There are many borders in the world set by colonial powers that divide similar cultures and lifestyles. These borders inspire nationalism, or what ever -ism may be relevant to that border, cause those cultures to divide, and then force different cultures to integrate under one flag. This causes conflict within those borders and across them as well. The Middle East is just riddled with these types of conflicts. A really good novel that is based in one of these conflicts is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
Kite Runner tells the tale of two friends growing up in Afghanistan at a time when Afghanistan seemed pretty civilized. There was access to food, education, and entertainment, just like the rest of the civilized world. One issue that was always an issue was the racial tensions between the Pashtuns and, well, everyone else. The two friends mentioned earlier are Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, Amir's father's servant. Amir was nice to Hassan and treats him as an equal, but the other Pashtun boys saw Hassan as less than them. They beat him up, threw rocks at him, and even raped him. Eventually, the Soviets took control of Afghanistan, so Amir and his father escape to America. The rest of the story is focused on the Taliban and Amir's journey in the U.S. and then back in Afghanistan, where he goes to rescue Hassan's son from the Taliban. This is obviously a very, very condensed summary of the story. A big theme in the story is kite running, but the back drop of the racial tensions is relevant to our discussion on borders. Afghanistan has had its borders defined over 30 times, beginning around 700 B.C. The Pashtuns are the people who claim to be from Afghanistan, while the Hazara are a people who came as a result of the Mongol invasion of the Central Asia.
Kite Runner tells the tale of two friends growing up in Afghanistan at a time when Afghanistan seemed pretty civilized. There was access to food, education, and entertainment, just like the rest of the civilized world. One issue that was always an issue was the racial tensions between the Pashtuns and, well, everyone else. The two friends mentioned earlier are Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, Amir's father's servant. Amir was nice to Hassan and treats him as an equal, but the other Pashtun boys saw Hassan as less than them. They beat him up, threw rocks at him, and even raped him. Eventually, the Soviets took control of Afghanistan, so Amir and his father escape to America. The rest of the story is focused on the Taliban and Amir's journey in the U.S. and then back in Afghanistan, where he goes to rescue Hassan's son from the Taliban. This is obviously a very, very condensed summary of the story. A big theme in the story is kite running, but the back drop of the racial tensions is relevant to our discussion on borders. Afghanistan has had its borders defined over 30 times, beginning around 700 B.C. The Pashtuns are the people who claim to be from Afghanistan, while the Hazara are a people who came as a result of the Mongol invasion of the Central Asia.
If conquerors and colonists could have just let the natural borders established by cultures and land features be the determining factor for drawing lines, then there would have been a lot less conflict throughout history. Borders would have inevitably changed as cultures changed, but the changes would have been out of necessity. A relevant and current example of this is China. China's borders are slowly spreading outward because of their cultural and economical influence on the surrounding lands. China is not going out with their giant military crushing indigenous people, similar to how the Soviets did with all of the "-stan" nations, or even how American colonists did with the natives, but rather, they are investing in their neighboring countries and helping the indigenous people. There is a TED talk about how China's borders are changing and how different groups in the Afghanistan region have cultural borders that don't quite fit into the national borders established by their governments. You can see it here:
Ever since I was deployed to Iraq, the Middle East has fascinated me, so I apologize if my post covers a lot of stuff. My big point that I hopefully got across is that a lot of the national and state borders in the world are arbitrary. They don't follow naturally occurring or already established borders, but instead cut through cultures and cause unnecessary tension. Until all nations are completely absorbed into one giant nation where the only borders are the ones that occur naturally, there will continue to be tension.
James-
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting post because you were able to tie in literature, a video talk, and your own personal experiences in the U.S. and other countries. I constantly find myself wanting to know more about the turmoil in the Middle East and your post helped enlighten me further. You discussion of "The Kite Runner" also sparked my interest to research what "kite running" is. For anyone else reading this that may be curious as well, the term kite running refers to the literal practice of chasing after kites in the sky in that have been cut loose from their strings during kite fighting. Kite runners chase after kites and try to bring them back down to earth using poles or tree branches. Kite fighting is a popular sport played in India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
I digress... I like your thinking that the violence caused by the creation of borders will only cease once the borders are natural instead of arbitrary. This is a fantastic concept that will probably never be put into action, but I definitely think you have made a valid point.