Seeing Red
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 13:44 — grace.norman@gm...
description:
<p>What began as an experiment in political democracy resulted in a Marxist overthrow of government.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan in the World
Theme:
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1973
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Agapkin, V., writer. <i>Proshaniye Slavyanki</i>. 1912. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://www.sovmusic.ru/english/download.php?fname=slavank2.</p>
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<div class="hang">Cel·lí. "Exèrcit Al Zócalo-28 D'agost." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ex%C3%A8rcit_al_Z%C3%B3calo-28_d%27agost.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>49-16</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Daoud Leaving after Being Elected President</i>. 1977. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Ericd. "May 68 Poster 1." Digital image. Wikipedia. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:May_68_poster_1.png.</div>
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<div class="hang">Eskaybe. "Zaher Shah Kennedy." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zaher_Shah_Kennedy.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang">GeorgHH. "Day after Saur Revolution in Kabul." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Day_after_Saur_revolution_in_Kabul_%28773%29.jpg.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>H-00214-29</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">HenryHartley. "Mohammed Daoud Khan." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mohammed-Daoud-Khan.jpg.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>K-00301-08</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">"King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan in 1963." Digital image. Wikipedia. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:King_Zahir_Shah_of_Afghanistan_in_1963.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q-00500-26</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">"RyszardSiwiecSelfImmolation." Digital image. Wikipedia. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RyszardSiwiecSelfImmolation.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang">Safi1919. "Daoud Khan and Asif Khan." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daoud_Khan_and_Asif_Khan.jpg.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Sl-02408</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.<br />
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<div class="hang">Unknown photographer. <i>Zahir Shah Taking the Throne</i>. 1933. Kabul.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Sakata Field Recordings Reel 2-5</i>. Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, 1971.</div>
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<div class="hang">U.S. Army. "Vietnamprotestors." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vietnamprotestors.jpg.</div>
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<div class="hang">Producers: Alexis Menten and Kate Harding</div>
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Video Transcript:
<p>Mohammad Zahir Shah became king when he was just 19.</p>
<p>His reign marks the longest period of peace and prosperity Afghanistan has seen in modern times, from 1933 to 1973.</p>
<p>During his reign, he succeeded in bringing peaceful reforms to Afghanistan.</p>
<p>One of the critical developments during the reign of Zahir Shah was the decision to promulgate a constitution, to institute a new constitutional monarchy in Afghanistan.</p>
<blockquote>“…to achieve justice and equality; to establish political, economic, and social democracy; to organize the functions of the state and its branches to ensure liberty and welfare of the individual, and the maintenance of the general order; to achieve balanced development of all phases of life in Afghanistan; and to form, ultimately, a prosperous and progressive society based on social cooperation and preservation of human dignity…”</blockquote>
<p>This happened in 1964. A commission was established to create a constitution, it was ratified, and with that constitution came the beginnings of parliamentary elections and the establishment of political parties and newspapers, many of which were associated with political parties.</p>
<p>The late 1960s was a time of political agitation all around the world. University students were demonstrating in Paris, Prague, and the United States &mdash and Afghanistan was no exception.</p>
<p>Constitutional monarchy was the incremental way that the government imagined itself progressing, but the students wanted change fast. And they had reasons for concern. For one thing even though there was a constitutional monarchy it was still very much an autocratic form of government. The political, the parliamentary system was quickly paralyzed and ineffective.</p>
<p>The students were also not finding when they were graduating from the university that there were jobs waiting for them, or good jobs waiting for them. So there were economic, political and other concerns and in the spirit of the times, students wanted change fast and they wanted revolutionary change.</p>
<p>The Soviets were importing pamphlets from, in local languages, that advanced the Communist cause, and these were fueling efforts by the student population in particular to radically change Afghanistan.</p>
<p>And so very quickly what began as an experiment in political democracy became the reality of political polarization and because the parliamentary system was not responsive, the students and other people who wanted radical change went underground and began to seek their fortunes through covert overthrow of the government.</p>
<p>In 1973, Zahir Shah’s own cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan, staged a bloodless coup and took over the government. He abolished the monarchy and formed a republic, declaring himself not king but president of Afghanistan. But he made a fatal mistake when he decided to make this new republic an autocratic, one-party system.</p>
<p>That decision alienated the country’s other parties, especially the Marxists. And only five years after Daoud took power, the Marxists stormed the palace gates and assassinated him.</p>
<p>Some say their takeover of the government was strongly backed by the Soviets, while others say the coup caught Moscow completely by surprise. Regardless, the communist takeover paved the way for the Soviets to have a clearer role in the country.</p>
<p>That meant that in the coming decade, the new Great Game between the Soviets and the Americans would continue—in Afghanistan.</p>
