Not too long ago, the ultimate search for paradise began and ended in Afghanistan.
In the 1960’s and 70’s intrepid Western traveller’s lusted after Afghanistan’s free and exotic culture, its relaxed and welcoming way of life offering visitors an opportunity to explore a radically different culture.
This attitude seems to have been turned on its head. Now oppressive dictates are being cruelly enforced on travelling Afghanis by Western governments afraid of offending wide-spread ignorance and xenophobia cooked-up by themselves in their own electorates.
The quest for paradise has never been so elusive. Especially for those now trying to escape hell. For many Afghanis on the move, today, travel is a one-way ticket, with no hope of ever returning home.
In Australia, this xenophobia has been exploited to the extent where it is now politically taboo to confront its confused mass abeyance. Somehow, refugees escaping persecution beyond comprehension are seen as a suspicious bunch of potential murderers and thieves. Politicians declaring themselves as religiously and morally upright have been the chief architects of this political quandary, ostensibly for their own benefit. No wonder atheism is on the rise.
Rather than experiencing the globalisation of the planet—a cosy term which has nothing to do with community-building—the fleeing Afghanis are experiencing the cold indifference of a slammed door. They are encountering strict governing dictums unlike the ones encountered decades ago by Western visitors to their land on a quest for paradise of a more trivial sort. It’s testament to how power accumulation in the West is being heartlessly mishandled.
Our Western view of paradise is now at a state where it is reckoned to be a package deal to a 5-star Bali resort, rather than an introduction to new ways of seeing the world.
Discovery of new ways of life was the heart of travelling for ages. We have strayed far from the track.
