| The
Trigger: From Afghanistan to Ethiopia
On
the 26 February 2001, Mullah Omar, the supreme commander of
the Taleban movement, ordered the destruction of all statues
and icons in Afghanistan. The two millennium old Buddhas of
Bamyan were exploded along with a vast number of the country's
other historical heritages. Above the door of the Kabul Museum
an unknown person posted the following maxim: "A nation
is alive when its culture is alive". Afghanistan was
shocking in the way the wealth of its national heritage was
pillaged. Natural resources such as forests were brutally
exploited (70% of the national forests were destroyed in only
20 years), ancient historical sites were excavated and plundered
and, above all, culture and tradition were systematically
repressed by the hundred edicts of the Taleban. Experiencing
the dramatic fate of Afghanistan has exposed AIZON's founders,
while working for various international agencies, to the depth
and extent of damage caused to a society when culture and
tradition are systematically destroyed. These events have
forced us to bear witness to how cultural heritage can become
the target of spectacular and dramatic destructions
Though in other places of the world, the
loss of culture, tradition and natural resources may be slower,
more insidious and not as spectacular, we realize that the
end results are just as damaging to societies. We believe
that loss of cultural and environmental heritage is a process,
sometimes unconscious, driven by the dream or the rejection
of certain forms of what is perceived as modernity. It is
the result of a progressive loss of confidence in the existing
values of a society. Forms of music and poetry are disregarded,
frescoes fade, palaces collapse, architecture is forgotten,
the tolerant nature of religions fades slowly into abeyance:
modern times weave their web of amnesia spontaneously and
without respite. The context of economic globalization and
instant communication offers opportunities but also threatens
the preserviation of cultural heritage as there is a marked
shift towards the standardization of culture; a culture that
specifically praises consumption of unnecessary and often
low quality assets, which, in turn leads to rapid destruction
of natural resources of the planet.
Witnessing some of the most dramatic and
systematic destruction of cultural and natural resources in
recent times, the founders have looked for ways to contribute
to cultural and environmental preservation. The creation of
AIZON is one outcome of these experiences.
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