Will one of two destroyed Buddha statues be reconstructed? CNN

By the CNN Wire Staff
March 2, 2011 5:54 a.m. EST

A German professor believes reconstructing the smaller of the Bamiyan figures is possible

(CNN) -- The giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, once painted in bright colors, remained silent sentinels as they reacquired the hues of the sandstone cliffs from which they were carved.
The statues, which looked upon a visually stunning region of central Afghanistan for about 1,500 years, have been gone for 10 years, victims of the Taliban, who destroyed them as part of its campaign to destroy pre-Islamic artifacts considered an assault on the faith.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Wednesday will begin three days of meetings in Paris about a long-range plan for preserving the snow-capped valley's cultural heritage and the remains of the Buddhas, which overlooked a Buddhist monastery.
"They were destroyed in the context of the conflict devastating Afghanistan and to undermine the power of culture as a cohesive force for the Afghan people," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in a statement Monday.
A German professor believes reconstructing the smaller figure is possible.
UNESCO, which is nearing the completion of an effort to preserve the Buddha niches in Bamiyan and wall paintings, does not favor rebuilding the figures.
But it does want to protect the 5,000 fragments of what were once among the world's great artistic and religious treasures.
Today, the massive caves where the Buddhas once stood are huge, empty pockets carved into cliffs that dominate the countryside. The recovered pieces -- many the size of large boulders, others as tiny as pebbles -- are stored in several shelters.
The smaller female Buddha stood around 10 or 11 stories tall.
Professor Erwin Emmerling of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, said reconstruction of the female Buddha is possible, using remaining parts and other materials, according to the university's website. It would not necessarily resemble the ancient statue.
The scientist said the work would require a small factory to be built in the Bamiyan Valley. Otherwise, 1,400 rocks, some weighing 2 tons, would have to be sent to Germany.
Emmerling will present his findings at the UNESCO conference.
The Afghanistan government will have the final decision on any such steps.
The statues survived the ravages of Mongolian conqueror and warrior Genghis Khan, centuries of wars and the natural wear and tear of the elements. In March 2001, Taliban militants, using explosives and tank fire, spent weeks blowing up the two colossal figures. One was 55 meters (180 feet) high, the other 38 meters (125 feet).
The Technical University analyzed fragments of the statues and determined they were once painted in brilliant shades of blue, pink, orange and red. They had been repainted several times, possibly because of fading, Emmerling said.
In 2003, with the support of the governments of France, Britain, Italy and Japan, work was begun on restoring the destroyed artifacts. UNESCO that same year placed the cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley on its World Heritage List and List in Danger.
"The site testifies to the region's rich Gandhara school of Buddhist art that, during the 1st to 13th centuries, integrated different cultural influences from East and West," according to UNESCO.

CNN's Ivan Watson and Peter Bergen contributed to this report

Source,

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/01/buddha.statues/

Afghan girls at Markaz high school in Bamiyan, where girls are able to attend school without any fears, unlike many in the Taliban-infested areas. Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Source,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/01/adult-literacy-war-crimes

Bamiyan Buddha Statues: Ten years on

01.03.2011

It is precisely ten years since the destruction of the statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taleban regime. With plans to rebuild the two statues having been shelved, their vestiges remain as a rallying point to preserve cultural heritage...and to remember the many other instances of destruction and pillage.
Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) considers that the vestiges of the two enormous statues of Buddha at Bamiyan can serve as a focal point for humankind to remember our common cultural heritage and to ensure that we protect it.

"The two monumental statues had stood for one and a half millennia as proud testimonies to the greatness of our shared humanity. They were destroyed in the context of the conflict devastating Afghanistan and to undermine the power of culture as a cohesive force for the Afghan people," she stated at her Headquarters in Paris.

In July 1999, issuing a decree to protect the statues, Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar stated: "The government considers the Bamiyan statues as an example of a potential major source of income for Afghanistan from international visitors. The Taliban states that Bamiyan shall not be destroyed but protected."

However, as the Taleban radicalised their position against imagery and in favour of more and more strict versions of their own interpretation of Sharia law, mixed up with the imposition of Pashtun lore, while targeting the non-Pashtun or less Islamist sections of Afghan society, calls were made by religious leaders to destroy the statues because the worship of images is against Islam. This was despite the fact that in his ruling two years before, Mullah Omar had stated that there was no longer a community of Buddhists in Afghanistan who worship the statues.

