Watched the film 'Afghan Star' last night, which is a documentary about an X-Factor competition in Afghanistan to discover a new singing star.
It followed the fortunes of a handful of those who had done well in preliminary rounds and were now to be broadcast on TV as finalists. Among the finalists were two young women, which in itself was quite a surprise for an Islamic country. There was also a good ethnic mix from the country.
All was going well until one of the girls got a little carried away in her performance and danced along with her song. It was graceful and fitting, but universally hated by the watching public who (both young and old) considered that she had gone far beyond what could be considered as decent in an Islamic country.
The scene then shifted to clerics meeting and despairing at how the young were being corrrupted by the airing of such programmes.
The girl in question received death threats and had to go into hiding!
More than anything else, what came across was the gulf that exists between cultures. To me in the West this seemed such a trivial thing. To a strict Moslem it was beyong the pail.
The young people need their music and TV (which was banned under the Taliban) but they also respect the religious traditions of the country.
There is little room for the rebel to survive!
And yet here we are as a nation, in Afghanistan, trying to introduce democracy in a country that we understand so little about. Should we really be imposing our Western ideals?
I recommend the film, should you be able to find it - a real insight into another culture!
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