I express myself as a gay which in Afghanistan is considered a crime punishable by death.
I sincerely believe that the world now needs a universal treaty offering protection to those who have long vowed to bring international peace. I, though not as an academician and a theorist, have articulated two new ideas in regards to the potential role of media and mass communications in bringing about a definite resolution to the current bloody conflict in Afghanistan. First, the international community can lend support and nourish rising activists and journalists like me by facilitating my access to means of higher education. Secondly, make the Afghan conflict resolution possible by strengthening the media as the fourth branch of governance and a pillar of democracy and civil society in my country.
Realizing that our current problems mainly originate from religion-fed issues like suicide attacks, violence against women, Islamic extremism, clash between traditionalism and modernity, I have taken it upon myself to establish an understanding of the world around us and the world fundamentalist Islam is trying to undermine, by systematically studying other major religions of the world. In doing so, I have started learning Hebrew in order to facilitate my idea about inter-religions reconciliation and harmony.
Advancing my theoretical and academic knowledge of the concept of independent media, and its role in promoting civil society and freedom of speech in a post-war society such as that of Afghanistan, and learning from the West in how to tack the vital needs of Afghan Media, are the main drive behind my quest to study for Master’s Degree in Media Studies.
