In some circles in the West, there is a taboo against criticizing minority communities. This goes hand-in-hand with indifference to human rights violations in the regions and ‘cultures’ these minorities come from. Muslims, especially Muslim women and girls, are doubly dehumanized in this context. We are stripped of our basic human rights and dignity in our communities and countries of origin. And here we are forced into silence in the name of the battle against Islamophobia. And so it happens that, at times, supporters of diversity support enemies of culture.
Patriarchy could be another reason for this complicity. Cultures are universally androcentric, though the manifestations of patriarchy differ from culture to culture. Patriarchy has accomplices in the West as well as the East. Patriarchy is the ‘Great Satan’[1] of our times, the eternal shape-shifter, the arch-enemy of half of humanity. More effort goes into preserving patriarchy than any other institution. The Islamic Republic of Iran claims it is anti-colonial but forces women to wear hijab. In other words, it colonizes its women and replaces one form of colonialism with another. The Saudi regime and the Taliban remove women from the public sphere. ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s first victims are women. The war against women is waged in the name of culture.
But what is culture?
Culture is an ever-evolving consensus among the members of a group over acceptable ways of life. It is not dictated from above.
Food culture, for instance, emerges as a result of people working with the ingredients they can access. Over time, a local consensus is shaped about the best way to cook a dish. And if one individual decides to introduce non-traditional ingredients, they may be dismissed or ignored but not humiliated, punished, or ostracized. Sometimes, the innovation is considered an improvement and is adopted by others as the accepted way to prepare that traditional food.
Culture is not associated with brute force. It is peaceful and non-hierarchical. It is not a fixed set of rules. The so-called Western culture has changed during centuries and millennia. It was not always woman-friendly or queer-friendly. It was not always supportive of diversity, human rights, or freedom of expression. It has evolved and is still evolving. It critiques itself and allows the voices of dissent within its narrative. It is involved in an ongoing dialogue with itself about what it is. It is capable of adapting to the present moment. It is alive.
As soon as a culture stops changing, it begins to die. Culture provides community members with ways to cope with contemporary issues. A culture solely preoccupied with its past glory is already dead. It has exhausted its reservoir of wisdom and has nothing new to offer.
Totalitarian regimes do not speak for culture. They stop the life-cycle of culture. Culture doesn’t need enforcement or government edicts. Culture is how people articulate the meaning of their life. Culture is what children sing at play, what people wear, drink, or read if they have meaningful choices.
Culture is what women do to terminate unwanted pregnancies. In traditional societies, this knowledge was and is transmitted by word of mouth and women may receive help from other women in this regard. This may be kept as a secret from other members of the community, men, or outsiders. But it is preserved as part of the culture of women.
What the Taliban are doing is murder of culture. What the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Saudi regime are doing is erosion of culture. What extremists and Islamists are fighting is a war against culture. Culture does not need draconian military and security apparatus to be upheld. Culture doesn’t need jihadists, soldiers, or militia men to defend it against the community it is supposed to have originated from. Culture doesn’t need torture as a means to extract forced confessions in support of its ‘policies’. Culture does not need vigilantes and morality police to remind people to conform. Culture does not need door-to-door searches to find those who have betrayed it. These measures, wherever they are employed, are signs that culture is being murdered. Culture is not a creed or cult. It is not sacred, perfect, or beyond reproach.
Cultures achieve perfection only after they die and only in retrospect. That is when the inheritors of expired cultures begin to fabricate stories about their glorious past in an attempt to justify their present failures. When a culture is alive, it is so busy growing and flourishing that it doesn’t need to impose itself on its community. It lives and lets live. What is imposed on people in Islamist countries, totalitarian regimes, and dictatorships is ideology and political agenda. It is not culture.
Culture is how people articulate their identity and find their place in the world. Culture helps people liberate themselves from restrictions by offering them a meaningful framework. People are then free either to conform to that framework or to rebel against it. Culture encourages people to tap into the reservoir of human wisdom and resilience. It allows the most marginalized people within the community to assert their dignity. Power-mongers do not speak for culture. They speak for power. Extremists and dictators (religious and secular) massacre cultures because culture subverts their power.
It is only a weak culture that is afraid of change. Rich cultures welcome change. Change is the secret to survival of culture. It allows culture to adapt itself to changing times. It helps culture to stay relevant. Those who insist on limiting culture to obsolete concepts betray culture.
