Uprising for Change (Afghanistan)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uprising for Change is an Afghan civil disobedience movement that started with tent sit-ins in central Kabul in June 2017 in response to the 31 May 2017 Kabul bombing, the killing of protesters by Afghan security forces on 2 June, the 3 June suicide bombings at a funeral of one of the 2 June victims, and subsequent police violence.[1][2][3] On 11 June 2017, the commander of the Kabul Garrison, Ahmadzai, and Kabul police chief Hassan Shah Frogh were suspended from duty following the protests.[1] In March 2018, Uprising for Change called for the Afghan government to be replaced by a six-month interim government.[4]
Nonviolent resistance in Afghanistan dates back to at least Khudai Khidmatgar, which held long-term campaigns of nonviolent resistance to the British colonial government in the 1930s. In the 2010s, the Tabassum movement in November 2015[5][6] and the Enlightenment Movement, which was especially active during 2016–2017, were two new grassroots movements in which massive, multiethnic protests, with women playing significant roles, took place in Kabul and across Afghanistan in favour of Hazaras' rights, calling for improved security and criticising both the Afghan government and the Taliban.[7][8][9]
Creation
On 31 May 2017, a car bomb exploded in central Kabul near embassies and the presidential palace, killing 100[10] people.[11][12][13] An anti-violence vigil started the following day, on 1 June, with the participation of 25 civil society organisations. A protest march took place on 2 June, during which six of the protesters were killed by Afghan security forces. In the evening, tents were set up in protest against the new killings.[1]
On 3 June, some of the protesters proposed the name Uprising for Change (Dari: Rastakhez-e Taghir) as a broad name for the protests.[1]
Leadership and membership
In the early phases of the June protests, numerous groups and individuals coordinated without a centralised leadership. Two of the main groups involved included Khorasanian, a cultural association of young Tajiks aiming to remove words of Arabic and Pashto origin from Dari, and Jombesh-e Guzar (English: Transition Movement), a group involved in party politics and related to Jamiat-e Islami. Members of the Enlightenment Movement came to the tents and publicly declared opposition to the police attacks, but "avoided" public signs of participation during the days that followed. On 21 June 2017, one of the Uprising for Change leaders, Barna Salehi, stated the Uprising for Change had a 45-member central committee and several sub-committees. The groups and individuals were mostly Tajiks, while describing their aims as "all ethnicities against the government".[1]
Independence
In June 2017, activists in Uprising for Change insisted that they were happy for Jamiat-e Islami to support them, but were independent from the party. Jamiat-e Islami also claimed that the protesters were independent "civil society groups and ordinary civilians alike".[1] Tabish Forugh argued that Uprising for Change was not sufficiently well organised and was "vulnerable and exposed" to cooptation and manipulation by established political parties and opportunist politicians.[2] On 3 July 2017, Asar Hakimi of Uprising for Change stated that the group is "not related to any political group or political movement".[3]