Can Afghans hope too? limits of hopefulness, and the entitlement to hope

The recent takeover of Kabul by the Taliban has created havoc locally and internationally. On August 15th, Taliban fighters appeared on the edge of Kabul, then eventually, they occupied the presidential palace. The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban caused fear among Afghans. Especially Afghan women, as well as those Afghans who collaborated and worked with foreign forces, feared the rule of the Taliban. Afghan translators who worked closely with NATO and the U.S. Army feared the Taliban’s revenge and rushed to the Kabul airport to run away from Afghanistan and join the evacuation of foreign forces. One of the most troubling scenes from Kabul airport was circulated on social media. The video clip circulated on social media showed the fall of some Afghans clinging to the ascending aeroplane. Zaki Anwari, a 17-years-old soccer player and a member of Afghanistan’s national youth soccer team, was one of those who died falling from the U.S. evacuation plane. Aref Peyman, the head of media relations for the sports federation of Afghanistan, said:

“He was kind and patient, but like so many of our young people, he saw the arrival of the Taliban as the end of his dreams and sports opportunities… He had no hope and wanted a better life.”

Zaki Anwari, Image from NYT

Afghans clinging to the evacuation aeroplane is an example of losing hope and finding hope in leaving, running and finding refuge somewhere else. The maddening decision to cling to an aeroplane without considering the practical reality, lethal consequences and the imminent danger of a painful death does not rise from naivete, stupidity or ignorance. The maddening decision rises from the limits of what an Afghan in current Afghanistan can hope for and how an Afghan finds themselves entitled to hope. Shahram Khosravi links precarity and hope through stories of Iranians in his book Precarious Lives. He explains how Iranians become speculators and hoping subjects by adopting get-rich pyramid schemes. He aptly calls this adapting ‘a casino relationship with the world’, and his phrasing applies well to the stories of Afghans who clung to the aeroplane. These Afghans gambled with their life because there was no more hope for them in Afghanistan. Afghanistan became the land of hopelessness for those who strived to find basic joys and freedom. Like most Afghans in the Kabul airport, Zaki hailed from a low-income family, and he saw his hope vanished when the Taliban took over Afghanistan. However, some Afghans remain in Afghanistan with no fear for their futures because they hope for the so-called ‘inclusive government’ or are protected due to their wealth, considerable political influence, and personal protection by hired guns. Those who can hope don’t need to gamble, risk and form a casino relationship with the world because their hopes are grounded in an accessible privileged reality. In other words, hope and hoping are grounded in a concrete reality influenced by historical and socio-cultural conditions. These conditions distribute hope among individuals and determine who is entitled to hope. 

The entitlement to hope, or simply said who can hope, emerges from historical and socio-cultural conditions that gives access to the future, possibilities to dream and live future-forward. Zaki did not find himself entitled to hope because the Taliban’s version of Islamic governance distributes hope unequally. TheTaliban version of religiosity determines who can hope and how much they can hope. Distribution of hope equally and creating possibilities that everyone finds themselves entitled to hope are the first steps of just governance. These steps are fundamental because otherwise, the political spheres shrink and paranoid nationalism increases: individuals/hoping subjects blame their lack of hope or limits of their hopes to the marginalized groups like minorities, migrants, refugees and foreigners. They project their misery and the lack/ limits of hope to ‘the Other’ and paranoidly claim what they deserve has been taken away by ‘the Other’.  Accordingly, hope becomes a contested area, and paranoid nationalism becomes a threat against others. In addition, the lack of hope and limits of hope shrink political spaces, which bring about rise superstition, conspiracy theories, return to mythologies, identity crisis and zealot religiosity. Shrinking the political sphere is the failure of national, social and communal dialogue about futures and hopes for happiness, pleasure and prosperity. Therefore, hope and hoping are not about thinking, dreaming and moving future-forward for individuals, but they are modes of configuring societies, and individuals position themselves against each other.   

You may listen to Anohni’s fascinating music titled ‘hopelessness’ and think about what you have learned then try to compare your hopefulness/entitlement to hope with hoplessness felt by settlers of the Maldives and the Marshall Islands. Compare your hopes with hopes of those who land is under the threat because of climate change.