It was also despite the fact that ambassadors from the 54 states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference had declared unilaterally in favour of protecting them.

It took the Taleban weeks of determination to destroy them. After strafing the giant structures with anti-aircraft guns and artillery for several days, they were mined. When that failed to work, rockets were fired at them and then finally, they sent teams of sappers to insert explosives into the structures.

Today only the niches where the statues once stood remain. UNESCO does not consider the option to rebuild them worthwhile (they were carved into the cliff face), yet there are still Buddhist monastic sanctuaries, as well as fortified Islamic buildings, at the site which is witness to 13 centuries of Buddhist art showing various eastern and western cultural influences.

However, this was not the only outrage against our collective cultural heritage. Irina Bokova explains, "Since then we have witnessed other instances where cultural heritage has fallen prey to conflict, political turmoil and misappropriation".

The main issues at stake are the need to raise awareness and fight against attacks on cultural properties through looting, smuggling and illicit trade and more importantly, the promotion of tolerance and cultural rapprochement. This will be the central theme of the Forum at UNESCO's HQ in Paris on March 2, which will be followed by the Bamiyan Expert Working Group on March 3 and 4.



At this last meeting the future of the niches remaining at Bamiyan and the way forward for this site will be discussed among representatives from Afghanistan, international experts, donors and other stakeholders.



Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

Source,

http://english.pravda.ru/history/01-03-2011/117057-bamiyan_buddha-0/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#

Reconstructing Afghanistan's bombed Buddhas of Bamiyan

By Liat Clark01 March 11

Ten years after the Taliban destroyed Afghanistan's famous Buddhas of Bamiyan, a German professor is claiming that at least one can be restored.

In 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar passed an order to destroy the ancient Gandhara-era sculptures after clerics demanded all symbols of idolatry be stripped from the country. Despite protests from the Organisation of the Islamic conference, dynamiting of the sacred site commenced on 2 March after firing artillery failed to do enough damage.

Erwin Emmerling of Munich's Technical University wants to use what is left of the statues -- hundreds of broken sandstone fragments totalling around two tonnes -- to rebuild the smaller of the two 1,500-year-old structures. He's due to present his proposal to UNESCO and the Afghan government at a conference in Paris.

Various international institutions have pledged to help rebuild the once-sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site. He has suggested reconstructing the smaller, 38 metre-high, two metre-deep statue, because it is more manageable in scope than the 55-metre-high, 12-metre-deep larger one.

Professor Emmerling led an 18-month research project at the Chair of Restoration, Art, Technology and Conservation Science in Munich to try and establish the best method for putting the statues back together. He argued that due to the weather conditions in the Hazarajat region, synthetic materials would not be a suitable solution for restoration. Instead, he is proposing the original materials be injected with an organic silicon and pieced back together.

The fragments he hopes to use are currently being stored in a temporary warehouse, with the largest remains having been covered and left at the site. "That will only last for a few years, because the sandstone is very porous," Emmerling said. If his proposal is accepted, a factory will need to be built nearby, or alternatively the 1,400 rocks could be transported to Germany.
The study also revealed new details about the creation and make-up of the two statues, which lie 160 miles west of Kabul on the old Silk Road. Firstly, Emmerling and his team were able to better determine the sculptures' age using mass spectometer tests (previous research was based on the style of garments the two figures are clothed in). Material in the clay fragments dated the larger statue at 544 to 595AD, and the smaller at 591 to 644AD.

It was also discovered that the statues had once been brightly painted (see the artist's impression in the gallery below), something that was maintained over the years with additional coats of paint before the region converted to Islam and the practice was dropped. The results chime with ancient texts that cite stories of giant Buddha sculptures, one red and one white. The clothes were made separately of clay, while the bodies of the statues were carved straight out of the cliff side

"The surfaces are perfectly smooth -- of a quality otherwise only found in fired materials such as porcelain," says Professor Emmerling.

