Two sides of a coin?

Look at the pictures below carefully and answer the questions:

What is in Common between Karzai & Berlusconi?

What makes Karzai and Berlusconi similiar?

What brings Karzai and Berlusconi closer?

Bravo! you are right!

The answer for all above questions is:

The passion for Fascism!

Escaping from war and hunger, dying under truck tires!

CLICK HERE to read the full article / commentary in Afghanistan Long Tongue Writers’ Page

“Safed Sang” a new Afghan feature film in production

CLICK HERE to read the full story in Deedenow Cinema Production Afghanistan

A chance for the emerging Afghan filmmakers!

CLICK HERE to read the full story in Deedenow Cinema Production Afghanistan

Merry Christmas to those far away from their loved ones

Merry Christmas – Buon Natale

Eid ul Addha ( The Feast of Sacrifice) one of the biggest feasts for the Muslims came and passed while I am apart from my family, home, friends and I felt how difficult it is to be far from family and miss them on such an important occasion.When I couldn't say happy eid to my family and friends face to face, now I would like to take the chance of saying merry Christmas to those people from foreign lands who serve in my country and are far from their families at Christmas and the new year occasion.Merry Christmas to you all, who are reading my blog right now.And merry Christmas to you who is now far from his home, family and relatives but serving for peace, rebuilding and democracy in my country Afghanistan though missing your dearest ones back in your country in this important occasion, now being far from home, I can feel you very well.Merry Christmas to you all, who serve in the cold, mountainous and snowy central highlands of my country to keep peace and security for my people, al though you miss your family, country and friends in this occasions that only comes once a year.Merry Christmas to you all who serve in the windy, dusty and dangerous deserts of Helmand and other south western provinces of my country to keep peace for my people although any moment could be of death or life for you. Merry Christmas to you all who serve and patrol in the streets of Kabul, where any moment you could expect a bomb blast and could lose your life for peace, freedom and democracy for my people.And merry Christmas to all civilian and military who serve for peace, security, freedom and democracy in different corners of Afghanistan. May God bless you all and you will begin the new year with hopes and full of peace, security, happiness for you and for the people of Afghanistan.

Mohammad Amin Wahidi

Note:
I published this Merry Christmas message last year in Deedenow Cinema Blog, and this year I had another post, but a friend from the United States , has requested to republish it this year again.

Christmas another birth for internal refinery!

The white drops of snow fall down dancing gently until settling on the ground. Trees and roofs of houses are wearing a soft white velvet cloth. Smoke or fumes come out of most chimneys and go upwards.

The Santa Claus is seen at the windows of some houses, climbing up with a sack on the shoulder to bring gifts as well as luck and fortune for the family members especially for the children. Although it is snowing but still there are movements in the streets, light glitters every where even in the little gardens of the houses which are normally not such beautifully designed. There are snowmen near the houses wearing the red jacket and the red hat of the Santa Claus. The city is full of brighter streets even at night and evergreen trees are being decorated with lighting objects, brocades and ribbons, as if there is something to happen. People are also different these days, more charming and cheerful than other days as if they have eaten something special these days!

The ones who have enough money buy a lot of things and show more generosity these days; and the ones who do not have money, may only see the things and may not react or may feel jealous and regretful for not being able to bye them. The vagabond street musicians on the other hand enjoy the generosity of the people these days as well as even the street beggars earn more money as people are more generous and you see the shops and markets have more promotional offers in their showcases, decorated nicer these than other times.

In the morning, there is more traffic on the roads and markets and bazaars are more crowded and overall there is a big change seen every where in the city.

In the parks and public gardens of the city, there are decorations and places for time pass and winter games.

Oh my God! Something is to happen you think; what could it be? Could it be a seasonal change only? Could it be just a simple occasion, but if so there are many simple occasions in the year which are not celebrated or prepared for this way, but what is it?

Yeah! It is Christmas! And people are doing all these for Christmas and the New Year; and they are all the appearant aspect of Christmas but the spiritual aspect of Christmas is a bit more than only such changes and happiness.

Christmas the occasion of the birth time of Jesus Christ, is another birth for the inner personality of each of us. Another birth and another chance to see and review our actions and what we have done and achieved in one passed year, what mistakes we made and what problems we had, how many people we helped and how many people we could but did not help how bad we were and how better we could have been and how to be better hereafter, all are to be reviewed and counted for in such an occasion.

