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GALC
Officially Launched in New Zealand
The
Grand Art and Literature Competition (GALC) 2003
was officially launched in New Zealand with a
message from Prime Minister the Right Hon Helen
Clark appearing on New Zealand Education Gazette
on 7 July 2003. more
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 Students
envisage brighter future for Afghans
STUDENTS
from Kaleen Primary School have been among the
first to respond to a national art and literature
competition titled "What Future for Afghanistan?"
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Minister
Alston & Ambassador Saikal Launch GALC 2003
In
a joint press conference on 2 April 2003, Senator
the Honourable Richard Alston, Minister for Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts, and His Excellency
Mahmoud Saikal, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Australia,
officially launched the Grand Art and Literature
Competition (GALC) 2003.
The
theme of the competition is "What Future
for Afghanistan?". It invites Australian
children and young people to present ideas towards
the reconstruction of the war-torn country.
A
large colourful poster, announcing the competition,
was unveiled by Minister Alston and Ambassador
Saikal.
In
his opening speech Minister Alston said: "GALC
is really designed to make Australians, both from
Afghan origin and non Afghan origin to play a
role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan by thinking
of some ideas by putting them in various art forms
and I think hopefully building the bridges that
are critically important."
He
added: "we are very grateful to UNESCO to
sponsoring this competition and allowing the residents
of Kabul to see what Australians have contributed
in a cultural sense. It is a very wide ranging
competition. It covers pretty much all visual
art forms and oral too, including poetry. And
certainly there is every opportunity for a wide
range of young and even not so young to be involved
in a very worthwhile exercise. So it is a great
pleasure for me today to launch officially this
competition."
Minister
Alston said: "I certainly encourage corporations
and other interested citizens to play a sponsorship
role and I think schools have a unique opportunity
to play a constructive part in the rebuilding
of Afghanistan as a result of this project. I
congratulate the Ambassador on his initiative
and the extension of the competition (to the wider
Australian public) in a way that I am sure will
be a very successful way of further binding our
two nations."
On
his part, Ambassador Saikal said: "As you
know Afghanistan has experienced 23 years of massive
destruction and really, we are very busy, with
our heads down trying to rebuild the country.
The daunting task of rebuilding the country is
really massive and of course we are looking for
ideas from around the world to assist us in this
endeavour."
He
said: "Part of the Taliban campaign against
Afghanistan was their war against our art, literature
and traditions. They destroyed the Buddha Statutes
and other artifacts that we had in Afghanistan.
So, in order to counter attack what the Taliban
did, we have to pay special attention in the areas
of art and literature. Also, as part of our embassy’s
job we try to build up people to people relationship,
in particular getting younger generations involved.
As you know our youth has suffered a lot during
the 23 years of war, in particular the Afghan
girls when the Taliban closed the schools for
girls for 7 years."
Ambassador
Saikal added: "This year because we have
established our embassy and the Cultural and Educational
Centre of Afghanistan here, GALC has been launched
Australia wide and New Zealand wide. UNESCO will
exhibit the winning entries in Kabul and let Afghan
children and youth know what their Australian
counter parts think about the future and reconstruction
of their country. The posters have already been
printed and as we speak they are being posted
to more than 10000 Australian schools, high schools
and universities, today."
He
said: " we are looking for talent and ideas.
Ideas that could assist Afghanistan, little ideas,
big ideas. For example the Taliban closed girls’
schools for several years. Now we have thousands
and thousands of teenage girls who cannot read
and write. So if there is somebody who is coming
up with an idea, what to do about it, that is
most welcome and similarly we have got a lot of
other problems. But of course the artistic part
of it will be respected and also its quality and
its creativity will be looked at."
Ambassador
Saikal said: "We will be selecting an assessment
panel in September. We do have some prizes of
our own but I appeal to the government and non-government
organisations, businesses, individuals that if
they wish to, they could come and announce prizes
for this competition and we will certainly acknowledge
their prizes and their names will appear on our
website."
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General
information
The
Embassy of Afghanistan in Canberra, Australia is introducing
an art and literature competition for young Australians
(including young Afghans living in Australia.).
The
competition is sponsored by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). All the
winning entries will be exhibited in Kabul.
The
Theme for the competition for 2003 is "What Future
for Afghanistan?"
Why
the Competition?
Afghanistan
has been in the news a lot in the last two years but how
much do you really know about it?
In
the 23 years before the fall of Taliban regime, Afghanistan
has had invasions, a collapse of political and government
institutions, a takeover by international terrorist
organisations and has been used by drug smugglers and
people smugglers. It has been bombed and mined and had
millions of its people killed or disabled. Millions
have fled as refugees to neighbouring countries or further.
Throughout
this time, the writers and artists of Afghanistan have
continued to work. They have used their work to analyse,
comment on, criticise and satirise their situation and
to dream about a better future.
Afghanistan
is now facing the task of rebuilding itself from the
rubble of its past and looking to find its future. Planners,
policy makers and analysts are hard at work. But as
the artists and writers of Afghanistan will tell you,
the future is also about dreams and imagination.
So,
why don't you become involved in the creative process
that is a part of the reconstruction of Afghanistan?
We
hope that the competition transports you to a better
understanding of Afghanistan, its history, culture and
people.
What
to do?
Write
a poem, tell a story, give us an essay, do a painting,
make a drawing or express yourself in calligraphy on the
theme "What future for Afghanistan?"
You
can write in English, or if you wish to write in Dari
or in Pushto, the two main languages of Afghanistan,
it will certainly be welcomed.
