Watching the video, Kabul Rock Festival, I was hit with a deep wave of appreciation for where I live and the many freedoms that I experience and take for granted every day.
They say that music soothes the savage beast, but how can that be so when the people of Afghanistan have been totally repressed in this area for over three decades by the Taliban? The first Rock Festival was held in Kabul recently which shows that slowly but surely things are changing in that country. It is hard for me, as it is for most Westerners, to look at the traditional Afghan attitude towards women and human rights and not be appalled by them. The fact that there is a country that has felt it has to repress all forms of self expression to maintain control and has been able to do so, through the power of their government, should be a stern warning to us all. Every person on the planet have the responsibility to allow for the freedom of speech and thought that allows people to perform and create at their best. Otherwise you are left with a society without a soul, or a mind. You are left with followers and non thinkers.
Watching the video I felt a little worried about the band, District Unknown, because of the culture of violence and intolerance that they lived in they had previously worn masks when on stage to protect their identities. Now performing for the first time in their country unmasked, they will be targets of old school, narrow minded idiots of the region. We have been fighting a war in this region for almost ten years, and we should be focusing all of our attention on changing the culture, allowing education to all men and women and expanding the thoughts of every citizen. If you do that, there is no way that the repression of the past can exist, it would be impossible. The human mind is by nature a free and growing entity when properly nourished. Once the growth begins, there is no force, least of all the Taliban that can stop it. This video of music and freedom shows this to me clearly. Music is the language of the soul, and leads the way for the heart. This concert is a small step for an entire culture toward freedom. We will be able to watch, either a region step by itself toward freedom or backward toward the repression of the past. If history has taught us anything, it is that once I mind is open it is impossible to close it again. So here's to many more rock festivals in Kabul in the future.
