Although most Hazaras live in central Afghanistan, the mountainous and rugged land they refer to as Hazarajat, the Hazaras who have migrated to Kabul looking for work make up a large underclass, take jobs that other groups refuse – as bearers, street sweepers and other common laborers, the jobs that are referred to as “Hazara occupations.”
Persecuted for centuries, the Hazaras, Shiite Muslims, and protectors of the Buddhist treasures in Bamiyan, have been persecuted, tortured, and slaughtered, but the ravages during the Taliban rule from 1996 – 2001, was only one chapter in the long, bleak history of discrimination and abuse inflicted on the Hazaras.
Most people first heard of the Hazaras when the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed. Three years later, they read about them in the bestselling, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, which was translated into 42 languages.
Some sources claim that Hazaras are the third largest ethnic group in the country with about 20 percent of the total population.
An education official in Bamiyan commented to me that the Hazara’s history has been characterized by “blood and smoke.”
Hazaras were sold as slaves as late as the 19th century, and
in the early part of the twentieth century, tens of thousands of Hazaras were ordered to be killed in their homeland in the highlands of central Afghanistan.
In May, powerful explosions outside a high school in a Hazara neighborhood in Kabul, killed at least ninety and wounded scores more, many of them teenage girls leaving class, in a horrific attack that reinforced fears about the nation’s future after the U.S. troop withdrawal.
“But even as the violence deters some students, many young Hazaras keep returning to classrooms. They have swept aside their fears and dread to pursue dreams of higher education in a country where attending class is an expression of faith amid a
climate of terror.“
NYTimes – March 22, 2021
“You can take our lives but you cannot take
education away from us.“
– Hazara student
****
We invite you to check out Steve’s current and upcoming exhibitions:
Wabi Sabi: Beauty in Imperfection
Currently on Display until August 23, 2021
Musée Barbier-Mueller
Genéve, Switzerland
More Information
Color
Currently on Display until September 19, 2021
Messe Graz
Graz, Austria
More Information
Terre Alte
Currently on Display until September 19, 2021
Palazzo delle Albere
Trento, Italy
More Information
The World of Steve McCurry
Currently on Display until October 20, 2021
Maag Hall Zurich / Eventhall
Zurich, Switzerland
More Information
The Eyes of Humanity
Currently on Display until October 10, 2021
Ernst Leitz Museum
Wetzlar, Germany
More Information
The World of Steve McCurry
Currently on Display until October 10, 2021
Waagnatie
Antwerp, Belgium
More Information
Steve McCurry Curated 