Christmas as an occasion of happiness while at the same time, a chance of privacy with our consciences to see and review or check and balance what we have done in the passed twelve months of the year based on which we would correct our mistakes and refine our inner personality and put it for judgment of oneself.

This internal refinery could be to see who we did not forgive when we could but did not, to see who we did bad things to but now regret and want to ask for forgiveness, to see who we did not help when we could so to help in the future and to see how we can be better humans in the coming year. Because there is always benefit when we start to stop the loss and as a quote from the novel The Kite Runner; “There is still time to be good again”.

Especially how nice it would be to make the other people happy, the people who couldn’t have or gain the happiness by themselves alone but with the help of the others; to make them happy is actually to satisfy our own consciences for having done enough good things.

Christmas as a happy occasion could be a time for scarification, for love, for dedication of oneself to the others by helping, giving love, asking for pardon, forgiving, understanding, feeling, removing past misunderstands, exploring and knowing better and reminding the forgotten ones.

Necessary to be mentioned, in Christmas and The New Year it is very important to restructure the architectural size of our hearts and rebuild it in a bigger size because each of us surely have made many new friends in the twelve passed months of the year, so we should have more spaces in our hearts for all those friends, then we have to renew the doors and windows and furniture of our hearts.

How good it is to increase our love to our best ones more than any other time in Christmas and The New Year; to give more love to the beloved ones and be lovelier for the adorers, and to ask for forgiveness from the ones who were sad with us or who have left us behind sadly during the passed months of the year.

At the end there is a harsh truth as well about occasions like Christmas; occasions remain and come and repeat again by the passage of time as long as the world exist, but each time, we get older and pass another year of our life time with such occasions, so how nice it be not to do things to be regretful for later and not to pass one year of life time meaningless and purposeless without seeing changes and betterment than the passed one.

Let’s be optimistic and assume Christmas and The New Year a positive competition for doing as many good things as we can so to have a better world full of joys for all humans.

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you in advance!

In the middle of secret codes and invisible laws!

Have you ever been actually in a place or at least imagined to be in a place where everything is hidden from you in suspicious ways?

Sometimes people find themselves in places where there are some fishy things going on around them but they can never find out the answer why.

Italy so far not only for me but also for many of my friends who share their pains and sorrows with me has been a place where everywhere you find fishy things going on against you but you don’t know how and why.

This is the worse situation in the society or in the country you live as a guest when secret codes or invisible laws exist around you, which are not written on papers but are felt easily as if they have been polished with vanishing cremes but you only see their effects always hurting you.

It is a very bad situation, where nothing is defined for you, where you do not know what rights and responsibilities you as an immigrant, as a refugee or as a “Straniero” (stranger for them) have in the host country which could be a light for you to look forward your current and future life with.

For instance if you go for a problem of legal kind, or for a work problem or for a health problem, no one gives you a clear and complete answer which is clearly written on a paper and defined for you. You are never given solid written information on something related to you and the reason is you do not have a defined identity here.

This drop by drop information sharing moves on and on, on repeated basis but at the end of the day you find out that except some repeated useless things, you didn’t get any correct answers you needed.

This unresolved question remains in your mind and you never find who you are here, what is your role and responsibility within the host society, this way, neither you never dare to share with the happiness or sorrows of the society until you have your defined identity among them nor you find yourself secure to build up a future for you; you just live based on day by day basis just as a homeless vagabond settled in a stormy beach without a sure safety and guaranty from the peril of the wild storms!

Still a destination to die for!

IN an office on the third floor of Indonesia's immigration directorate-general in Jakarta, just across the road from the Australian embassy, several men pace back and forth in two high-security jail cells, like caged dogs...

CLICK HERE to read the full article / commentary in The Australian News dot com

Policing Afghanistan

CLICK HERE to read the full article /commentary in The NewYorker.com

Even in Italy the mind of people is in their eyes!

I am neither drunk nor dizzy but what I am writing here is reality which I have experienced therefore I want to share it with you.

Well, may it be or not good to write here my very personal experiences with you, however the purpose of this page is to share my personal stories and experiences with you through it.

