You may have heard that, last weekend, an American artist and Afghan volunteers handed out 10,000 pink balloons in Kabul. His “art” inspired a range of emotions, from those who thought this was a wonderful way to promote peace, to those that thought the whole thing was a big waste of time. In the “waste of time” camp was an independent Afghan journalist who goes by the pen name “Companero,” who asked me if I’d post his thoughts on the whole thing.
.... This past Saturday, as Kabulis were trying to recover from the insurgent attack on the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) the night before, they saw some Afghans distributing pink balloons as part of another “ art” project to promote peace in Afghanistan. As usual, the idea for the balloon project came from a
New York based artist who hardly knows my culture and people. Backing him up, distributing balloons, were a bunch of young Afghans who think that Afghanistan starts in
Shar-e Naw and ends in
Wazir Akbar Khan (two of the more expensive neighborhoods in the capital city).
Underscoring how uncertain life in Kabul can be, as the volunteers were distributing pink balloons in the city, another suicide bomber blew himself up when Kabul police surrounded his house.
The pink balloons were distributed to shopkeepers, vendors and beggars and were told that it was to promote peace. My Afghan reporter friends told me that most of the receivers of the pink balloons didn’t know why they got them in the first place. As for the beggars? They were confused why they were being given balloons instead of money or food.
When I pointed out the uselessness of the project on Twitter, I was told (by foreigners, not Afghans), that I was just judgmental and naive.
( .... )
I want to ask these foreigners if, after 11 years of absurd and unwanted projects like pink balloons, they ever stopped to ask the people they’re trying to help what they want. What do Afghans need? We need security, schools, universities, hospitals , roads, food, drinking water, and jobs. What we don’t need is 10,000 pink balloons.
Foreigners: instead of talking to the same Afghans who always tell what you want to hear, do us all a favor: find some Afghans who disagree with you once in a while. Let them explain things from a different point of view. Otherwise your good intentions will mean nothing and nothing will ever change for Afghans.
