Posted on 11/02/2001 1:31:19 PM PST by Phil V.
Afghan America
Home is where the heart is
Nov 1st 2001 | FREMONT
From The Economist print edition
Life in Little Kabul, California
THE flags are the clue. Searching for “Little Kabul” out of the window of the bus as it rolls past the bungalows and mini-malls of Fremont Boulevard, your eye is caught by a display that even in these patriotic times looks extreme. The Arman family has festooned its “98¢ And Over” shop with the Stars and Stripes, as well as posters showing Osama bin Laden's face in the cross-hairs of a rifle sight.
The message is loud, but complicated. In part it is an outburst of the patriotism seen all over America, fired by the passion of an immigrant family for its new home. In part it is defensive, designed to ward off xenophobic attacks. But it is also a declaration of independence by Afghan-Americans from the man who hijacked their homeland by taking refuge in it.
About 10,000 Afghan-Americans live in Fremont, and its cluster of restaurants, grocers, insurance firms and travel agents is a centre for maybe another 30,000 Afghans in the greater Bay Area. The seeds of the community were planted by a local charity that helped to house refugees from the war with the Soviet Union.
It may not look impressive, but “for us, it really is Little Kabul”, says Wali Shaaker, president of the Society of Afghan Professionals, a local business group. In Fremont the strands of friendship and commerce that bind a community come together in a tight knot. Here, says Mr Shaaker, you can bump into people you are looking for in the street, and catch up on the news.
DeAfghanan Kabob House features skewers of lamb and anti-war leaflets
In the DeAfghanan Kabob House, customers listen to tapes of dutar music while they wait for skewers of lamb hissing over charcoal. On the wall, a framed photograph of a former Afghan defence minister, immaculate in the uniform of a 1920s army officer, stares out above posters of Kabul. On the counter a pile of leaflets invites people to “become the voice of the poor and starving people of Afghanistan” and join an anti-war march in protest at “the killing of innocent civilians”. That is not how he feels himself, explains the owner of the café, but he wants everyone in the community to have his say.
There is understandable worry about the effects of the bombing, even among those who support it. Afghan civilians deserve the same protection and respect as American civilians, says one person. America's decision to intervene brought a sense of relief. The Taliban, by and large, are detested. Even so, the Afghan-Americans, many of them veterans of the Soviet war, are sceptical about both the Northern Alliance, which some regard as little better than the Taliban, and Pakistan, which is assumed to want a weak Afghanistan.
The best hope for Afghanistan's future may lie in Little Kabul and other clusters of Afghans, such as those in Los Angeles and Alexandria, Virginia. Many of these people were once among the brightest and best educated part of their homeland. They might rally to a post-Taliban government built around the figurehead of a restored king. That includes the younger generation: at a meeting of the Society of Afghan Professionals, all 50 people present, most of them youngsters when their families left, declared themselves willing to go back to Afghanistan.
Little Kabul's residents complain that the king is surrounded by old men who quit the country with him 30 years ago. And they worry that their traditions are being sucked into the American melting-pot. Mr Shaaker's society offers language and history classes and a summer camp for local children. The cultural flame that burns in Little Kabul may yet revive the life of the old city back in Asia.
Afghan America
Home is where the heart is
Nov 1st 2001 | FREMONT
From The Economist print edition
Life in Little Kabul, California
THE flags are the clue. Searching for "Little Kabul" out of the window of the bus as it rolls past the bungalows and mini-malls of Fremont Boulevard, your eye is caught by a display that even in these patriotic times looks extreme. The Arman family has festooned its "98¢ And Over" shop with the Stars and Stripes, as well as posters showing Osama bin Laden's face in the cross-hairs of a rifle sight.
The message is loud, but complicated. In part it is an outburst of the patriotism seen all over America, fired by the passion of an immigrant family for its new home. In part it is defensive, designed to ward off xenophobic attacks. But it is also a declaration of independence by Afghan-Americans from the man who hijacked their homeland by taking refuge in it.
About 10,000 Afghan-Americans live in Fremont, and its cluster of restaurants, grocers, insurance firms and travel agents is a centre for maybe another 30,000 Afghans in the greater Bay Area. The seeds of the community were planted by a local charity that helped to house refugees from the war with the Soviet Union.
It may not look impressive, but "for us, it really is Little Kabul", says Wali Shaaker, president of the Society of Afghan Professionals, a local business group. In Fremont the strands of friendship and commerce that bind a community come together in a tight knot. Here, says Mr Shaaker, you can bump into people you are looking for in the street, and catch up on the news.
DeAfghanan Kabob House features skewers of lamb and anti-war leaflets
In the DeAfghanan Kabob House, customers listen to tapes of dutar music while they wait for skewers of lamb hissing over charcoal. On the wall, a framed photograph of a former Afghan defence minister, immaculate in the uniform of a 1920s army officer, stares out above posters of Kabul. On the counter a pile of leaflets invites people to "become the voice of the poor and starving people of Afghanistan" and join an anti-war march in protest at "the killing of innocent civilians". That is not how he feels himself, explains the owner of the café, but he wants everyone in the community to have his say.
There is understandable worry about the effects of the bombing, even among those who support it. Afghan civilians deserve the same protection and respect as American civilians, says one person. America's decision to intervene brought a sense of relief. The Taliban, by and large, are detested. Even so, the Afghan-Americans, many of them veterans of the Soviet war, are sceptical about both the Northern Alliance, which some regard as little better than the Taliban, and Pakistan, which is assumed to want a weak Afghanistan.
The best hope for Afghanistan's future may lie in Little Kabul and other clusters of Afghans, such as those in Los Angeles and Alexandria, Virginia. Many of these people were once among the brightest and best educated part of their homeland. They might rally to a post-Taliban government built around the figurehead of a restored king. That includes the younger generation: at a meeting of the Society of Afghan Professionals, all 50 people present, most of them youngsters when their families left, declared themselves willing to go back to Afghanistan.
Little Kabul's residents complain that the king is surrounded by old men who quit the country with him 30 years ago. And they worry that their traditions are being sucked into the American melting-pot. Mr Shaaker's society offers language and history classes and a summer camp for local children. The cultural flame that burns in Little Kabul may yet revive the life of the old city back in Asia.
Bull. If you don't agree, it is unbelievably stupid to allow that in your shop. Can some of the FReepers put flyers about the need to "export all swarthy males" in your shop?
There is much to work with here.
And save them also from THE GREAT SATAN!!
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