* snicker *
Posted on 04/20/2010 9:51:43 AM PDT by reaganaut1
‘The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan’’ on PBS sounds like a heartwarming documentary, but unfortunately the lives of these juvenile entertainers is anything but. The “Frontline’’ investigation illuminates one more dark corner of that tragic country’s soul.
Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi infiltrates the subculture of “bacha bazi’’ — literally, “boy play’’ — in which poor or orphaned Afghan boys become the possessions of powerful men. They dress as women and dance to entertain at all-male parties; later they are used sexually by their masters and other men.
It’s “sexual slavery,’’ in the words of a United Nations official, a tradition so odious that the Taliban banned it. It’s also illegal. But in one of the ironies that seem so common in that country, it has made a comeback under the more Western-friendly government now in place.
Quraishi, who also reported for “Frontline’’ on “Behind Taliban Lines,’’ is courageous and crafty. He once fled Afghanistan in fear for his life after reporting on massacres during fighting against the Taliban. Now he somehow convinces several powerful men in the city of Takhar that he is making a sympathetic film comparing Afghan and European bacha bazi practices. They allow him to film bacha bazi parties and interview the adolescent boys they “own.’’
Chief among these villains are a former mujahedeen commander-turned-car dealer named Dastager, whose leering admiration of the dancing boys is impossible to mistake for anything wholesome, and a scarily quiet, dead-eyed musician who trains the boys. That the musician is named Rafi is another brutal irony, although he spells his name differently than the popular US children’s musician.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
This would be a paradise for Miss Linseed and Cholly Crist
This is the historical remains of this part of the world being occupied by the Greeks and the Persians many hundreds of years ago. The culture established back then has been somewhat sheltered throughout the centuries because there has not been much influenced by Christians whereby most cultures gained a conscience against sexual slavery.
That cracked me up to. I don’t think they’ll air a documentary on PBS unless you can find an angle to blame at least part of the problem on rich white people or the US military.
* snicker *
there ya go
and another reason for libs to argue that the taliban are better than (or a response to moral outrage caused by) the corrupt CIA/Bush?Cheney/Rove backed guys
(sarc)
democratize, H no.
The minute we leave it will revert to the hellhole it has always been.
Get our guys and gals out of there NOW!
This is vile enough alone, the sexual abuse of young children and a society’s condoning of it. What I’ve ALSO read is that, once the boys reach adulthood, they are considered outcasts and outlaws. They are treated like they WILLINGLY became whores, even though they had essentially NO say in their fate. As a result, they end up common criminals and, typically, dead soon after their slavery “gigs” are up.
you got a LOL from me on that. Shoot, that may become a tagline for me. :)
Sounds as if you’ve done a tour in the KSA. You should see the looks I get when I tell people the same thing. Half still don’t believe me—as if I’m joking.
Not many people even know about the Franklin case. I will always want to know who bought the rights to the documentary and tried to make it dissapear.
well, at least this way the powerful men know what they are getting.
Imagine lifting a burka and finding Helen Thomas? It might turn you to ‘dancing boys’ too.
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