File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2001/postcolonial.0110, message 567


From: "julian samuel" <jjsamuel-AT-vif.com>
Subject: Compare this Canadian journalist with Robert Fisk' coverage of Palestine
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 21:52:38 -0700


Compare this Canadian journalist with Robert Fisk' coverage of Palestine:


PRINT EDITION
When it's polo day, the war can wait

GEOFFREY YORK visits holy warriors who play hard, and finds out why a key
rebel offensive fell apart

By GEOFFREY YORK, The Globe and Mail
Wednesday, October 24, 2001



Mujahedeen thunder along a cornfield near Kabul yesterday during a game of
buzkashi, which is said to date from the time of Genghis Khan.
Photo: Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail

GULBAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The crowds began gathering early in the morning in
a vast field. They stood on flatbed trucks, sat on the edge of irrigation
canals or climbed trees for a better view. Then the horsemen arrived -- two
dozen magnificent steeds and their fierce riders.

The warriors were taking a break from war. In a chaotic Afghan version of
polo, they mounted their horses yesterday and stampeded across the dusty
cornfield in pursuit of the carcass of a calf.

They were only a few kilometres from the front lines near Kabul, where
rockets and tank shells slam into the hills and desert every day. Far
overhead, U.S. warplanes were streaking toward Taliban targets. But for the
thousands of Afghans engrossed in a traditional game of buzkashi, the war
could wait.

The horsemen were mujahedeen, the holy warriors of the opposition Northern
Alliance. They didn't seem too concerned about missing a day of fighting.
The leisure of equestrian sports is another sign that the opposition still
has no plans to mobilize for a major land offensive, despite constant U.S.
bombing of the Taliban front lines.

Buzkashi, a favourite sport in horse cultures across Central Asia, is said
to have originated in the days of Genghis Khan, when legend says the game
was first played with human corpses. Today the warriors usually fight for
possession of a dead goat, sheep or calf.

The organizers had killed the calf a day earlier. They chopped it in half to
make it the right size and shape, leaving two legs so that the horsemen
could grab onto it.

Afghans still ride horses in some of their battles in this latest civil war,
and they say buzkashi is an ideal sport for warriors. "It helps us find and
keep good horses, which are good for fighting," an organizer boasted
yesterday.

The riders and their horses formed teams of six or seven, with green or
white armbands to distinguish them. It was the first time they had played
buzkashi since the 40-day mourning period that followed the assassination of
opposition leader Ahmed Shah Masood.
An organizer began by calling the horsemen forward, reviewing the rules, and
urging the warriors to refrain from charging off the cornfield and knocking
over the spectators, especially since there were foreign guests
(journalists) in the crowd. There was a short prayer, and they were off,
racing toward the dead calf.

The horsemen battled ferociously, struggling for possession of the calf in
rugby-like scrums, then breaking loose in thunderous gallops around the
field, whipping their horses and kicking up huge clouds of dust. The game
seemed to feature all of the violence and aggression of the conflicts that
have torn apart the feuding tribes and clans of Afghanistan for years.

The object of the game was to reach down from the saddle, seize the calf,
carry it around the field in a burst of speed, reaching a green-and-white
flag and then returning to the other end of the field, where players had to
deposit the calf in a hole in the ground. Their teammates helped by blocking
the other horses.

Most of the horsemen were young, but one was a grizzled old man and another
was a small boy of about 12 who could not reach the calf when he leaned over
his saddle.

An announcer with a bullhorn excitedly described the action, shouting the
names of the horsemen. "Excellent, very good," he exhorted. "Go, go!"

When a horseman scored a goal, he raced around the field with his hand in
the air in a frenetic victory lap. The crowd cheered wildly, and officials
brought a stack of Afghan bank notes (worth about $2 or $3) to the goal
scorer.

There were no hot-dog vendors, but children circulated through the crowd
with plates of fresh, unpeeled potatoes and bowls of salt to dip them in.
Women were barred from the crowd.

Security men whacked the spectators with sticks to keep them off the
cornfield. But often the horses stampeded toward the crowd, forcing everyone
to scatter. Men waved blankets frantically at horses that veered toward the
audience. Spectators cheered and laughed whenever others were forced to flee
from charging horses.

The dead calf, which was almost torn apart, became increasingly slippery as
the game wore on. When they grabbed it, the horsemen held it tightly with
their hands and legs, while clutching a whip in their teeth.

The game ended with the spectators happy and satisfied. They had witnessed a
bold and daring display of horsemanship, and nobody had been killed.









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