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25 February 2010
Exhibit Celebrates Listener Letters to Afghanistan’s Radio Azadi
Contemporary letters and older manuscripts displayed at Library of Congress
Washington — When Soroush and Hamraz, two teenage friends and fervent radio listeners, wanted to show their appreciation for Radio Free Afghanistan, or Radio Azadi, they did what thousands of other Afghans have done. They wrote a letter.
The difference: Their letter was an illustrated scroll more than 200 feet (63 meters) long.
“We wrote about how one can achieve one’s goals,” Hamraz said in a short video. “We also wrote about pride in our country, love and other things.”
A selection of the more than 15,000 letters received by Radio Azadi is now part of a multimedia exhibit, called “Voices From Afghanistan,” which opened February 24 at the Library of Congress in Washington.
The exhibit has been mounted in cooperation with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), based in Prague, Czech Republic, which broadcasts to 21 countries in 28 languages, including Radio Azadi’s Dari and Pashto.
LETTERS AND LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The Library of Congress is displaying the contemporary letters alongside older documents and photos from the library’s own Central Asian collections, demonstrating the astonishing richness and continuity of Afghanistan’s culture, despite decades of conflict.
The exhibit features audio clips and a short video of the adventures of Soroush and Hamraz, who have remained determined to keep writing to Radio Azadi despite the skepticism and outright opposition of some adults in their small farming community north of Kabul.
Radio Azadi’s director, Akbar Ayazi, was so impressed by the massive scroll that he invited Soroush and Hamraz to visit the station in Kabul. The boys were late in arriving, however — their bus had been in an accident and they showed up bruised and bandaged, without a thought of cancelling for a later time.
The letters to Radio Azadi are filled with prayers and poems, complaints about corrupt officials and poor schools, pleas from refugees and the disabled, and song requests from young people in love.
Azadi broadcasters try to respond to as many letters as possible, and regularly read a number of them on the air.
Although most are from individuals, some letters are written by village scribes representing the views of several people or a small community — another long-held Afghan custom.
One letter contains a prayer:
“Oh lord, awaken us from our state of ignorance/
Dazed and proud we are, bring us to our senses.”
Another letter suggests that it’s time for Afghan officials to wake up: “We don’t know why the government is daydreaming.”
Many letters carry on the deeply held tradition of illustrating letters with calligraphy and ornate designs — especially flowers. Often, the letters are rolled up as scrolls or in accordion folds, another cultural practice that is centuries old. Younger listeners, however, don’t hesitate to send e-mails if they have the means.
“This is an opportunity to see beyond Afghanistan as a platform for conflict, and to honor the great spirit of its people,” said RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin at a February 23 reception marking the opening of the exhibit.
James Billington, director of the Library of Congress, said, “These letters are a window to see a society, its culture and troubles — and how it continues the distinctive traditions of its history.”
SURROGATE BROADCASTING
The intense engagement of the population with Radio Azadi in its eight years of operation has made it the most popular radio station in Afghanistan, broadcasting uncensored news, discussions, call-in shows and music 12 hours a day in Dari and Pashto. It continues to flourish despite fierce resistance and threats from the Taliban.
“Radio Azadi is a lot more than reliable journalism,” Gedmin said. “It’s almost more like a dance, a courtship with its countrymen, based on trust and respect.”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty receives direct funding from the United States as a private, nonprofit organization, overseen by a presidentially appointed board. However, Radio Azadi is not an official voice of the United States — that is the job of the Voice of America.
Instead, Radio Azadi is an example of surrogate broadcasting. As Gedmin wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine, surrogate stations are “government-sponsored broadcasts that provide accurate and reliable news to countries where independent media do not exist.”
RFE/RL broadcast to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but the end of communism didn’t bring an end to authoritarian regimes that restrict independent media and freedom of information. As a result, RFE/RL redirected its efforts from the new democratic states of Europe to a swath of countries from Russia and the Balkans to Central and South Asia.
RADIO MASHAAL
RFE/RL’s newest broadcasting initiative, modeled after Radio Azadi, is Radio Mashaal (“Torch”), directed at the Pashto-speaking areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. Radio Mashaal is designed to counter the messages of hate and intolerance from illegal Taliban radio stations through independent news reporting, open debate and engagement with listeners.
Radio Mashaal, launched in January 2010, is on the air for only two hours daily now, increasing to nine hours by September. On Radio Mashaal’s first broadcast, Haroon Bacha, a widely popular Pashto singer forced to flee by Taliban death threats, performed on the air. He will also host a cultural affairs show. Thus, not only has free and independent radio come to the Pashto regions of Pakistan, but broadcast music too.
“Radio Mashaal’s commitment to professional journalism in the local language will be an important contribution to peace, reconciliation and democracy in the region,” said Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In Washington, the “Voices from Afghanistan” exhibit will remain open until May 8. The Afghan letters are now part of the permanent collection of the Library of Congress, the library notes on its Web site.
