The Taliban regime that has retaken Afghanistan after a 20-year war with US and NATO forces has begun removing street art across the country and replacing it with their flags, symbols and slogans.
Much of the street art was created by the 'Artlords', a group of creatives who tackled important topics such as women's rights, discrimination and the direction of the country. They even touched on international issues, such as by creating a mural of George Floyd, which has now been destroyed.
Another mural to be removed was of a Japanese aid worker who was killed while on a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan.
Omaid Sharifi, the Artlords co-founder, told reporters:
"All of the murals are an extension of me, extension of Artlords and extension of the artists who worked on them. Some of these murals were the soul of Kabul. They gave beauty to the city and kindness to the people of Kabul who were suffering."
Throughout their 8 years of operations, the Artlords faced continual death threats and intimidation from Islamic extremists.
Sharifi said:
"Whenever I see one of them destroyed, I feel like a part of me is getting destroyed and punished as well. These murals not only belong to me or the Artlords, they belong to the people of Afghanistan because for each of them we invited 50 to 200 people to paint them. These are about the wishes, demands and the asks of Afghan people. It was their voice on these walls. These murals were against corruption and were pushing for transparency."
He added:
"Our aim was to promote critical thinking and put pressure on the government to accept people's demands. Taliban was and is an armed movement that only understands guns, violence, beating, beheading, suicide vests and bombs. There is no vocabulary about art in the Taliban's dictionary. They even cannot imagine art. I think they don't understand it, that's why they are destroying it."
Despite the Taliban's claims that they will act in a more humane and liberal manner than what was evident during their 1996 to 2001 regime, few believe that their assurances can be trusted.
[h/t: The Guardian]
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