HOW DO WE TRY TO WRITE THE HUMAN RIGHTS IN KABOUL ?

ONTO KABOUL'S STADIUM WALLS - ONTO THE MEMORY WALLS - ONTO THE FUTUR WALLS - ONTO....

OBJECTIVES  of the project
The project aims at contributing to the international debate for Afghanistan’s opening to democracy and at helping to deal with past human rights violations. The project will be located onto the walls of the Kaboul’s Stadium where the Taliban’s public executions took place. The walls and and seats of the stadium will be covered  by the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights local languages Dari, Pashto. In order to achieve this objective, we have created a ceramics workshop in Kaboul that has given local craftsmen an opportunity to revitalize their traditional art of tiles and calligraphy making while offering an income source.

Project historical background
Nearly two years after the liberation of Afghanistan from Talibans’ rule, the country was still far from stability. After september 11 in 2001, the international community committed itself  to the country’s reconstruction, while preventing Afghanistan from becoming once again a safe haven for terrorism.

The international community was convinced, that democratic structures, where Human Rights and citizens are respected are the best prerequisites for democracy to flowerish again.
 
But as we know, democracy is not only a question of money. It needs a profound conciousness’ change. After communist dictatorship and islamist terror, a „talibanization of the minds“ has taken place, that has aliened the country’s culture. Apart from material reconstruction, Afghanistan needed a cultural rebirth and a knowledge of Human Rights base fo a democratic  modern state. By cooperating with local craftsmen at all stages of the project, Inscrire promotes cultural reconstruction. It offers the chance to revitalize an ancient ceramic and calligrapgy craft by setting up a workshop while giving craftmen means of earning a living.

Advancement of the project in 2009

A ceramics studio has been set up near Kaboul. Craftsmen from the potter‘s town of shtalef, produce tiles, under the supervision of masters from Herat and Masar-e-Sharif. In these Afghan cities, ceramic art has a long outstanding tradition and is still being practiced.
The Idea is to produce good quality tiles and kitchen-ware, that doesn‘t compete with cheap mass production from Pakistan. By enhancing their quality, the products will attract local and international markets and become a sustainable source of income for the craft people. Simultaneously in Inscrire‘s partner organization, the Afghanistan’s Media Centres, Human Rights tiled walls will be built. By doing this in cities like Jalalabad, Masar-e-Sharif, Kunduz etc…. will become part of the project and probably starting points for other actions in the country.  In all the schools that were built by the Media Centres, the Children‘s Rights text will be put into tiles, to become public walls to teach children how to read.

ADVANCEMENT OF THE PROJECT :

by February 2004

Dear Françoise,

good news: we got the first sponsor from the green German Heinrich-Boell-Foundation for the construction of the ceramics studio and the salary of the workers. They also promised to pay for the local workers next year. We decided not to rent a studio, but to build one on a piece of land that we can have for free, near Ishtalif, the village, where the potters live. Construction work will start this month ( february 2004) and hopefully we can begin with the production of tiles in summer.
I hope you are doing well.

Lots of love,
Britta
Kaboul

by September 20th, 2004

Dear Francoise,
Thanks a lot for the address of the ceramics company in Paris. I think,we will decide pretty soon which oven we will buy, because this question is actually the last obstacle for our tile production. I just have to find out, how to bring it to Afghanistan and how expansive this can get.
We are already making pots, plates an other stuff in our studio, even tiles, but not in an appropriate quality for the stadium. We even did our first ceramics and calligraphy workshop for children, financed from our own pocket, but I am sure, that we will get some more money for this next year. I am optimist, that we can start the actual work on the stadium next year. I learned from experience, that projects in Afghanistan always need a little more preparation, than you would think.

Love,
Britta, Kaboul

by November 2009

Utopia is a good word....

Everything is in place and needs to be reviltalized. I am sending you a few photos of our kiln and our potters at work plus some images of two research-trips I made :

-One to Herat, where UNESCO is training our young potters in the old techniques of tile making.

- And one from the TVETA training centre in Lahore in Pakistan, where we sent our potters for further qualification. 
The main problem at this point is that, If we want to produce the tiles in the old style, it will get extremely expensive and will take a lot of time. Iran is, as I see it, very professional in producing a kind of tiles that look like old style but is actully new and easy to reproduce. This would need further research. Because of the difficult political and visa situation in Iran, we opted a few years ago to check out Pakistan first, but I think if we decide to start again, Teheran would be the first address.
The good thing is that by now, we did so much research, that I know quite well what is the problem and state of the art with Afghan potters.

So far, all the best and lots of love from far,

Britta