Friday, November 7, 2008

When impossible(s) become possible!



Obama broke the taboos!
When the name of Barack Obama as an African – American senator was announced to be racing with Hillary Clinton for the presidency candidature from the democrats, it was not predicted that America would be ready to accept a black American in the highest leadership position in the country but what the result of this election showed was the vice versa; first it showed that the American democracy is reaching its highest level and then the people are ready for change and would vote for the person who they think has the merit regardless of race, color and complexion.
The result of the presidential election 2008 in November 4 in the USA shows that most of the Americans are hoping for a real change in the administration of their country as they have voted and elected the democrat candidate senator Barack Obama whose slogan was “WE CAN BELIEVE IN CHANGE”, as their new president.

The American people are hopeful to see changes in their lives, primarily to be able to coup with the lately economical crisis as well as to see their country gaining back the international strength and reputation that is believed to be decreasing in the late years especially after its involvement in occupation of Iraq.

A few months ago, there were some concerning issues such as; Iran nuclear program, war in Iraq and war in Afghanistan that were of main interests for the American people to know which of the presidential candidates have better and clearer programs to deal with. And then the latest economical crises in the USA became more important than other issues while at the same time the people knew that the two long lasting and costly wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) have partly affected the overall economy of the country; so the new leader would be the person with new and better plans; where need, would be serious and where need would have the flexibility.

Whether people of the world accept or not, it is the reality that as the first economical and military power in the world the United States of America plays a major role in the International arenas as parts of its international responsibility, thus any political change occurs in this country, it effects the other parts of the world considering its role and vast relationships with the other countries in today’s world and definitely have reactions behind, whether positive and negative.
This news of victory of Obama has had positive efficacy on the Stock Markets of America, Europe and Asia since then and the investors are more hopeful for a better future with this new elected president of the USA.

Most of the world’s leaders have shown positive reactions to the result of this election and they have hoped to have closer relationships with the United States of America with its new administration that will be presided by democrat Obama.

Undoubtedly Obama’s victory in this election has had a message for whole the world and that is; “complexion is no more important where merit matters” and it may be a great victory in history for the black Americans although many black Africans also have celebrated the victory of African – American presidential candidate in this historical election while in Kenya where Obama’s father is originally from, the people and the government celebrated his victory as a national feast.
As a matter of fact Obama’s victory is not a sample happening in the history of the United States when the champion of anti apartheid campaigns Nelson Mandela sends a congratulation message for Obama’s victory and encourages him for making every effort for the betterment of the world.

In the Middle East and Central Asia
Countries like Iraq and Afghanistan in which the USA is involved with direct military presence, the Persian Gulf Arab countries as America’s allies in the region and Iran as America’s main rival in the region would be expecting direct effects of this election on their relations and further economical - political intercourse with the USA.


Obama and Afghanistan
Some of my friends and many Afghan writers wrote about this historical election of the USA under different titles such as, “Realization of Martin Luther King’s dream”, “The White House and the Black Leader”, “A real change for the USA and for the world, “The acme of American democracy”, “Obama breaks the taboos in this history”
“Does the dream of Martin Luther King realize?” and each writer has written about one aspect of this election, but for me, the importance is how it effects the relation USA with Afghanistan and how would it do the better for Afghanistan.

His trip to Kabul Afghanistan as a part of his electoral campaign in July this year showed that the war in Afghanistan is a serious issue not only in Obama’s television debates but in his practical program plans as well. In this trip to Afghanistan Obama said that there is need of more seriousness by the world especially the USA in the mission in Afghanistan.
At the same time he remarked on the existence of corruption in the body of the Afghan government.

During the last few months coincidently with the US presidential election campaign process there have been many scandals against the Afghan president Hamid Karzai and his family members which were all denied by the president Karzai and his Brother Ahmad Wali Karzai.



The president Hamid Karzai is becoming an absolute ethnic dictator by confining the key positions in the administration among some corrupted people of his ethnic group that turns the country towards ethnic monopoly which has been one of the reasons for several years of civil war in the past, not being able to handle to corruption, re-empowering the fundamentalist elements directly and indirectly for his own personal purposes and confining the freedom of expression in the country by putting pressures on the media and press activists.

The presidents’ brothers do not have better work report either.
Ahmad Wali Karzai is the king of drug trafficking in the southern province of Kandahar which has been reported many times by prestigious international journals.

Thereafter any accusation and scandal by the international journals against Karzai and his family members were denied by him and was considered as the negative propaganda of the westerns against Karzai family.

President Karzai reasons that he was under attacks of the western media and press of especially the American journals after he has harshly criticized the repeated mistakenly air strikes of the Coalition Forces in different spots of the country that caused several civilian casualties and raised an anti American feeling among the people of south and east.

