Fieldnotes on Humanity

It seems no help will be coming from the US or others. The protesters in Iran who have taken to the streets may have realized that returning home would mean death and prison if not killed on the streets.  This morning, the New York Times reported that the leaders of Arab Gulf states and Israel have asked Trump not to attack Iran for now. The reason has been the fear of Iran’s threat that if the US attacks, Iran will target US military bases in the Gulf region. This means defeat for the protesters and victory for the regime. What is concerning is the aftermath of the protests. The heavy shadow of surveillance and the arrest of those who protested in the streets. It is very hard to imagine a revolution being led and brought to fruition from afar by imperial force. In fact, as we have seen, it had jeopardized the protestors and their legitimate demands for political reform and economic stability. 

So, here again, the ICE uses the state's banal tools, such as appointment notices/check-ins, to reinforce violence on the most vulnerable population. It is the holiday season, which means people take time off to spend with family and friends to observe collective rituals that strengthen social bonds, but this year, it will not be easy for a specific refugee population. There is a plan to disrupt the cultural and social cohesion among refugees and immigrants with precarious legal status. I have been hearing from some community members that they have received notices from DHS/ICE to appear for an in-person check-in on particular days, such as Christmas Day (December 25th) and New Year's Day (January 1st).  Shawn Vandiver, the president of AfghanEvac, has also written on this on his  Substack .   I assume ICE uses holidays as a cover to detain individuals since it makes the headline less, and attorneys and refugee rights activists might be absent. Not appearing is the best o...

This report is extremely shocking and upsetting. Today, Reuters reported that, according to a memo seen by the news agency, the Trump administration has instructed the U.S. Immigration Department to review all cases of immigrants who were accepted and entered the United States during the Biden administration. This order could apply to 233,000 immigrants who entered the U.S. between January 2021 and February 2025. This is horrible news, as the Trump administration has already reduced the refugee admission cap. For example, in 2026, the admission cap is 7,500 people, allocated only to white South Africans. During two years of field research in Washington, D.C., I met with newly arrived Hazara refugees who told me that they had spent between 2 to 7 years for their cases to be reviewed or processed. Most of these reviews are multi-layered. For instance, refugees from Turkey were first vetted by the Turkish government and NGOs. In the second stage, their cases were referred to the UNHCR, an...

by Khadim Ali, a Hazara painter,  source For the Hazara people in Afghanistan, life has always been shadowed by a deep-seated dread. To be Hazara in this country is to live with a perpetual, gnawing anxiety, a kind of fear that has taken up residence in the back of your mind and never leaves. No matter the depth of your sacrifice or your willingness to lay down your life for your country, a persistent, haunting fear lingers on the horizon, tormenting your spirit constantly. That fear is a simple, devastating question: "Will the Pashtuns ever allow us to live in peace?"  This is an existential fear, it strikes at the very core of one's right to exist. This terror is now manifesting anew in the forced exodus of Hazaras from their ancestral lands, which has been going on since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Since then, over 1,000 families have been evicted from their homes and villages. If we estimate an average family of 6, then 6,000 people have ...

Amid Afghanistan's contemporary violent history, a different story is capturing hearts and minds, one not of conflict but of celebration. The Afghanistani U-17 boys' futsal team has won the championship of the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain. This victory holds profound significance for Afghanistan, which is weary of violence. In a country deeply divided and ruled by the ethno-religious Taliban regime, such a moment fosters a rare and powerful sense of shared identity and national pride. The achievement is particularly meaningful because the team is predominantly composed of Hazara athletes, an ethnic minority that has long faced systemic persecution and is currently experiencing an ongoing genocide under the de facto Taliban rule. One might assume that their success on an international stage indicates a degree of freedom and acceptance. But the reality is more complex. First, some of these players are refugees living in Iran; some may have never set foot in Afghanistan. So, i...

During the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, thousands of people stormed the Kabul airport. In a desperate attempt to escape the Taliban, some climbed onto a moving military cargo aircraft on the runway. At least two individuals fell from the sky, and one became trapped in the plane's wheel. A video taken by a cellphone from inside the plane shows a lifeless body and its limbs swaying violently in the wind at a high altitude. It was later reported that human remains were found lodged within the aircraft's wheels. Just days later, a gun store in Auckland, New Zealand, began selling T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Kabul Skydiving Club." Beneath the text was an image of two people who had fallen from the plane, captured in their fatal descent. At the same time, these same T-shirts were sold on the Etsy website in America. Today, I came across the picture of those shirts again, so I looked them up online to see if they still exis...

Yesterday, I saw Amir my newphew's homework. The title of one of his readings was "Needs and Wants." He had answered one of the questions incorrectly. The question was, "What did you learn in paragraph 4?" It was a multiple-choice question. Amir chose, "Life is hard without a phone."  But the correct answer was: "Wants can make life easier and more fun." Implicitly what it says is that your personal desires (wants) are a legitimate pathway to happiness and an easy life. This is the textbook example of cultivating a culture of greed. It is deliberate conditioning of children towards perpetual wanting. The entire edifice of capitalism is built on this very foundation: to become an endless consumer, fulfilling desires.  Now, think about it. a 10-year-old boy, who understands very little about wanting and having, implicitly being told/taught that happiness and enjoyment are synonymous with possessions. This is how the seeds of greed are planted. ...