State surveillance and Afghanistani refugee vulnerability

This news is deeply concerning. According to a story in the Washington Post, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is launching a survey with malicious intent to identify Afghanistani immigrants who “may be in vulnerable situations.” 

Interestingly, the program is designed for only 800 people. Why that number? Well, it’s unclear. That number may be a cover for an intention to conduct a larger survey and gather more information.

According to the Post, the questions that will be asked of participants include detailed information about family members, occupation, language spoken, and immigration status.

The Post writes: “ORR, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”

Shawn VanDiver the president of #AfghanEvac has said to the Post that "he was told by a US official there were worries by some within the federal government that the data collection could be used for future deportations."

For the past few days, I have spoken with a number of Afghanistani refugees, they were all alarmed by the ORR survey news. They asked me what to do if they received a phone call from an unknown number or received an email. In order to provide them with a proper answer, I consulted with a refugee attorney.

His recommendation was: “Do not respond to the phone calls. You are not required to fill out any forms or complete surveys on the phone.”

These kinds of surveys that collect detailed information about family members, occupation, A number, language spoken in the home, and, more importantly, legal status are not neutral; they are rather tools of state surveillance. Afghanistani refugees are already in a tenuous situation; some are in a more precarious condition than others, and yet surveys like this one which is already deemed threatening, intensify their fear and alienation by the host society. 

Questions about their level of assimilation for refugees who arrived here five years ago and who are mostly still in legal limbo are irrelevant to their well-being since that is apparently the intent, but the repercussions of this sinister program that the planners are blind to are long-lasting ones. That is a deep distrust of the institutions. 

As I have mentioned earlier, some members have already reached out to me and expressed their worries. This will definitely have a negative impact on Afghanistani refugee communities and increase collective anxiety across the US. 

The unjust world of soccer

My nephew Amir, a diehard football fan, watched the match between Egypt and Argentina and was devastated when Egypt lost. He watched the interview with the Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan afterward and explained to me at length what the complaint was all about. As I listened, he asked me, "What does it mean when the Egyptian coach says, 'We have suffered injustice'?"

"chim dayee - eyes of uncle - 'injustice' could mean many things, but I think the coach meant there was a double standard in how the game was refereed," I responded.

"What is a double standard?" he asks.

"A double standard is rooted in prejudices and biases, applying rules and laws differently based on someone's background, color, religion, or ethnicity," I respond as simply as I can.

"That sounds like racism," he says, pausing to stare at me through the WhatsApp screen, a cubical world that connects us from thousands of miles away.

And then he asks: "Is that racism?"

"Yes, azizam - yes my dear -" I respond with a sigh.

"I am as angry as you are," I tell him. "I wish your favorite player, Salah, and his team had won the match, but you know, the world is unjust. The French referee, François Letexier, and his team of VAR assistants turned a blind eye to two penalties on Egyptian players, and a second goal was controversially disallowed. So yes, there is racism and corruption in the soccer world as well."

"But, you know, there is hope. More African nations are now competing in the World Cup. The future belongs to them, not Europeans," I end with an assurance. 

Soccer is a total social phenomenon. To the outside world, non-engaged observers, this match was just "a game", but anthropologically speaking, for many football diehard fans in Egypt, this was a battlefield of national honor.

I accidentally saw a video today; I can't remember exactly where, but on one of the social media platforms, where Messi's jersey number 10 was being burned by a father and his children. In the background, the Egyptian flag, carried by a child running around the fire, was being waved in the wind as smoke rose and jerseys in red and blue, and light blue and white, crumbled to ashes. 

The Egypt vs Argentina battlefield in a way occurred in post-colonial power dynamics, and Egyptian soccer authorities' official complaint was in a way against the double standard that is fed by hegemonic whiteness on the global stage. 

Fieldnotes on Humanity

After much thought, I finally decided to rename this blog, changing its title from "On the Way" to "Fieldnotes on Humanity." The title "on the way" reflected my sense of belonging. As a migrant, I have always seen myself as someone on the way who never arrives anywhere, because there is nowhere to arrive. The home of a displaced person is always on his back, literally and figuratively; he/she carries it with him/her wherever he/she goes. 