Culture does not wear a uniform, burqa, or hijab. It wears different clothes in different seasons and eras. It works by consensus, not coercion. Culture changes to stay alive. Stunting the growth of culture leads to its death. Culture is human. Humans are born, grow, and die. So do cultures. In the same way that you cannot bring a dead person back to life, you cannot bring a dead culture back to life. Those who try to enforce a dead culture rule over the dead.
Culture is creative and life-affirming. Culture is life.
Armed men uphold patriarchy not culture. Those who kill to uphold culture kill culture.
[1] Phrase used by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to describe the United States.
But what is culture?
Culture is an ever-evolving consensus among the members of a group over acceptable ways of life. It is not dictated from above.
Food culture, for instance, emerges as a result of people working with the ingredients they can access. Over time, a local consensus is shaped about the best way to cook a dish. And if one individual decides to introduce non-traditional ingredients, they may be dismissed or ignored but not humiliated, punished, or ostracized. Sometimes, the innovation is considered an improvement and is adopted by others as the accepted way to prepare that traditional food.
Culture is not associated with brute force. It is peaceful and non-hierarchical. It is not a fixed set of rules. The so-called Western culture has changed during centuries and millennia. It was not always woman-friendly or queer-friendly. It was not always supportive of diversity, human rights, or freedom of expression. It has evolved and is still evolving. It critiques itself and allows the voices of dissent within its narrative. It is involved in an ongoing dialogue with itself about what it is. It is capable of adapting to the present moment. It is alive.
As soon as a culture stops changing, it begins to die. Culture provides community members with ways to cope with contemporary issues. A culture solely preoccupied with its past glory is already dead. It has exhausted its reservoir of wisdom and has nothing new to offer.
Totalitarian regimes do not speak for culture. They stop the life-cycle of culture. Culture doesn’t need enforcement or government edicts. Culture is how people articulate the meaning of their life. Culture is what children sing at play, what people wear, drink, or read if they have meaningful choices.
Culture is what women do to terminate unwanted pregnancies. In traditional societies, this knowledge was and is transmitted by word of mouth and women may receive help from other women in this regard. This may be kept as a secret from other members of the community, men, or outsiders. But it is preserved as part of the culture of women.
What the Taliban are doing is murder of culture. What the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Saudi regime are doing is erosion of culture. What extremists and Islamists are fighting is a war against culture. Culture does not need draconian military and security apparatus to be upheld. Culture doesn’t need jihadists, soldiers, or militia men to defend it against the community it is supposed to have originated from. Culture doesn’t need torture as a means to extract forced confessions in support of its ‘policies’. Culture does not need vigilantes and morality police to remind people to conform. Culture does not need door-to-door searches to find those who have betrayed it. These measures, wherever they are employed, are signs that culture is being murdered. Culture is not a creed or cult. It is not sacred, perfect, or beyond reproach.
Cultures achieve perfection only after they die and only in retrospect. That is when the inheritors of expired cultures begin to fabricate stories about their glorious past in an attempt to justify their present failures. When a culture is alive, it is so busy growing and flourishing that it doesn’t need to impose itself on its community. It lives and lets live. What is imposed on people in Islamist countries, totalitarian regimes, and dictatorships is ideology and political agenda. It is not culture.
Culture is how people articulate their identity and find their place in the world. Culture helps people liberate themselves from restrictions by offering them a meaningful framework. People are then free either to conform to that framework or to rebel against it. Culture encourages people to tap into the reservoir of human wisdom and resilience. It allows the most marginalized people within the community to assert their dignity. Power-mongers do not speak for culture. They speak for power. Extremists and dictators (religious and secular) massacre cultures because culture subverts their power.
It is only a weak culture that is afraid of change. Rich cultures welcome change. Change is the secret to survival of culture. It allows culture to adapt itself to changing times. It helps culture to stay relevant. Those who insist on limiting culture to obsolete concepts betray culture.
Culture does not wear a uniform, burqa, or hijab. It wears different clothes in different seasons and eras. It works by consensus, not coercion. Culture changes to stay alive. Stunting the growth of culture leads to its death. Culture is human. Humans are born, grow, and die. So do cultures. In the same way that you cannot bring a dead person back to life, you cannot bring a dead culture back to life. Those who try to enforce a dead culture rule over the dead.
Culture is creative and life-affirming. Culture is life.
Armed men uphold patriarchy not culture. Those who kill to uphold culture kill culture.
[1] Phrase used by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to describe the United States.
Bänoo Zan has over 250 published poems and other pieces as well as three books, including Songs of Exile and Letters to My Father. She founded Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse and brave reading series. Bänoo is Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alberta, Sept 2022-May 2023.
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