The Enlightenment Movement ( prs, Junbesh-e Roshnayi-e) is a grassroots

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

movement of

Hazaras The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scatt ...

created in 2016 in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in response to the Afghan government's change in routing plans for proposed international electricity networking, which was perceived as continuing historical anti-Hazara discrimination. The group organised major protests in Afghanistan and internationally during 2016 and 2017, protesting against discrimination. The group's youthful leadership challenged traditional Hazara leaders for representativity of the community.

Background

Nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, cons ...

movements in Afghanistan include

Khudai Khidmatgar Khudai Khidmatgar ( ps, خداۍ خدمتګار; literally "servants of God") was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West ...

, which held long-term campaigns of nonviolent resistance to the British colonial government in the 1930s, and the

Tabassum movement The Tabassum movement ( prs, جنبش تبسم, ) was a grassroots protest movement in Afghanistan that held several protests in Kabul and other Afghan cities in mid-November 2015, following the execution by an armed opposition group of nine-yea ...

in November 2015, in which massive, multiethnic, protests with women playing significant roles took place in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and across Afghanistan in protest against the execution of seven

by a group claiming association with

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

Creation

In 2016, Hazaras in Afghanistan and in the

Hazara diaspora The Hazara people are an ethnic group who are mostly from Afghanistan, primarily from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat, they established a large diaspora which consists of many communities in different countries around the ...

, especially students and academics, started coordinating in small groups to oppose the continued

persecution of Hazara people The Hazaras have long been the subjects of persecution by both Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as non-state militant groups. The Hazaras are mostly from Afghanistan, primarily from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Si ...

. The Central Asian Energy Supply Improvement Investment Program (commonly known as ''TUTAP'' for

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

–

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

–

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

–Afghanistan–

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

) was initially planned to pass through

Bamyan Province Bamyan Province ( prs, ولایت بامیان) also spelled Bamiyan, Bāmīān or Bāmyān is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central highlands of the Afghanistan. The terrain in Bamyan is mountainous or semi-m ...

, where it would have benefited many Hazaras, a major component of the population. Rumours of government plans to shift the route away from Bamyan Province circulated in January 2016, and a first protest was held in Bamyan on 9 January 2016. In a non-public session on 30 April 2016, the Afghan government shifted the proposed route to

Salang Pass The Salang Pass ( ps, د سالنګ لاره; prs, كتل سالنگ ''Kutal-i Salang'', el. ) is the primary mountain pass connecting northern Afghanistan with Parwan Province, with onward connections to Kabul Province, southern Afghanistan, ...

instead, arguing that this was economically justified. Hazaras disagreed, seeing the change as ethnic discrimination that would deprive them of the chance at equalising their access to resources. Protests started in early May in

Bamyan Bamyan or Bamyan Valley (); ( prs, بامیان) also spelled Bamiyan or Bamian is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 70,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an alti ...

and other cities around Afghanistan. Two thousand Hazaras met in western

in Mosala of Shahid Mazari and decided to coordinate under the name ''Enlightenment Movement''.

Leadership and membership

The Enlightenment Movement was led by "The People's High Council", a group of students and academics. Sayed Ziafatullah Saeedi stated that these primarily consisted of Hazara youths, as opposed to traditional Hazara leaders "from quasi-warlord backgrounds". Basir Ahang said that traditional Hazara leaders initially supported the Enlightenment Movement and its demands, but shifted towards the government's stance, thereby losing support from the young generation.

Actions

Ultimatum

The first action of the Enlightenment Movement was to set a two-week ultimatum to the government to cancel its decision changing the route of TUTAP and restore the plan for the route to pass through Bamyan. The organisers stated that

would be carried out if the government refused.

16 May 2016 protest

On 16 May 2016, an Enlightenment Movement protest with a million participants in Kabul and parallel protests in other cities took place. Authorities placed shipping containers to prevent protestors reaching the presidential palace in Kabul. The protestors chanted slogans and stayed in Dehmazang Square for several hours. The People's High Council called for the protestors to disband peacefully, fearing violent repression by security forces. Support protests continued internationally during the following weeks.