Since Obama has raised his concerns about the weakness of the Afghan administration under the leadership of Karzai, the presidential team in the Afghan Government under Karzai has not been optimistic for the victory of Obama while they have been looking forward for the victory of the republican McCain as they were graced by the republican administration of Bush on that time.

Hearing about the victory of Obama, while president Karzai has sent his congratulation message to Obama, he has asked for a change in the strategy of the USA in the counter terror campaign in Afghanistan.

However, by winning the election indeed the responsibilities began and we should note that there are still many challenges ahead of a new elected president and all things can not be solved overnight, because a president does not have a miracle.

The Afghans know that changing some strategies and replacing with alternatives would be useful and they hope Obama’s views and position regarding Afghanistan would not be just electoral slogans but would be implemented in practice hereafter.

What the Afghans expect from Obama and hope his new administration will do for Afghanistan as a friend country is to work on the infrastructures of the country rather that useless short term projects that were brought in within the passed six years.

The Afghans need education and eradication of illiteracy for long term betterment, so there is need of more investment on the education sector of the Afghans rather than more military US forces in the country which has been more costly but less useless to reduce the violence as seen in the last two years.

The Afghans are also tired of the administration that can not run the country properly and is drowning into corruption mirage day after day, so we need a change in our country as well.
Seeing the latest presidential election in the USA we come to believe that hereafter nothing exists as impossible(s), so we should also be expecting a change in our country as well because we also have two elections ahead for the next year.

Thanks to media, press and communication technology
Thanks to existence of mass media and communication technology that made the world very smaller than its real size with the various numbers of countries in it since the media and technology has made it a real global village. In this global village the relations among the countries are correlated and too complicated in economical and political aspects. As a result some important things occur in one corner it is directly reflected and heard in all over the world through the media and press using the communication technology.
If the media and press didn’t function well billions of people would not have been able to know about this great change as fast as they did.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Barmak appears once again




Opium War an Afghn feature film wins the Citics Award of the 3rd Edition of Rome International Film Festival 2008 in Italy.

Opium War is Seddiq Barmak's second feature film after his long absence from 2002 when he made his first successful feature Osama that won many prestigious international awards.
The director was not appearing seriously on the ground of cinema after Osama in 2002, while during this gap he has been assisting some video projects of the young filmmakers and working as a consultant for private television channels in Kabul.
This time, his appearance with Opium War would once again represent the appearance of the Afghan Cinema on international screens.



While the viewers were expecting presence of this film in the festival earlier, it is the first serious appearance of this film in international festivals.

We congratulate The Director, Seddiq Barmak and the multi national crew of his film for Opium War, winning the Critics Award of Rome International Film Festvial 2008 .

It is heard that Opium War would be the Official Afghanistan submission to the 2009 Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category too.



Synopsis
In a far mountainous place after Taliban regime in Afghanistan, two American soldiers - one white officer and the other an African-American soldier - are lost after their helicopter had crashed. The soldier waits for a chance to run away from the officer while the wounded officer coerces the soldier with a pistol to carry him around. The two are in discords but they need each other to survive in the hostile land. When they cross the poppy field, the two soothe the pain from the hurt, fatigue and dread from the war by licking the substance of the poppy capsules. They soon notice armored personal carriers (APC) with a white flag in the middle of the poppy field, a symbol of Taliban. With nothing much in their hands, they begin attacking the vehicles. But what they find inside in the APCs is an Afghan family living inside…

Director
Siddiq Barmak was born in Afghanistan in 1962. He studied filmmaking in Moscow. He had written a few screenplays and had made a few short films before he shot in Afghanistan his first feature film Osama. He was the director of the Afghan Film organization from 1992 to 1996 and after the establishment of the new government he was once again chosen to manage it. All his works were banned during the time of the Taliban.


Film Info:
OPIUM WAR 2008 - 90' Color, 35 mm
Afghanistan, Japan, South Korea, France, 2008
Director Siddiq Barmak
Cast Peter Bussian (Don Johnson), Joe Suba (Joe Harris), Fawad Samani (Scorpion), Marina Golbahari (Mad Girl).
Screenplay Siddiq Barmak
Cinematography Georgi Dzulaiev
Editing Michele Hickson
Production Design Bakhteyar Qaharov
Music DalerNazarov
Producer Siddiq Barmak, Shohreh Golparian
Production Barmak Film
Co-producer Haruo Kawashima, Suh Youngjoo, Carole Scotta
Co-productionHappinet Pictures, Cineclick Asia, Haut et Court
DistributionInternational DistributionCineclick Asia – DaeLim apt 736-602, Sanbon-dong, Gunpo-si – 435-040 Kyunggyi Province (South Korea) – T. +82 10 4722 5120
See also