Our Existential Philosophy

After a decade and a half, Afghanistan has experienced both good and bad aspects of democracy, but we are still witnessing a great deal of turmoil in various areas of society. Democracy was supposed to bring positive changes to our country that were co-opted, united, and sustained, but rather the elements of freedom and equality have been used to develop more radical ideas, divided thinking and negative currents. Democracy, and its core principles, could be utilized to create a more humane society, but there exists a great impasse in the name of ethnic and religious interests in our nation. Expected with the advent of democracy are important components; pluralism, freedom and equality, however the risk of democracy failing in Afghanistan is almost certain.

After many years of authoritarian rule, a democratic system was introduced to create order and relative balance between different ethnicities and religions in our country. Unfortunately, it has not been successful. One of the important reasons for the failure in Afghanistan was a widespread lack of comprehension about the basic components of democracy. Before the people in our society were able to understand the core concepts of democracy, our nation had declared democracy. Therefore, many of our crises today are due to a lack of sufficient and positive knowledge of the type of system, as well as how to implement the principles into our culture. Furthermore, knowledge is required to learn about the limits of our new freedoms and civil rights. More people need to understand democracy in order to solve this problem. Similarly, there are acute cultural and social problems that also lack healthy, positive awareness of the issues. One possible way to overcome all these obstacles is to create healthy and productive awareness to then understand, accept and value the principles of democracy within our social and cultural situation.

One of the tenets of democracy is freedom, but unfortunately most people's perception of freedom is to do any practical activity without regard to the freedom of others. Furthermore, some people falsely believe they are free to deprive others of their liberty. This is a basic concept that is not well understood by people, therefore a misunderstanding of this principle has caused many problems in society to the extent that certain groups allow themselves to act in a way that is extremely detrimental.   Understanding all the social, political and cultural principles and concepts in a society requires information, education, participation in discourse and expression, and more importantly, listening to the views and criticisms of other social groups.

The current situation in Afghanistan is hopelessly chaotic and if we continue on this path, we will face a difficult fate in the not too distant future. The good news, however, is that we still have the opportunity to take action to address these major problems.  Nowadays, despite the different religious and intellectual groups in the community who may not be willing to give up their interests, it is difficult to come up with a consistent opinion and way of thinking that is acceptable to all. It is difficult, but not impossible. In order to reach a common connection that retains respect and value to all religious and intellectual schools, while adhering to individual beliefs and opinions, is simply awareness. With awareness comes understanding, which can lead to negotiation to resolve the disputes. To achieve such a situation requires a capacity to be accepting, open-minded, and focused on the greater goal of harmony. Understanding that issues can be solved through dialogue requires awareness, as does consciousness-based behavior for living in a democratic and non-violent society.

The Awareness Brokers Foundation consists of students who have come together to inform the community and solve problems in Afghanistan that are rooted in ignorance. Awareness Brokers have set up this foundation to build an informed community on all the important issues of the collective.