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2001-10-05 / 9:26 p.m. ~Dreams.....Reality.....Afghanistan......~ Okay, right now there is a fire engine outside my building, an ambulance, and a fire rescue truck is pulling up......and inside me I am saying, "Omigod, omigod, omigod, I fucking dreamed this!". Let me go back on the porch to see what I can see...... There is a journalist on "Washington Week" talking about people going out and buying gas masks, and outside a fire engine sits, lights off, the ambulance has driven to the back side of the building, and I'd be a rubbernecker, a voyeur of sorts, if I were to watch for too long, to wonder too hard, trying to figure out if there is a fire, if someone put her head in her oven, or if somewhere, in the 16 units of this building, someone is suffering a myocardial infarction (is that how you spell it?). This morning I had vivid dreams, woke up feeling as though I'd been very active, and the only one I could remember clearly was the last one. I lived in a townhouse, two levels, and I heard or saw a fire engine outside, out front. I stepped outside to find that my next door neighbor's townhouse had been on fire. Yes, I smelled smoke, oh, that's what that is, a fire. I was selfish, wondered if I would suffer smoke damage, why wasn't my apartment affected, etc. I went to work this morning, showed my D.C. pictures all around, and told Keya of my dream...she asked if it was a prescient dream, precognitive. I said I hoped it wasn't. Now, something is happening, and the coincidence is a bit much. It was great to have my pics at work, to look at Carlos over and over, Yes, this one here, this is Carlos, he is from South Africa...yes, he is cute, isn't he? The women liked my photos, I critiqued them and they liked them...."These are GOOD, Joleen!". Um, okay, if you say so, thanks. Yes, it was a beautiful day, you really like that shot of me in front of the Capitol? It's kind of dark, yes? Yes, the clouds were lovely, it was a beautiful day, I was kind of cold, it is a decent shot, isn't it? Apparently it's a big ordeal for a fire engine to back out of a parking lot. It's all over, and I don't even know what it was. Am I fucking psychic?????? Tonight I thought it would be so hard to choose between "The Mole II" and "Dark Angel", and I kind of wanted to see Ellen's new sitcom....but the choice was easy when I saw that "Afghanistan: Captives/Warlords" was on. I'm not sure if it's "Afghanistan: Captives of the Warlords" or the previously mentioned title. Either way, Arthur Kent, I think I love you. Arthur Kent was made famous during the Gulf War. If I'm not mistaken, he was one of, if not the, SCUD Stud of CNN. Turns out, he's been documenting Afghanistan for some 20 years, reporting and photographing. This film tonight was a really good inside look at life there, reported, photographed, produced by the studly, caring, intellectual Arthur himself. What strikes me is how beautiful the people are. One little boy looked as if he had on eyeliner....but no, he just had these beautiful black eyes. The faces.....striking. I'm the one who's been saying that Bin Laden is handsome. So sue me. The Afghans are a beautiful people. I'm learning so much. The northeastern corner of the country is lush, there are rivers, fields where crops are grown, meadows, and still there are also caves built into the hillsides, places where the people go to hide when the military strikes. The children are so used to the bombings they don't even flinch when strikes are within yards. In Kabul, the capitol city, the Taliban is headquartered, and the "Religious Police" abound. They wear the white turbans. There are many Taliban "decrees", written as strict interpretations of Islamic law. Definitely no separation of church and state there. It would be as if Jerry Falwell were in charge in the U.S. and he had a police force made up of fundamentalist, machine gun-wielding Christians. Can you imagine??? The Taliban have decreed that no music be played. If one is found playing music the head of the household will be taken and "punished". If a man is found with long hair he is arrested, and his head is forcibly shaved. If a man cuts his beard he can be jailed for one day, receive 2 or more lashes. The penalty for adultery is stoning, for theft....amputation. Trials are spare, unjust. Cameras are seen as the "instruments of Satan". Thus, journalists must use hidden cameras primarily. There is no kite flying allowed under Taliban rule. Kite shops are abolished. Wouldn't want anyone breaking into a rousing chorus of "Mary Poppins"' "Let's Go Fly a Kite", now would we? The United Nations ranks Afghanistan #169 out of 174 countries on the "Human Development Index". There are something like 60,000 of their currency to every American dollar. One agriculturist, helping people irrigate their crops, was interviewed...he said, "War is not the way to solve the problem". They believe their problems stem from the flow of weapons from neighboring