Afghanistan, Land of Multiculturalism

A few months ago there was some trouble a-brewin about the Karzai government’s new Shia Family Law in Afghanistan. It follows all the worst stereotypes of fanaticism: a husband can expect to have sex with his wife every 4 days, if the wife refuses he is allowed to stop feeding her; women need a man’s permission to leave the home except in an emergency, etc etc.

The law has sparked protests with counter-protest violence as well as international outrage. As a result, Karzai has promised to review the law. It appears to still be in review, and although I wouldn’t hold my breath for it being turned into a sane legal act, some of the clauses have already been softened.

Now, the only outrage I’ve seen about this shitty law is at the level of it being repressive to women and contrary to every principle of human rights imaginable. But it goes way deeper than that. This law was enacted by Karzai as a political move to appease the Shia community. It is the Shia Family Law and as such is designed to only apply to Shiites in Afghanistan (all 6 million of them), not to Sunnis. To me, this is as offensive as the contents of the legislation itself, if not more so.

The most relativist interpretation of multiculturalism is that ethnic/religious/minority communities should be allowed (and encouraged) to maintain some degree of self-governance. Even when these go against the law applied to the rest of the population. To supporters of this, Karzai should be seen as a great multiculturalist, a paragon of tolerance for the Shiite “minority traditions” within Afghanistan.

If we allow society to become so “tolerant” that law is influenced by community membership (think sharia courts in the UK), universal human rights is dead. There’s just the rights granted to you by the “cultural community” you happen to be born into. As encouraged to by the “tolerant/inclusive” government. When groups start being given rights that trump individual rights, the Shia Family Law is the logical conclusion.