The base layer was held together inside with ropes attached to wooden pegs that miraculously survived the explosion, leaving clues about the construction we would otherwise never have known. The site is also filled with countless other historical relics, after Buddhist monks built shrines in caves surrounding the cliff.

The Paris conference held to determine the fate of the statues' conservation will be followed by a two-day meeting of the Bamiyan Expert Working Group, which was set up in 2002 to protect the site.

On remembering the 10th anniversary of the statues destruction, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, said: "The two monumental statues had stood for one and a half millennia as proud testimonies to the greatness of our shared humanity. They were destroyed in the context of the conflict devastating Afghanistan and to undermine the power of culture as a cohesive force for the Afghan people."

UNESCO is expected to be against the reconstruction, preferring other methods of preservation, however the decision is ultimately down to the Afghan government.

Source,

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/01/afghanistan-buddhas-of-bamiyan-reconstruction?page=2

UN marks 10th anniversary of destruction of Buddha statues in Afghanistan

28 February 2011 –

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan, in Afghanistan, by the then-ruling fundamentalist Islamic Taliban, the United Nations cultural chief today called on the world to protect the heritage of humanity from damage, turmoil and theft.
“The two monumental statues had stood for one and a half millennia as proud testimonies to the greatness of our shared humanity,” the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, said in a statement. “They were destroyed in the context of the conflict devastating Afghanistan and to undermine the power of culture as a cohesive force for the Afghan people.”

Ms. Bokova noted that UNESCO and the world “watched helplessly” ten years ago as Taliban Government leader Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered tanks and artillery to bombard and dynamite the huge statues carved in enormous mountain niches, beginning on 2 March 2001.

“Since then, we have witnessed other instances where cultural heritage has fallen prey to conflict, political turmoil and misappropriation,” she added, calling on governments, educators and the media to raise awareness of various international accords preserving cultural properties and banning looting, smuggling and the illicit trade in cultural objects.

Tolerance and cultural rapprochement will be the theme of a commemorative forum at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters on 2 March, followed by the 9th Bamiyan Expert Working Group on 3 and 4 March – both of which are being organized with Afghanistan’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO.

Formed in 2002, the Expert Working Group brings together Afghan officials, international experts, donors and other stakeholders with the aim of safeguarding Bamiyan. The future of the niches and options to present the remains of the Buddha statue will be among the subjects to be examined by the group next month.

UNESCO does not favour rebuilding the Buddha statues, but the experts will examine other ways to present the remains and niches while maintaining research and preservation at the site, which testifies to the region’s rich Gandhara school of Buddhist art that integrated different cultural influences from East and West during the 1st to 13th centuries.

The site contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period.

Source,

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37645&Cr=afghan&Cr1=

Is Democracy Always for the Better? The Forgotten Plight of Afghanistan’s Hazara Minority

With the possibility of a democratic pandemic sweeping the Middle East and South Asia it is perhaps worth pausing to reflect on all the implications for a more populist form of government. Afghanistan has had at least the semblance of democracy for almost a decade – yet what is the fate of the minority in a country where, for generations, brutal oppression has been the modus-operandi of the majority?

Admittedly, not many lessons can be taken from the 2010 Afghan election result which saw widespread fraud, physical intimidation and murder of candidates, self-confessed war criminals on the ballot and only three million eligible voters expressing their preference at all in a country of over fifteen million people. Something that might just pique our interest, however, is that of the 249 seats up for grabs one quarter were won by Hazara candidates. This is indicative of two factors: firstly, Hazarajat is one of the safest areas of a country savaged by unrelenting sectarian violence; and secondly, the Hazara people have wholeheartedly embraced democracy and democratic values and fully appreciate the enormous opportunities that allied military intervention has provided.