countries. Apparently Pakistan, maybe Iran, maybe Iraq, and possibly still Russia, are providing/selling weapons to the Taliban. Without the constant show of weapons, of violent force, they would be powerless. The citizens would take power, overthrow them. But to do so now would be suicide. All we need to do is go in and fucking attack these people more! Jesus Fucking Christ, for a country that doesn't give a fuck about anyone but our own people, all of a sudden "Taliban" is a household name, yet most people couldn't even find Afghanistan on a map. It's in Asia, the people are poor, oppressed, and beautiful. But they are strong, they defy the Taliban regime. Arthur Kent filmed women teaching small children, at risk of being killed for doing so. He interviewed young men in school, men who risk their lives to learn, and he tells them in his country, in our America, students "skip" school...... One man said, "Stop the weapons, peace will come". Sounds simple, doesn't it? Throughout the film we hear the music of the people, and it's haunting, it's bazouki like instruments, tabla drums, beautiful, forbidden music. Suppress the act of creation, or art, and you suppress the will, the soul of the people. Imagine living in that world. America. What are we? We never care about other peoples, other countries, our evening news is only about us. People hear the word "Iraq" or "Iran" and they leave the room. We are isolated, separated, with only a poor country below us and an ally above us. Now, we are forced to acknowledge the world, and only education will see us through this. The American flags flying on SUVs, SUVs wanting to run me off the road, tailgating me, make me sick. Why is that flag attached to the radio antenna? What are you saying with that flag? Today, in an editorial in the local birdcage liner of a newspaper we have in our fair city, Osama Bin Laden was compared to Hitler, we Americans to the Jews of WWII. Implication was that the Jews didn't deserve to be slaughtered and neither do we. I'll assume the author of the article/essay has no clue what the Afghan people have suffered for the past twenty or thirty years in their country, has no idea of their slaughter, would not even consider the suffering of those outside our borders. We are not six million Jews, and Bin Laden is no Hitler. Islam and Afghanistan are not the enemy. No, I don't have an immediate solution, I'm just glad we haven't rushed in yet. Someone, somewhere in Washington, is holding us back, amassing "hardware", troops, but someone, somewhere is thinking, planning. And I hope to mobilize with the anti-war effort. We will be meeting tomorrow, then there will be talks, lectures, education, teach-ins, protests, I only hope people are open to learning, are open to finding out what's really going on, learn some history. Can we step outside our privileged existence for one moment and think before we act? Tattoobelly gave me permission to quote her, so I will do so here, now. This was in her diary on October 3rd: "The impending war situation is really worrying me. I heard an interview on NPR yesterday, of a Pakistani man. He basically said that he is anti-Taliban, but that if the U.S. bombs innocent civilians in Afghanistan, then he will join the Taliban and fight us. I think a lot of people in that part of the world feel that way, and I sure don't blame them. It's not going to do any good for us to kill Afghani citizens who have no ties to Osama bin Laden, and it won't make us "even" for the terrorism inflicted on NY and the Pentagon. What it will do is alienate people who otherwise don't have a problem with our country and then we've got even more people hating us. I love this country and I feel very fortunate to have been born here, but I'm not blind to our flaws. We have done terrible things to innocent people around the world, and denying that we've earned people's hatred is only making people hate us more. Our arrogance will be our downfall." This was so well said. I would recommend that all Americans watch "Beneath the Veil" and "Afghanistan: Captives/Warlords". Education is key right now. There is more out there, a documentary, again, like tonight, on PBS, on Sunday....on Islam. I heard on "All Things Considered" on NPR this afternoon that the Koran is selling like hotcakes. And Lulu called Afghanistan "The Middle East". She hadn't heard of the man who contracted anthrax, doesn't know what anthrax is, insisted it was used in a subway attack. I say, Saran gas, that was in Japan, not here. She wants to learn about bio/chemical weapons, but when I tell her of the detailed article in the free weekly, the one about the CDC and the men studying bio/chemical weapons there, she shakes me off. Turns out, you see, she doesn't want to read, she'd rather talk what she knows, which is little, than open her mind, than listen to answers, than learn. Can we wake up? Please? And no more dreams of fire engines........ Cost of the War in Iraq
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