A few days ago, there was a theatre in Milan, and I was invited there as an Afghan filmmaker, journalist through some of the friends I knew, but on that day, I didn’t have time to go home from work and then go to the theater, because I finished work a bit late.
The time was too short and I was just too tired and the way was a bit far from work to go home and then to go to the theater, so there was no energy to go home, take a bath, change clothes and then go to the theatre.

Well, I forgot to tell you that I got a small job by the help of commune di Milano after many months of joblessness, nevertheless, this work is something to pass time with and get some earnings as the pocket money to live with.

So, back to the story, on that day, it was about thirty minutes before the beginning of theater that I found the address and I was in my a bit dusty or dirty cloths that I with which I directly came from work, and I entered there, with the little invitation paper that I had, and said to the information point of the theater that I am invited, there were two persons at the information point, a man and a young woman. They saw the invitation paper, read it quickly and then looked at my clothes and then they said, lets see if this names exits in our computer, the just typed something as if I didn’t know anything about computer or so, and then they said to me, “excuse me, this name does not appear in the list of invites in our computer system”, it was strange for me that my name didn’t appear there as I was invited, I asked them to look once again, they looked at each other and then again pretended to type something as if I didn’t know what they would write.

Well this time, I was a bit angrier, and I asked, “Could you please kindly let me see, if my names exists there or not?” the middle aged man pushed the key board towards on the info point, and I press control+F to see if my may name could be found this way, and typed there in the blank cell, “Amin Wahidi”, ding the name appeared and I showed them that my name is right here, the young woman was got a bit red, but the middle wondered that, how this dusty person could find his name in the list in their computer, well, they said, okay, we may have made mistake to type the correct spelling or so.

To be short, then they were still doubtful if I was the person being invited or not. Therefore they asked me if I had a document of identification which I didn’t have unfortunately on that day with me.

Oh, there knife got sharpened and said how do we know if you are this person.
I was going to be mashed there while I got very angry and wanted to shout on them, but kept silent and said to myself. May be they are right.
I said nothing and picked that invitation paper to go home and rest then, when I couldn’t watch the theatre, so I thanked them and said sorry for not having my document of identification and moved towards home.
First I decided not to return, because it was too late then. But once I thought, may be they didn’t let me go in because of my style, my face or my cloths?! Lets see if it works this way this time and I changed my idea and went home to take a bath and come back.

I took a bath, wore my suit with a nice tie, put on my new shoes and then went back to the theatre hall but this time it was about 75 minutes late when I arrived there.
This time, to the info point, I just showed the invitation paper from far away without showing any document of identification or telling my name, I just gently said to them, I am invited here, and wondering and smiling both the man and the young woman without asking for a document or checking my name told me; “please go in sir!”

But for me it was very funny that they let me go in just because of my better cloths.
However, I was really confused, I was angry that they didn’t let me go in the first time on the other hand, I had to tell them, what they do is not right.
I was to laugh or to cry, I lost the time to go home and now it was too late for the theater because more than an hour was passed already.

I didn’t know was it because they were racist people or what ever but they really offended me and I wanted to revenge somehow.

I was angry and a bit nervous so I paused, smiled at them and automatically I showed my sleeves to them and told them, “No thanks, dear friends, I don’t want to go in now, because my sleeves want to watch a film now instead of a stage theater. Ciao ciao. And I went and watched “The body of lies” Redly Scott’s latest film about the CIA- Terrorism game in which Leonardo Dicaprio Russel Crowe are starring as well as Gulshefta Jan Farahani, the Iranian Actress has also a role.

Well this experience reminds me of another story that I heard long time ago during the secondary school, from our teacher about a poet who was invited by a king in his palace, but because he had torn costume the guards did not allow him into the palace. He went and changed his cloths and came back. Then they let him go in. When they brought the food for lunch, the poet put the food into his sleeves and loudly shouted; “my costume! eat! so because of you they let me come in.”

Before I didn't think such thing could occur for me here in Italy but hereafter I have changed my mind and I can surely say here also sometimes people's mind is in their eyes as in our own country, or may be Milano is the capital of mode and fashion so people have to be fashionable here! ha ha ha ha ha ha

Be evergreen.

Karzai has already begun to violate the electoral law!

photo by Kabuldoll.org

CLICK HERE to read the full article commentary in Voice of Criticism

The Hazaras abandon the ANA (Afghan National Army)

CLICK HERE to read the full article / commentary in Voice of Criticism