Statement of Solidarity with Afghanistan

We, the GenUrb network, stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan. For decades, international actors have enabled the systematic plundering of Afghanistan, violence against its people and disruption to its cultures. As a knowledge network focused on democratizing our understandings of space and place, we support Afghans’ right to self-determination, and freedom from militaristic neocolonial education. We affirm the right of every Afghan to habitable, thriving communities in Afghanistan as conceptualized by themselves. We also send our support to Afghans leaving their home country for other countries, and call on international bodies to ensure justness and equity in their migration processes, to ease their transition and disrupt the patterns that recur in refugee care.

Collectively, we recognize all the organizations working on the grassroots in Afghanistan to support citizens as the Taliban rebounds, especially those tirelessly caring for some of the most marginalized communities around the country. We also send our support to Afghan communities outside Afghanistan all around the world, that are organizing to help fellow citizens during this time. GenUrb challenges the academy to center Afghan organizers in documenting this era, and to also resist complicity as conduits of continued oppression through carceral ideologies and revisionism.

May Afghanistan enjoy peace in our lifetimes and beyond.

Please see here for a list of resources on what to read to understand the ongoing situation in Afghanistan.