You hum it, they’ll burn it.
We take a lot for granted in our liberal western culture, don’t we?
In the history of the world, creating equal rights for women and people of colour is still a relatively recent thing. In fact, there are people still alive today who can vividly remember a time when it wasn’t so. It’s such a recent advancement that we even have film footage of life before these monumental transitions.
Imagine living in a time when your basic human rights are consciously demoted below someone else’s – just because of your gender or skin colour.
So, having access to music, poetry, and art to either help take your mind off these injustices – or serve to highlight them – would have been some crumb of comfort to those who suffered. Entire genres like blues and jazz were partly born out of these struggles – not to mention the massive cannon of literature and drama that supported them.
Music was something they couldn’t take away from you.
So when I read that the Taliban have now added burning instruments and banning music to their battle for hearts and minds, I feel something akin to grief on behalf of their ‘subjects’.
Photo By Dark Rider
It’s one thing to draw up a set of rules that many might find abhorrent – whether it’s banning education or the right to vote - but then to take away the only things that might offer hope or a chance to express yourself, even privately, seems like a deliberate act of cruelty.
To me it’s akin to blinding someone because they might take pleasure in looking at a sunset.
So, the next time you’re listening to music – on your own or part of a crowd – just think what a wonderful privilege it is, and how it should never be taken for granted while ever groups like the Taliban exist.
Paul
