Having worked hard for seven years to change Kabul’s appearance by painting colourful murals on the walls, Afghan activist Omaid Sharifi is a sad person today. The reason being, within a short space of time of taking over the Capital following withdrawal of US troops, the Taliban, known for its war on art, culture and music, has started painting the street art with white. Crude propaganda slogans are now ruling the walls of the Afghan capital.
For Sharifi whose ArtLords collective had created more than 2,200 murals since 2014, the scenes of workers putting white paint on the art works is warning of things to come.
VIDEO: Taliban removes street murals and repaints walls in Kabul.
The Taliban are whitewashing the walls of the Afghan capital, erasing the colourful murals, covering them with black and white Islamist texts and quotes from Taliban leaders, celebrating the departure of US troops pic.twitter.com/54XOj93ztb
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 6, 2021
Conversing with AFP over phone from UAE, Sharifi said: “The image that comes to my mind is (the Taliban) putting a ‘kaffan’ over the city.” Kaffan refers to the white shroud used to cover bodies for Islamic burials.
Despite Taliban’s best efforts to wipe out the works of ArtLords and forcing Sharifi to flee for safety, he said the campaign will continue. “We will never stay silent. We will make sure the world hears us. We will make sure that the Taliban are shamed every single day,” he remarked.
Afghan activist Omaid Sharifi
Also read: Fear, anguish and a sense of betrayal looms over artists of Afghanistan
Ironically, among the murals that have been painted white, is the one which shows the US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar shaking hands after signing the 2020 deal to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.
Co-founded by Sharifi in 2014, ArtLords used art to campaign and champion for peace, social justice and accountability. Through their street art, they shamed those in power and powerful, including the corrupt Government officials and warlords.
Taliban erases murals in Kabul (Pic. Courtesy Twitter/@YaminWang2014)
Besides, many of their works honoured Afghan heroes while calling for dialogue instead of violence, and demanding rights for women.
Islamic extremists had threatened members of ArtLords regularly and branded them as infidels despite which they continued undaunted. Sadly, the destroyers of the famous Bamiyan Buddhas have come back to roost.
Also read: Fear, anguish and a sense of betrayal looms over artists of Afghanistan