The journey the Harazaras have taken to arrive at this point is a story of unremitting abuse. Their history follows the depressingly predictable trajectory of a predominantly Shia minority within a Sunni populace made up of Pashtuns, Tajiks and Uzbeks. Marked out by their faith and their mixed Eurasian genetic heritage, the Hazaras have found themselves on the wrong side of an apartheid society, a state of affairs interrupted only by intermittent genocides. The Eighteenth Century Emir, Dost Mohammed Kahn was content with targeted racial taxation, while his eventual successor, Abdur Rahman Khan, preferred to massacre or banish the hated Kafir (infidels). Following the attempt to conquer Afghanistan by the Soviets, the Hazaras were split into two warring factions, secular nationalists based in Pakistan and Khomeni-inspired Islamists who were ultimately successful. However, in subsuming the secular thinkers into their ranks the Iranian-supported Hazaras unified their various resistance factions under the nationalist umbrella of Hezb-eWhadat. The leader of this movement, Abdul Ali Mazari, was subsequently assassinated by a new and terrible Pashtun government made up of the very worst kind of Sunni extremists. The Taliban’s subsequent destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas which so appalled the international community was as much a display of power to the Hazara people sheltering in caves on that same hillside, as it was a statement of Islamic superiority or the removal of blasphemous idols. Whatever atrocities had been committed by the Emirs would pale in comparison to this regime’s truly exceptional brand of evil.


Besudi Hazara chieftains (taken by John Burke in 1879-80 - from wikisource)
Today Afghanistan falls under the purview of international law as overseen by the United Nations. Hazaras have grabbed the opportunity for education and democracy with both hands. Hazaras are to be found in almost every human rights and democracy-promoting organisation throughout the country. Even though they constitute only 9% of the populace over a third of all University entrance tests are taken by young Hazaras.[1] But this should hardly surprise Western observers. The Hazara people have long made education, even the education of women, a priority. Much of the money they raise within their own communities is spent setting up schools in Hazarajat, while arguments over the nature and necessity of pluralism have been raging in Central Afghanistan for generations while the rest of the country were content to allow the eradication of all ethnic, cultural and religious differences. Most tellingly of all, however, Hazara farmers almost unanimously eschew as “un-Islamic” the practice of Poppy growing that has been embraced wholeheartedly by swathes of the Pashtun population. In truth, the Hazaras were ready for liberation in a way the majority Sunni populations simply weren’t.

But of course, however many Hazaras end up in parliament, the Pashtuns and Tajic warlords still control Afghanistan. The pathetic Hamid Karzai may work alongside minorities in his administration but he has no interest in ending his people’s proud tradition of racist oppression. Of all the billions Afghanistan receive in aid money only a fraction of a fraction has been spent in the central regions – no new roads, new schools or new hospitals for the Hazara. Jobs in Kabul and other urban centres are still split along entirely racial lines, with Hazaras finding what manual work they can and still publically scorned by the less-educated majority. The universities are largely controlled by extremist Sunni pseudo-scholars who lack the intelligence of the Hazara students they either exclude or bully into leaving. Hazara youngsters who graduate at the top of their classes in mixed-raced schools suddenly find themselves denied entry to the lowliest universities, even as their less talented Pashtun and Tajic classmates mysteriously start excelling when they come to take entrance tests. While Pashtun-Tajic, Tajic-Uzbek or Uzbek-Pashtun marriages are generally permissible, no Hazara will ever be good enough for the son or daughter of a Sunni household. Finally, lest we forget, the Taliban are still an ugly and active force in Afghan regional politics. Hazara elders are routinely slaughtered by the fascist cowards who still claim divine right to rule the peoples of Afghanistan.

As long as the Afghan government has to bend to the popular will, supporting Hazaras will never be government policy. The only hope for these embattled people lies in the by-products of democracy: in particular, non-discriminatory education, a free press, and the abandonment of primitive fundamentalist religious values. Meanwhile, as we look over the middles east and see regimes on the brink of collapse, if not already toppled, for the first time we have to ask ourselves what the popular will has to say. Women, homosexuals, Christians, Jews, indeed all racial and religious minorities are faced with the possibility that majority opinion is about to make itself heard. I firmly believe, perhaps naively, that a new democracy inevitably transforms over time into a liberal democracy as the necessities of constant compromise and gradually improving educational standards help shape the popular mood. The process of getting there, however, may well be long, violent and scarred by flagrant inequality.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] See Phil Zabriskie’s excellent article for National Geographic: The Outsiders

Source,

http://theharrysmallshow.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/is-democracy-always-for-the-better-the-forgotten-plight-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-hazara-minority/

Ten years after the destruction of Buddhist relics in Afghanistan

Only the outline of the one of the two Bamiyan Buddha statues is leftTen years ago the Taliban destroyed two huge, ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan's Bamiyan region. That eliminated more than 1,000 years of cultural heritage, and much of the region's Hindu population has since left.
Exactly 10 years ago, on February 26, 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Omar ordered the destruction of two enormous and ancient Buddha statues in the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan. Monks who came to the region along with caravan routes connecting India and China had carved them into the face of a sandstone cliff some 1,500 years ago. Ratbil Shamel, of Deutsche Welle's Afghan service, answered questions about the situation there today.

