Supporting Afghan Resistance

words and photos by Flex Mathews

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the biggest at attending protests. I know their purpose, but question how effective they are when it comes to the avenues of real political and social change. Well, I thought I knew their purpose. After attending a protest about Afghanistan and hearing the grievances of the people both locally and abroad I’ve realized the purpose of a protest just might be to educate. Educating those who are not close to the conflict at hand or speaking loudly for their cause in public because no one else is doing it for them. If speaking loudly in the street is all they can do, then that is better than nothing. The news has done a great job of painting Afghanistan as the Taliban and not a country with both good and bad people...like all countries inherently. Afghanistan is a country full of families, colleges, universities, mosques, grocery stores, amusement parks, and more importantly innocent people. Yet because the political climate is unsavory we somehow deem all the people unsavory. It was very, very effective brainwashing. Perhaps that makes it easier for the watchers to dehumanize the country and the people that reside there. I was unfamiliar with the conflicts that exist in Afghanistan and after attending just ONE protest I won’t pretend I know them all. However, I can definitely say that I am more educated on what is happening in Afghanistan. Not sure what I can do to help fight the good fight there, but I hope these photos help. I’m not an activist by any means, but I hope these photos can help in the activism movement for the humanization of the people of Afghanistan. They have a long road ahead of them, and I’m proud to make the camera a weapon of change and good.