The title "On the way" had a kind of Sufi-like feeling. When I say Sufi, I mean the classic definition that we read in Persian poetry books. A Sufi has no home; his home is in the hearts of the people. I am not there yet, and it seems like a far-fetched goal in this day and age.

I've walked through a lot of paths. I'm still on the way, but there is a difference. I am now on my way deliberately, and that is my way of life, and I take notes, fieldnotes to be more accurate, of whatever I see and experience. Therefore, Fieldnotes on Humanity reflects a bit of my academic endeavor, though, to be honest, I am not writing anything academic here. It is more of a blogging undertaking.

Blogging daily is a habit. I used to keep a journal, but jitsoned that medium, thought blogging is easier. I detest social media platforms like facebook and twitter. Blogging is the only way that I can express myself freely. 

I write daily in both Farsi and English. I hope both places remain active as they were until now, and oh mother earth spare me from the temptation of procrastination and the futility of time.

British government banned Afghanistani women from UK universities

The Taliban are not the only enemies of women who prevent them from education. British government banned female students from Afghanistan from attending universities in the UK as well. See below what Carrie Patsalis says and sign her petition. The number of these students who can enter UK higher institutions can be counted on the fingers of one hand; there are not many, and yet the UK government shockingly decides to restrict them from the opportunities that they don't have under the Taliban de facto regime. If it is true that annually around 40,000 Pakistani students are given visas to come to the UK and study there, and eventually around 5,000 of them apply for asylum, why can't the UK issue visas for a few Afghanistani female students to come to the UK to study?

World cup and humiliation of former colonizers

Amir, my nephew, is a diehard football fan in every sense of the word. His loyalty to European teams is unshakable, to the point that he proudly displays his allegiance by wearing hats and jerseys from clubs and famous football players. 

In this World Cup, he supports Argentina, France, and Spain. He is in middle school and knows most of the players and great details about them, which I greatly admire, since I barely know a few famous players.

During my visit here in Calgary, we watched a few games live with the help of a VPN to bypass the paywall; otherwise, we would have had to pay $85 to corporations that monopolize the live broadcast of games, driven by insatiable greed and an endless hunger for more power. The plotocrats who have no shortage of ways to entertain themselves, and yet, with breathtaking audacity, they want to turn the only entertainment accessible to the poor, requiring nothing more than a ball, into yet another opportunity to extract profit. Of course, let's not forget that FIFA itself has become a mafia-like organization for allowing all of this to happen. Anyway.

Amir asks me, "Uncle, why don't you support France, Spain, and Argentina?"

"Why should I support them, azizam (my dear)?" I ask.

"Because in those teams, there are stars. For example, Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, and Messi," he answers, with a sense of seriousness.

"ah."

"Do you know why I am not a fan of all these powerful European teams?"

"No," he answers.

"When a small team from a small African nation confronts a powerful European team and wins the game, there is a thrill."

"What is the thrill?" he asks.

"The humiliation of the strong team."

"ok."

"There is another reason why I enjoy their humiliation," I add, wanting to give him a historical reason why I support soccer teams of small nations from the global south.

"What is it?" he asks.

"That's a historical issue. For example, look at Cape Verde. It has a population of nearly 500,000. It was a Portuguese colony for more than 500 years, until 1975," I respond.

"Or look at Ghana. It was a British colony until 1957. Yesterday, the former British colonial team couldn't score against Ghana's team. That's an insult in itself."

"So what?" he asks with a tinge of visible uncertainty in his voice, indicating maybe he is not convinced.

"The humiliation of the former colonial power is a kind of revenge."

"Ah."

"What is a colonial [country]?" he asks.

"Chim dayee - eyes of uncle!" I continue. "A colonial country is the one with a big military that colonizes another country. It is called colonization. It means that a powerful country invades and occupies your homeland by force, steals and exploits its natural resources, takes away your freedom, and oppresses you in any shape or form it wants, and you can't ask why."

"That's why, when those soccer teams from smaller nations encounter European teams and stop them from winning, or sometimes even beat them, I feel like they're taking some kind of revenge, because the mighty team is humiliated. That's what matters."

As our gaze locks on the TV screen, our eyes tracking the ball being kicked from side to side by the players, I notice that Amir is silent, as if lost in thought. I don't know if he's thinking about the game or about the things we've just discussed.