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Political poetry, perhaps, was born when
it stood against politics and said: “I don’t accept
you!” In other words, political poetry
originates from its encounter with politics. In fact, when poetry withdraws
from politics, it politicizes itself, because abandoning politics is a
politics of another kind. Even the discussion on the relation of poetry with
politics is a political stance.
Initially the encounter of poetry with
politics starts when society, which is the source and breeding ground of
poetry, is monitored and administrated by politics. Politics wants society
to be explained within its own terms; however, poetry has a language of its
own. Politics is bossy, thus in the very first meeting it offers red, green
and black spectacles to poetry and commands it to look at the world behind
those glasses and praise it. Nonetheless, poetry rejects this gift and
answers, “I can see the world brighter without the glasses.”
This antagonism is long lasting. And
today’s international political poetry is but the memoir of this opposition.
This tale will be continued for ages, and at times, politics replaces the
eyeglasses with marks of burning iron bars. It is in this story that a
thousand year ago; the burning iron bars were put on eyes of Rodaki
Samarqandi, one of Persian Dari’s fathers, and blinded that great lord of
poetry. Perhaps Rodaki, my grand forefather, had not accepted a master’s
gift.
By resisting politics, poetry not only
politicizes itself but also proclaims an opposition to the status quo,
similar to intellectuals who have always opposed the status quo. With this
view, the great poets are also great intellectuals because they are not only
in opposition to the status quo and politics, but are in favor of its change
as well.
When Hafiz says 700 year ago:
بیا تا گل بر افشانیم و می در ساغر اندازیم
فلک را سقف بشگافیم و طرح نو در اندازیم
Let us diffuse flower and pour wine
in goblets
And pierce the roof of sky and
establish a new constellation
He not only announces his opposition
with the traditions of that age, but also wishes for them to change.
Or when Naser Khosrow Balkhi, a great
philosopher and poet of Persian Dari, says in the 11th century:
من آنم که در پای خوکان نریزم
مراین قیمتی در لفظ دری را
I am not the one who spoils the
invaluable pearls of Dari under the feet of “swine”
He truly stands for the reverence and
purity of words, and conveys the message to the poets in the palace not to
contaminate the spotlessness of poetry.
These were examples of saying “No” to
politics and the dominant political structure.
However, it does not always occur like
this. Sometimes poetry retreats to the ivory tower of isolation after
withdrawing from politics. The poets domiciled in the ivory tower shut
themselves away from themselves and get swamped in making love to imaginary
beloveds. The importance and value of this kind of poetry is related merely
to its literary and aesthetic aspects. Its social or political point of view
may be considered neutral.
Political poetry is not just a literary
phenomenon of our era but it has always existed and till the end of the
world the encounter of poetry with politics will continue; however, only the
methods of this opposition change.
Moreover, it is of great significance to
consider political poetry and politicized poetry as two different concepts.
Political poetry, as said earlier, emerges from the antagonism of dominant
politics and political structure; whereas, politicized poetry is the
surrendered form of poetry to political circumstances. Intellectual poets
have always written political poetry but they have never written poetry for
politics because they understand that doing so means mortifying themselves
and the poetry. Besides, as politics open a new chapter, the politicized
poetry serving that cause dies, too. Had the world poets navigated their
sails in the direction of political winds, doubtlessly, we would have
neither Shahnamaye Ferdowsi in the Persian poetry, nor would we have (The
Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Divine Comedy) in Western
poetry.
In Persian Dari political poetry is
deeply rooted. In fact, poetry started in this language with politics.
Hanzala Badghisi, who is considered as one of the first poet of Persian
Dari, lived in early 9th century. This piece attributed to him is
thought to be the first poem in Persian Dari.
مهتری گر به کام شیر در است
شو خطرکن زکام شیر بجوی
یا بزرگی و عزو نعمت وجاه
یا چومردانت مرگ رویا روی
Even if eminence is in lion’s mouth
Risk to achieve it
Either dignity, respect and esteem
Or a man’s death
Hanzala wrote this piece when his
country was in great plight under the Arab atrocity. In this piece he
compares freedom to death and encourages people to seek freedom and pride,
and to fight against foreign invasion. The term of this poetry is resistance
and thus it can be said that both political poetry and poetry of resistance
in Persian Dari starts from 9th century.
However, the discourse of modern
political poetry in Afghanistan dates back to the early 20th
century. The publication of Saraj-ul-Akhbar Daily, in 1911, may be
considered the advent of the modern era in political poetry of Afghanistan.
Political poetry was interwoven with “Mashroteyat” or “Constitutional”
movements in those times. This movement was commenced by Afghan
intellectuals, writers, poets and social activists with an aim to ensure
complete political freedom and a constitutional system in Afghanistan.
Following that, in the democracy decade
(1963 – 1973), political poetry got mixed with right and leftwing
ideologies. Another outcome of this decade was the creation of communists
and Islamic political organizations and political parties. All these
organizations used poetry as a means of propagating their ideological
thoughts.
Leftwing Communist movements considered
poetry an effective weapon which should have been employed. In that period
the concepts of proletarian revolution, praising the proletariat, the
peasant, socialism and Linen was recorded for the first time in modern
Afghan literature. The poetry structures introduced in the beginning of the
century were developed primarily by the poets affiliated with communist
movements. One of the characteristics of that period’s poetry was its
ideological and rebellious nature which invited people to revolt against the
government.
The communist coup d'état in 1978 linked
poetry to political and ideological structures more than any time in
Afghanistan’s history. In those years, there was a line which existed
everywhere. It was a red line which divided people into the revolutionary
and reactionary factions. This line divided the poets into two parts of
revolutionary and reactionary poets as well. The party poets, who wrote
poetry against the government in the democracy decade, had turned into the
admirers of government and would despise the independent poets.