Deutsche Welle: Can you tell me a bit about the Bamiyan area? How significant are its minority Hindu and Hazara populations? What role do they play in society there?

Ratbil Shamel: The Bamiyan region connected caravan routes between India and China, making it a significant region. It was a very interesting and important economic center, which is what brought these monks to the region. Also, Bamiyan has plenty of water and good soil for agriculture. So they carved these Buddha statues into the sandstone cliff along with very many living quarters. According to some sources they created as many as 900 living units.

Also, Mongol tribes settled in the region and were eventually converted to Islam. Those are the people we call the Hazara today. Over the years the region was intentionally left undeveloped to undermine them, and people still live in the cliff dwellings today. Since the fall of the Taliban, Bamiyan has experienced a kind of rebirth.

The Buddha statues themselves were never considered by the local population as religious icons. To them, they were just a part of history which had always been there. The people themselves never tried to destroy the statues.

What was the significance of Mullah Omar's edict that the statues should be destroyed?

For the Taliban, Mullah Omar is the "Emir" and therefore the leader of all believers in the world. They are anything but modest. And if the leader of all the world's believers delivers a religious edict, then all Muslims are obliged to obey. Of course, the people of Afghanistan didn't do so - the statues were part of their culture. Taliban fighters did it. They destroyed more than a thousand years of cultural heritage.

How much of an effect does this ideology have on the Afghani population?

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Deutsche Welle's Ratbil ShamelEven today Mullah Omar's followers believe his word is final and above everything else. If he orders suicide bombings or the destruction of schools, then the population will suffer from that. It's a very large problem.

How much religious tolerance exists in Afghan society today as a whole?

First of all, people are generally not on the side of the Taliban. So far there have been no demonstrations in favor of the Taliban or al Qaeda, as there have been in Pakistan.

The fact that Hindus are actually the original inhabitants of the region who never gave up their religion - that is not accepted with tolerance amongst the population. Hindu children struggle in schools, their families have difficulties with the authorities and the government either won't or can't protect them. Tolerance towards Hindus has dwindled with 30 years of war, and many of them are leaving the country, as the Jews did.

People are leaving Afghanistan. So how close is the link between the country and its immigrant diaspora?

All of the refugees who have fled Afghanistan maintain a very close link with the country, because they are often the ones who are supplying their families with money. Without them, many families would be completely without means. There are hardly any Afghans in exile who have no link to Afghanistan. At the very least they are usually supporting family members or former neighbors.

What kind a societal impact does this have on Afghanistan?

It has enabled thousands of families to send their children to school. Also, relatives in exile send home books and try to chat with their family over the Internet. This in itself has a positive impact, because it means less people are willing to believe radical propaganda telling them that people in the West are immoral enemies of Islam wanting to destroy Afghanistan's pride.

How have the Afghan people's conceptions of what Islam is - and how it should be practiced - changed as a result?

The biggest change is that people recognize that the Taliban and al Qaeda have nothing to do with the reality of Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion, and we lived for hundreds of years in harmony with our neighbors - whether they were Hindus or others.

The average Afghan has a background of Sufism, which preaches to "live and let live." The radicalization and politicization of Islam began after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, when it was presented as an alternative to the "godless communists."

People now are less under the influence of Taliban propaganda - and they have less faith in the Taliban - because they've seen what that vision of Afghanistan's future looks like. That could change if the development of the country doesn't succeed at all. But they want peace, because it's something most of them have never experienced. The absolute majority of Afghans don't know what it means to live in peace; they only know that it's something they feel a deep yearning for.

Interview: Gerhard Schneibel
Editor: Nicole Goebel


Source,
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14874410,00.html