Our book club today was discussing “The Sewing Circles of Herat: a memoir of Afghanistan”. Thought to be far too much complex Afghanistani history and very little about how women are surviving in the harsh regime. The sewing circle of Herat only appeared on page 154 and went to page 165. The book is 365 pages long. Women don’t get much of an innings.
Some of the insights into Afghani culture are fascinating – but the utter violence and brutality appalled us. The book early describes a genocide within the nation of the people of Herat by Mullah Omar’s regime. On pages 16-17 there is a list of what wasn’t allowed and it is profoundly hostile to women. Then on page 183 there is a discussion of the roles of guns and absolute incomprehension that men in England could not have guns or that such a society existed.
It was impossible for the group not to be concerned at having people arrive in Australia having deep exposure to this experience and these values then stirring it into our cultural mix here.
It also lists on page 11 the opium production of Afghanistan and we couldn’t help but think how that translates back into heroin sales in Australia and weapons bought to fight our own troops.
The conversation then moved on to concern at the recent closure of two major bookstore chains and concern that reading and literacy were in general decline.