9 June Warsaw protest

During the 2016 Warsaw summit of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, Hazaras protested, leading Afghan president

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in L ...

to cancel a planned press conference.

23 July 2016 protest

On 23 July 2016, another major protest coordinated by the Enlightenment Movement started at 7am in the

Dashte Barchi Dashte Barchi ( prs, دشت برچی) is a settlement located in western Kabul, Afghanistan. Previously barren and agricultural, Dashte Barchi became populated in the early 2000s by newcomers from the provinces, mostly ethnic Hazaras from Maidan ...

area of Kabul, a majority Hazara area. The protest included women with flowers at the head of the march, and overall had a "significant" participation by women protestors. During the march, two suicide bombers blew themselves up, with initial estimates of 80 deaths and 200 wounded. The Afghan

National Directorate of Security prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی , nativename_r = , seal = National Directorate of Security Logo.png , seal_width = , seal_caption = Seal of the National Directorate of Security , formed = , precedin ...

and the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

attributed responsibility for the attack to the

, which denied responsibility. Authorities cleaned the site of the attack, which Basir Ahang interpreted as obstructing forensic investigation of the scene.

Tweet campaign

On 28 July, a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

campaign with the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

s ''#Enlightenment'' and ''#EnlightenmentMovement'' took place, generating 400,000 tweets. Tweets called for justice and support for the victims of the attack and for opposition to anti-Hazara discrimination. The Twitter account of

Abdullah Abdullah Abdullah Abdullah (Dari/ ps, عبدالله عبدالله, ; born as Abdullah on 5 September 1960) is an Afghan politician who led the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) from May 2020 until August 2021, when the Afghan government wa ...

, Afghan Chief Executive, was

cracked Cracked may refer to: Television * ''Cracked'' (British TV series), a 2008 British comedy-drama television series that aired on STV * ''Cracked'' (Canadian TV series), a 2013 Canadian crime drama series that aired on CBC * "Cracked", a Season 8 ( ...

with a message stating "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery" and including the ''#Enlightenment'' and ''#EnlightenmentMovement'' hashtags.

April 2017 Canberra protest

On 3 April 2017, Enlightenment Movement protests took place in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

during an official state visit by Ghani, the first by an Afghan president to Australia. The protest included 1000 Afghans and supporters opposing anti-Hazara discrimination and opposing the deportation back to Afghanistan of Afghans who had been refused the

right of asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

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BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

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Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

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The Diplomat ''The Diplomat'' is an international online news magazine covering politics, society, and culture in the Indo-Pacific region. It is based in Washington, D.C. It was originally an Australian bi-monthly print magazine, founded by Minh Bui Jones ...

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Khaama Press The Khaama Press News Agency (Pashto: خامه پرس خبری آژانس; Persian: خبرگزاری خامه پرس) is the largest online news service for Afghanistan, established in October 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan, by Khushnood Nabizada, a ...

, url= https://www.khaama.com/widespread-twitter-campaign-launched-following-deadly-kabul-attack-01597 , access-date= 2021-06-05 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210605235126/https://www.khaama.com/widespread-twitter-campaign-launched-following-deadly-kabul-attack-01597 , archive-date= 2021-06-05 , url-status=live {{cite news , title= Afghan chief executive's Twitter account hacked , agency = AFP , date= 2016-07-31 , newspaper=

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

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TOLOnews TOLOnews (Pashto/Persian: ) is Afghanistan's first 24/7 news television channel, owned by MOBY Group, launched in August, 2010. Its sister channels are TOLO TV and Lemar TV in Afghanistan. The channel is available on terrestrial across Afghanist ...

, url= https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/ghani-sign-economic-agreements-while-australia , access-date= 2021-06-05 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210606000926/https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/ghani-sign-economic-agreements-while-australia , archive-date= 2021-06-06 , url-status=live {{void , templates: {{cite news , last1= , first1= , last2= , first2= , pages= , language = , title= , trans-title = , date= , publisher= , newspaper= , url= , access-date= 2021... {{cite web , last1 = , first1 = , last2= , first2= , authorlink = , language = , title= , trans-title = , work = , publisher = , website= , date = , url = , format = , doi = , access-date = 2021... Non-profit organisations based in Afghanistan