What it is….

    Ok, so I have just finished my second Khaled Hosseini novel about a semi-fictionalized war torn Afghanistan, and I think it's about time I waxed poetical on ya. I would first like to say that I am writing this on very little sleep so, be warned, this might very well not make any sense. That said I would like to reflect on the concepts of peace and freedom very briefly from the semi-unique vantage point of an American living in a tiny tiny Berber village on the roof of North Africa.

The first thing everyone reading this should know is that the word the people I live with use to refer to themselves is "Amazigh" which translates roughly as "the man who is free." In the plural, the Amazigh are the free people, and they come by this honestly. They have protected their freedom through force of arms, guile, and diplomatic shenanigans for well over seven thousand years in the high atlas mountains not to mention the rest of North Africa (apparently "Nile" is an Amazigh word). The only foreigners ever to make it to the high pass just past my site, which could rightly be called the beating heart of the Amazigh world, have been tourists. Let me repeat this for posterity, according to almost everyone I have spoken with so far THESE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER BEEN CONQUERED.

In other words, while America has all the pretty words and the slick lyrics about freedom, the Amazigh have ALL the street cred. When it comes to freedom, the people that I live with have an interesting take on things. Seemingly, to them, freedom means that you are free to do whatever it is you want within the strictures of Amazigh social structures. This mostly means that there are three societies. The first is the family, and young children get away with murder here. However, they all know what the consequences are if they get caught, but on the other hand there is no oversight. The tension here is that as long as you stick with people who either have no power or influence over you, other children, or people who will forgive you everything will be fine. The only rule, in a more cynical interpretation is, don't do anything in front of people who will tell on you unless the consequences don't matter to you. The funny thing is watching a dirty, snot nosed, barely clothed six year old run this calculus in their head before they pee in the street or throw a rock at a cat.

The second society is men's society. You enter this society at approximately puberty and are cemented as a member when you marry, but only if you are male. From what I've heard, this is actually the most restrictive of the three societies. This is because women occasionally float through this society as do the gendarmes and religious authorities. However, on the whole, on your average day in the tea shop men will usually talk politics, gossip, cars, music, and/or sex/women. They feel free to say things that have no basis in the rational world and everyone's opinion is weighed, some hold more weight than others, but if you are actually a member of men's society your voice can and will be heard. In the workplace I have seen the full gamut of behavior, from frantic activity that would put an ER nurse to shame to absolutely, no kidding for real, nothing. This suggests to me that one's productivity is largely a matter of personal choice and a testament to the personal freedoms that the Amazigh enjoy. This is, of course, highly dependent on the good graces of your co-workers and family, but the Amazigh push the extremes farther than anything that I have seen in the US.

Women's society, the third, is the one that I have the least direct experience of and the most respect for. This world is a bubble whose existence is hemmed in by, defined by, and occasionally in open defiance of men. It is a world of long days full of hard work, and worst case isolation. However, I personally would not want to live the life of a man who isolates his wife. Hell hath no fury and all that certainly applies. On the flipside women sit in front of their houses for hours talking, they visit each other as often as they can, and they practically run the fields here sometimes. There is certainly ample time to talk about things with each other that would curl your average man's toes and send him running to the mosque. Women's society is all about creating a safe space and utilizing that outlet to do whatever you want without regard to what may or may not be proper. This is, however, hearsay I cannot verify this paragraph directly and will not name names when it comes to who my sources are. Feel free to call this unmitigated BS if that is your preference, but this is what I have heard.

The dialectic tension between freedom and restriction here is very different from anything that I have seen in the states. Yet, despite the aspects of this social structure that chafe and feel smothering to my American sensibilities I am forced to admit that I have never seen people more likely to do absolutely anything at any given moment. This is the essence of freedom right? The ability to look up in the middle of whatever you are doing and decide to do something different whether that be sleeping at work, climbing from the inside of a van going 60 Kph to the roof without waiting for it to stop, to claiming out loud and in public that Allah has blessed you with a premonition that Barack Obama will become a formula one driver or soccer player, or even opening your home to someone you've known for moments for as long as they wish to stay free of charge. I have seen Amazigh people do all of these things without hesitation, and answer, if challenged, that they are "free to do as they wish, and who are you to say otherwise thank you very much; now get out of the way." If that ain't freedom I don't know what is…rock on free people! Till next time ya'll.