What is “Afghan Lives Matter”?
Afghan Lives Matter or ALM is a movement against the discrimination and racism Afghans migrants face in Iran. With this movement, Afghan activists are trying to raise awareness to the way Afghans are treated and the discrimination they are and have faced in few decades of living in Iran under the Islamic Republic regime. And maybe even bring sustainable changes to the way Afghans are seen and treated in Iran.
History of discrimination
Many Afghans have migrated to Iran because of the failed state Afghanistan is and was for the past three decades. This flood of migrants and the way the Islamic Republic is trying to blame others for the failed Iranian Economy have caused many Iranians to believe that the Afghan migrants are the ones to blame. Every time there is an argument about the economy, you can hear the famous quote, “They came to our country and stole our jobs.”
The way the Iranian government treats Afghans, makes the situation even worst. Consider the fact that an Afghan Migrant is denied basic rights and services. Access to crucial services such as Health care, job opportunities and even housing are denied to Afghans, just because they are Afghans. Just recently in 2015 Afghan children in Iran received the right to go to school, after decades of discrimination they faced.
Other documented discrimination against Afghan Migrants by the Islamic Republic includes physical abuse, detonation under inhumanly and unsanitary conditions, forced labor, forced payment for their deportation transport and accommodation in deportation camps. Some families have even reported losing their child during the deportation procedure.
We could hear those children with us screaiming while being raped by Iranian guards — An unknown Afghan refugee deported back to Afghanistan
Note/Comment: Not all Iranians are racist towards Afghans, in fact most of them see Afghans as a part of their society. They see the discrimination Afghans are facing everyday and they try to help, many of them go as far as disobeying the discriminative laws to help Afghans. There are uncountable cases of Iranians who rented apartments to Afghans despite it being illegal, school principals who let Afghan children study in their schools despite it being illegal. Majority of Iranians are not racist!
The Birth of a new Movement inspired by Black Lives Matter
The spark
On May 2 an Afghan officials reported that dozens of Afghan migrants were drowned by the Iranian border guards. Activist staged a few small demonstrations across the contry but the attention slowly went away and people forgot about it.
A month after, a video of a burning car carrying Afghan migrants went viral. News agencies reported the cause of the crash was shoots fired from the Iranian police officers which caused the vehicle to crash and then burn. The horrific video showed a burned body hanging from the trunk and a survivor desperately pleading for water from the person recording the video.
Give me some water, I burned! — Unknow person on the video at 0.35s
The Video caused outrage among Afghans and raised a long debit about how Afghans are being treated in Iran. Afghan activist wanted to bring change, but they didn’t know how and is it even possible?
Note: The incident happened at the time when Gorge Floyd’s death had already cased outrage and sparked protests across America and the world.
At first, activists started posting videos of them condemning the incident, but that didn’t go very far and ultimately failed. A few days later, they started taking hints and learn from the Black Lives Matte movement. They realised that everyone condemns the brutality of the Iranian police towards Afghans, but none is take any further action. They knew they couldn’t change anything alone, but how could they engage people and encourage them to taking action?
Afghan activist saw the similarities between the two horrific events, how people are getting killed around the world just because they have different backgrounds, look a certain way or have different skin color. They also saw how Americans stood up for their African-American man and that “Black Lives Matter” was just a different version of their potential movement. They faced the same enemies and had the same goal.
The Flame
Black Lives Matter had already taken care of the difficult parts and paved the way for future movements. The only thing Afghans activists had to do was follow the already paven path.
- The first thing they did was name the movement “Afghan Lives Matter’’ which clearly shouts inspired by BLM, that made it easily recognizable for the potential audience.
- Next, they created a logo and slogans (Which also was similar to the BLM logo and slogan) for their movement and encouraged their supported to show their support by posting it on their social media pages or set it as their Profile picture and use the #AfghanLivesMatter and #IBURNED combined with #BlackLivesMatter and #I Can’t Breathe. Everything was inspired by the BLM movement, easily recognizable to everyone.
It didn’t even take a week and Afghan Lives Matter had already gained huge attention among Afghans living in Europe and North America, so the leaders decided to start a demonstration in front of the Iranian embassy in Germany. And the one demonstration idea quickly grew to a chain of demonstraion that took place across the world in different countries and it gained huge media attention. It even inspired Afghans in Iran to protest for their rights, but the activist quickly turned down the idea and said it was too dangerous and the Islamic Republic could violently kill the protesters which could turn everything it into a disaster for Afghan families, something the Islamic Republic is known for.
In Europe thousands from different backgrounds and colors came to protest against racial discrimination. In the US, the small community of “Afghan Lives Matter” join the huge BLM and march together sending their message against racism. African Americans had felt the same pain Afghans were having and they welcomed them with an open arm and marched together to fight racism.
Note/Comment: In some places leaders from BLM were also leading the ALM and they even gave encouragement speeches to Afghans. I have never seen that before!
Like every other protest, there was an unpleasant side to this protest also. In some places it was reported that young guys harassed young women during the demonstrations and in other places groups of protesters were chanting disrespectful slogans towards the Iranian people, which itself was racist and against the point of the demonstrations. Luckily the leaders quickly noticed the issues and made sure it didn’t happen again.
Please do not chant death to anyone! We’re here for equality and human rights — Afghan Activist, Arshi on Instgram
Its fear to say that Black lives matter was the inspiration, the foundation, the courage and the wake up call behind the Afghan lives matter. BLM taught Afghans how to stand up for each other. Without BLM there wouldn’t be an Afghan lives Matter. Even if it would, it wouldn’t have been as powerful and as united as it is now.
This was the first time all Afghans, from different ethnicities, genders and even People from the Afghan LGBT Group gathered to protest against the racial discrimination their Afghan brothers face thousands of Kilometres away. Just like Americans from all backgrounds gathered to protest against the racism their fellow Americans face.
Comment: For me and I think many Afghans, this is a huge millstone. The same people who used to kill each other over race and religion, are now protesting for equality and human rights and against racial discrimination. For once I can say; “I am proud of these people!”
I don’t know what this movement will lead to. Can it actually change something for good? Will it make the life of Afghans people better in Iran? Will it be a success? But I know one thing for certain, Black Lives Matter has sparked a huge chain reaction against racism and it has waked millions of people across the world to stand up against racism and discrimination. Afghan lives matter is just one example out of hundreds or maybe even thousands. So far this has been the most successful and united demonstration I have seen from these people!