The competition entries will be assessed in three different
levels:
-
Primary School
- High School and College
- Tertiary and Post-Graduate levels
And
entries will be divided into art and literature categories.
Essays,
stories and poems should be between 200-1000 words.
Art works should not be bigger than A3 size.
Fill
out the entry form here and send it with your entry
to:
The
Embassy of Afghanistan
PO Box 155
Deakin West ACT 2600
Or
you can email your entry to us at: [email protected].
Digital and electronic entries are welcomed.
Prizes:
will include medals, certificates of merit, cash and other
objects to be announced soon. Please keep an eye on the
website for more information. Winning entries will be
exhibited in Kabul City. Afghan children and youth, as
well as planners and policy makers will be invited to
see them.
Closing
Date: Please have your entries to us by 5 September
2003
If
you want more information about Afghanistan
Why
not explore our website? It has lots of recent information
and tells you where to find more and what books you
can read.
Bibliography:
For
more detailed study on Afghanistan, here are some references:
Douglas
A. Borer (1999), Superpowers Defeated: Vietnam and Afghanistan
Compared (London: Frank Cass).
Henry S. Bradsher (1999), Afghan Communism and Soviet
Intervention (Karachi: Oxford University Press).
Matthew Fielden and Jonathan Goodhand (2001), 'Beyond
the Taliban? The Afghan conflict and United Nations
peacemaking', Conflict, Security and Development, vol.1,
no.3: pp.5-32.
Larry P. Goodson (2001), Afghanistan's Endless War:
State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the
Taliban (Seattle: University of Washington Press).
Michael Griffin (2000), Reaping the Whirwind: The Taliban
Movement in Afghanistan (London: Pluto Press).
William Maley (1999), 'Reconstructing Afghanistan: opportunities
and challenges', in Geoff Harris (ed.), Recovery from
Armed Conflict in Developing Countries: An economic
and political analysis (New York: Routledge): 225-257.
William Maley (ed.) (2001), Fundamentalism Reborn?:
Afghanistan and the Taliban (London: Hurst & Co.):
43-71.
William Maley (2001), 'Moving forward in Afghanistan',
in Stuart Harris, William Maley, Richard Price, Christian
Reus-Smit, and Amin Saikal, The Day the World Changed?
Terrorism and World Order (Canberra: 'Keynotes' no.1,
Department of International Relations, Research School
of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University)
pp.18-24.
William Maley (2002), The Afghanistan Wars (London:
Macmillan).
Peter Marsden (1998), The Taliban: War, Religion and
the New Order in Afghanistan (Karachi: Oxford University
Press).
Neamatollah Nojumi (2002), The Rise of the Taliban in
Afghanistan: Civil War, Mass Mobilization, and the Future
of the Region (New York: Palgrave).
Marina Ottaway and Anatol Lieven (2002), Rebuilding
Afghanistan: Fantasy versus Reality (Washington DC:
Policy Brief no.12, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace).
Physicians for Human Rights (2001), Women's Health and
Human Rights in Afghanistan: A Population-Based Assessment
(Boston: Physicians for Human Rights).
Ahmed Rashid (2000), Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and
Fundamentalism in Central Asia (New Haven: Yale University
Press).
Barnett R. Rubin (2002), The Fragmentation of Afghanistan:
State Formation and Collapse in the International System
(New Haven: Yale University Press).
Amin Saikal (1998), 'Afghanistan's Ethnic Conflict',
Survival, vol.40, no.2: pp.114-126.
Rosemarie Skaine (2002), The Women of Afghanistan Under
the Taliban (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc.).
The Enduring Splendors of Afghanistan, Smithsonian Magazine,
February 2003, visit http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues03/feb03/afghan.html
Byron Robert, The Road to Oxiana, Jonathon Cape, December
1966
Photographs taken by Robert Byron on his journey through
Afghanistan in the 1930's. View Courtauld Institute
of Art at http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/sub_index/herat_mazar/herat.html
Willem
Vogelsang (2002), The Afghans (Oxford: Blackwell).
GALC
Prizes
As
of end of July 2003, the following prizes have been
announced for the Grand Art and Literature Competition
(GALC) 2003, launched by the Embassy of Afghanistan
in Australia, with the theme “What Future for Afghanistan?”:
1-
$2000 cash from Andrea and Lawrence Nield Pty Ltd
2-
$1000 cash from the Embassy of Afghanistan
3-
$500 from The Hon Philip Ruddock, Australian Minister
for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs,
for the entry that "most effectively promotes harmony
and a multicultural approach in Afghanistan's future"
4-
Two new watches (valued at $300) from Ms Martine Letts,
Secretary General of the Australian Red Cross
5-
$300 airline ticket for interstate flights from Mr Abdullah
Ahmadi Manager of Skylink Travel in Sydney
6-
$200 voucher for books from ACT Government Office of
Multicultural Affairs
7-Free
place in CMAG Education Program & a package of catalogues
for the school library, presented by Mr Peter Haynes,
Director of Canberra Museum and Gallery & the Nolan
Gallery
8-UNIFEM
Australia & Australian Parliament Announce Prize
for Afghan GALC for
details click here
Total
prizes valued approximately Aus$4300. More organizations
and individuals have promised to announce prizes in
the near future.
Government
and non-government organizations and businesses, as
well as individuals, are welcomed to announce further
prizes for the competitions. Prizes will be accepted
until 1st of September. Closing date for the entries
is 5 September 2003. For more information on GALC prizes,
please do not hesitate to contact the Afghan Embassy
in Canberra on (02)62827311.
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