Armanshahr Foundation’s office in Herat organised its 80th Goftegu public meeting – a bridge between the elite and citizens – as a programme with the title of ‘Semiology of war and post-modernism in Afghanistan’on 8 September 2011. The meeting began with Kitaro music from Masanuri Takahashi, the Japanese musician, and a poem from Dr. Reza Baraheni with the title of Daf (Tambourine).
The literary circles of Afghanistan have been talking about postmodernism with all its contradictions since 10 years ago. There are three groups that endorse, reject or critique it, mostly on a non-serious basis. There has hardly been a serious discussion of its relationship to war, traditions and fundamentalism. What are its components? Can it serve as food for hungry stomachs for people under air raids and ground attacks by the military and insurgents? How can it be approached in a land that has not gone through classicism and modernism? One more question is: How much is the version of postmodernism in Afghanistan compatible with the real interpretation of it?
Literature of wickedness with Shams Jafari
Shams Jafari (writer – poet) began reciting poetry in the red hall, among cigarette packets, pictures of philosophers, poets, writers, filmmakers and a b/w TV.
This may have been the first event that brought post-modernism from the margins to the fore in Afghanistan. Poems were recited from Nietzsche, Baudelaire, Baraheni and Brautigan:
Looking casually through my English–Japanese dictionary I can’t find the word frog.
It’s not there.
Does that mean that Japan has no frogs?
Critiques of post-modernism followed with an article by Esmaeil Sarab, a writer and poet, who said:
“The term post-modernism has been used with increasing tempo around us, but none of the writings have been responsible and they have refused to determine its coordinates, perhaps because it may not be limitable.”
Outlining post-modernism on the basis of opinions of Lyotard, Derrida, Deleuze, Lacan and Baudrillard, he concluded with an answer to his starting question: “In consideration of the misleading use of this expression around us, what can motivate its irresponsible usage? There may be three answers, which I leave to the audience to decide: 1) illitrateness; 2) lack of knowledge; 3) reaction, which is our eternal companion.”
Poetry of villainy – wickedness
In the words of Shams Jafari: “This literature may date back to Baudelaire, Nietzsche, Kafka, and Rimbaud. The literature of villainy is a journey to the depth of life and world, where the subjective and the mind die. There is no confrontation, no interaction, no poles. The poetry of villainy may be accused of being some kind of postmodernist science-fiction literature.”
Semiology of war and post-modernism in Afghanistan
A discussion of post-modernism in literature in Afghanistan, which is afflicted with war, fundamentalism and tradition, is bound to bring questions that have remained unanswered for many years; which draw funny answers or occasionally answers worthy of reflection.
Massoud Hassanzadeh (poet and writer) referred to Baudrillard’s opinions in his writing: “Baudrillard showed how the concept of war has been decentralised and deconstructed and how it is the product of language games; it has become a language game itself. He reported the erosion of the mythical and eternal aspect of the concept of war. Baudrillard showed the impact of the postmodern world on war and its eternal companions such as bravery, zealousness, territorial integrity, country, geopolitics and globalisation.”
To discuss relationship of postmodernism with Afghanistan, he touched on Derrida’s views: “In his famous interview a few days after the September 11 events, Derrida sought a philosophical answer for war. He showed how the dialectical poles of the war had been destroyed and there was no longer a unique idealistic war. Digging into the concept of terrorism in its Western sense, he revealed a shocking distinction between self and other, which is the most fundamental component of war in all its forms.”
Subsequently, Hassanzadeh entered the domain of real Afghanistan: “With this structure, we may now throw a more realistic glance at events unfolding in our region and Afghanistan. We see an unavoidable transformation of signs. The whole formation which defined us in the past has disintegrated. The concept of country and geopolitics has been undermined here. After nearly 100 years since the establishment of the state in its modern sense, we have never witnessed the forming of a system in its real sense. The power structures have always operated against themselves. Zealousness has become an internal concept in our contemporary history. Thus, a part of the hypothetical enemy has nested within us. The constituent components of power, e.g. law, system and organisation, have never operated as a united whole in our contemporary history. Governments have either been products of coups, expeditions and genocide or devolution, gift and commissioning. In current Afghanistan, new crises should be added to that state of affairs. State institutions have taken shape, but they are functioning defectively. The fanciest form of free market economy has been juxtaposed on completely feudalist background. The representational and democracy building system has stagnated after spending billions of dollars and has confined itself to changes in the superstructure.”
Invitation for 80th Goftegu Public Debate: Literature of wickedness, Semiology of war and post-modernism in Afghanistan