Besides, there were used
to be a special section called "Military/Patriotic Literature Branch" within
the framework of Afghanistan Writers’ Association. Members of the mentioned
branch were assigned to go to military posts to recite poems to motivate the
gunmen's moral. A few sample are as follows:
1
Bravo! Being part of the
ruling Party
Hooray! Being part of
the April Revolution
2
For the safeguard of our
land
The folk army carries
two torches:
One of the April and the
other of the October revolutions
3
Inspired by Lenin's
teachings
Encouraged by
stormy-tempered revolution
Smash your chains into
pieces
Smash the slavery system
into parts
4
E' you my lovely
Klashinkove
You are my melodious
nightingale in the battlefield
Overall, the Association
was able to send a minimum of 270 title literary books up until the collapse
of the communist regime. A remarkable percentage of these books were no
better than simple government statements and announcements.
The independent poets mainly faced three
fates. Some of them were executed in Pul-e Charkhi prison. Some others spent
theirs lives behind the bar and the remaining fled into Iran and Pakistan
and established the overseas resistance literature.
Afghan literature, on one hand, greatly
underwent politicized, ideological and governmental experiences in those
years. On the other hand, resistance poetry became more prominent than ever.
Particularly in 1980’s internal resistance poetry flourished greatly.
The poets affiliated with Jihadi groups
had an instrumental approach with poetry as well. After the triumph of
Mujahidin over the communists, the Jihadi poets turned into governmental
poets and considered the other poets remaining in Kabul communists. The
Mujahidin reign was a period of severe bloodshed in Kabul; however, these
incidents had not been reflected in writings of Jihadi poets at all. In that
period, Mujahidin burned thousands of books published during the communists’
regime as wood in heaters. I myself was a witness to the burning of
thousands of books of the “Afghanistan Writers Association.” Caravans of
refugees from Afghanistan increased and more poets deserted the country.
The Taliban, entering Kabul with
rhythmic slogans, opposed romantic poetry because they thought it would
promote ethical vice among young people. Locking the doors of cultural and
artistic centers, they made the poets understand that Afghanistan was no
longer a suitable place for them. As a result, many well-known poets left
the country, many of whom migrated to Peshawar, Pakistan. This led to
another expansion of Afghan cultural activities in Peshawar.
Women’s poetry could hardly breathe
during Mujahidin rule in Afghanistan and was completely muted during the
Taliban’s. Compelling everyone to observe silence, the whips left no
well-known women poets remaining in the country.
Afghanistan has entered a new phase of
socio-political life since the collapse of the Taliban in November 2001.
Seemingly, there is some proof of a
nurturing and promotion of poetry in the country. The country has joined the
PEN International as a dynamic member, and has currently a functioning
Afghan PEN in its capital city, Kabul.
Still, needless to say, both literature
in general, and poetry in particular, have been seriously marginalized by
other practical means of life. This in turn has resulted in placing Afghan
intellectual (both writers and poets) in an awkward situation. They have
mainly been feeling isolated, cornered and suffering from significant lack
of consideration by their culture. Doubtlessly, Afghan writers and poets
presume their existence in a low social stratum.
The current wave of poetry in
Afghanistan maintains its presence in a number of those highly committed
poets and writers who see their destiny tightly interrelated with their
literary products.
The once-powerful voice of the Afghan
poem has been mainly under-echoed and therefore has remained less-heard. The
chaos of widespread noises of explosion, violence and firing are becoming a
kind of daily routine overshadowing literature in general.
The prospect hardly seems to be a joy.
The vision and the "prime objective" that used to be the greatest motif for
composing quality poetry are no longer as tangible as they once were. As a
country, widely based on "visualization," Afghanistan is in the grips of a
"free market" now. It may be safe to say that the then
highly-observed-vision has painfully undergone the fever of the market and
the so-called market values.
The unavoidable influence of commonly
used English terminologies in Farsi and Pashto is another notable challenge
for these two local Afghan languages. It is quite evident that the course of
time will sooner or later display a mosaic of "ready made" languages,
perhaps called Englo-Persian (Pers-English) and Englo-Pashtu
(Pasht-English).
Presently, English is the dominant and
prevailing medium of communication in over 2000 National and International
Afghanistan-based Non-Governmental Organizations offices, and a wide range
of governmental institutions. Moreover, a large youth population has a
burning desire to learn English and various computer programs (which of
course are in English). This not only hinders the enthusiasm for learning
their mother tongue, but also affects the indigenous process of learning
science and culture in their initial language.
In the absence of a clear and specific
cultural policy, the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture has been
unable to publish at least five books in the span of five years.
Still, it is striking to note that a
peculiar type of "resistance poetry" is once again on the verge of emerging
from the existing wave of poetry, most of which appears as satire.
To conclude, a thorough and meticulous
research of poetry in general and political poetry in particular in the
post-Taliban years is yet to be undertaken.
Political poems have gradually gained
more strength. Presumably, poetry and politics have been and still are
proceeding along as two co-travelers, marching as two parallel vectors.
Can the notions still exist that poetry
does not have any feature but to praise beauty and bring joy, and that we
shall not load the heavy burden of social and political issues on its soft
shoulders? I do not know, but I feel this notion can only exist in a utopia,
where love rules, where triggers are unknown to hands, where ears are
unfamiliar to explosions and where freedom is another name for life. But in
a country where one’s Musalmani “Belief in Islam” is measured form the
length of his beard, and its city’s rivers smell of blood, and where blood
grows instead of red flowers in the garden and where bread is the hot
topic, poetry can never be a silent spectator sitting in its beautiful ivory
tower. Yes, if poetry is not political in such lands, it should be made
political.
Thanks,
Partaw Naderi
8th
Oct 2006
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