Post by melodierivers on Mar 26, 2020 12:12:07 GMT
I'd like to start the day with a personal assessment of a situation happening with one of our fellow artists, as both a Whitestag and the founder of Elysian Mark Charity.
I understand it will be difficult for us to physically help that member, considering the obstacles separating us. I bring this to everyone's awareness in the hopes perhaps other forms of help can be explored. Or simply to help people understand what some of our members are going through.
So with his permission, as he is unable to access Internet in a constant fashion, I wish to relate the situation of a very good friend and DeviantArt artists and Elysian Mark CAG Contributor, Arslan.
And in advance, I please request that no discrimination or prejudice is to be said or intended. I will be very strict on that. An individual is not responsible for any of his/her governmental/political/elite' actions.
Without further ado.
Arslan is originally a Pakistani (Punjab region) artist from DeviantArt. I had the immense pleasure of hosting him not only in my first endeavour, the artist promotion group Elysian Mark, but then again in my Charity Art Group. He is extremely dedicated at also showcasing underknown and unseen artists, and we have had since our first meeting many delightful conversation.
But I soon learned that he was bullied by other artists on DeviantArt, simply because of the tense conflicts between Pakistan and India. It came at such a point that he had to delete his account, and return on DA under a more secretive fashion, never to speak of his birth country. I must stress that not once has he been impolite or held racial views against his detractors or his fellow artists. Many of you who know me know how extremely harsh I am against such actions, and I can assure this was never his flaw.
So upon his unannounced return, we thought the hate would be behind him.
About a year ago, he wrote about his determination to join an off-country university, having gathered the funds necessary to pay for the tuition, but lacking 600$ for the plane ticket. He started a GoFundMe, and I did my best to help him share it, but as things are, aggravated by the fact he was Pakistani and people didn't trust him based on that, he was unable to gather the remaining funds, and his plans were cancelled. I knew it was important to him, but not to the point that I discovered a week ago.
On that week, he contacted me again with a plea for help. And it wasn't about DA. It was about his family. A situation many of us are all too aware of, either from people we know, or even personally. He is under physical, verbal and emotional abuse by his family, and is currently locked inside the house by them, with any means of communication taken away from him save for a phone he managed to hide. His plea for help in getting the money for the university? It was his only way out back then, and it was denied. Now, he's stuck.
He wasn't able to find a job in the past because of the situation, and even if he could, he would still need to return to the house, because again, the rules over there are religion-based, and an unmarried individual cannot rent lodgings. And he cannot marry, because they are still with the arranged marriage system, and couples are not allowed to see each other before the actual marriage.
Police and social services are out of the question because of the region he's living in. They are still very much religion-based (he's an atheist as a result), and they refuse his plea for help, because to them, that is a normal father behaviour as dictated by their religion. If the "father of the house" tells rules and do things because he wish them, then his household must obey, and stand the consequences if they don't. It's not just from him that I've learned that, it's a very common idealogy in Middle-Eastern, including one of my friend had to fight against when she went underground to catch abusers and help abused Middle-Eastern women find shelter.
He and I are not making this up. It's real, and it's happening right now to a fellow artist and friend. His university plan was the only way out he had found, and even that failed because no one bothered. And now, he's stuck in an abusive family that here would be completely unacceptable, but over there, is considered the "norm".
I know we cannot help right now. Our community has no physical shelter, we do not have power to do anything. But I'm nonetheless doing my duty as an Elysian Mark CAG volunteer and a Whitestag, and I'm relaying this urgent plea of help. If there is something we can do, or even suggest, or plan, now is our chance as a community to help a fellow human being.
I understand it will be difficult for us to physically help that member, considering the obstacles separating us. I bring this to everyone's awareness in the hopes perhaps other forms of help can be explored. Or simply to help people understand what some of our members are going through.
So with his permission, as he is unable to access Internet in a constant fashion, I wish to relate the situation of a very good friend and DeviantArt artists and Elysian Mark CAG Contributor, Arslan.
And in advance, I please request that no discrimination or prejudice is to be said or intended. I will be very strict on that. An individual is not responsible for any of his/her governmental/political/elite' actions.
Without further ado.
Arslan is originally a Pakistani (Punjab region) artist from DeviantArt. I had the immense pleasure of hosting him not only in my first endeavour, the artist promotion group Elysian Mark, but then again in my Charity Art Group. He is extremely dedicated at also showcasing underknown and unseen artists, and we have had since our first meeting many delightful conversation.
But I soon learned that he was bullied by other artists on DeviantArt, simply because of the tense conflicts between Pakistan and India. It came at such a point that he had to delete his account, and return on DA under a more secretive fashion, never to speak of his birth country. I must stress that not once has he been impolite or held racial views against his detractors or his fellow artists. Many of you who know me know how extremely harsh I am against such actions, and I can assure this was never his flaw.
So upon his unannounced return, we thought the hate would be behind him.
About a year ago, he wrote about his determination to join an off-country university, having gathered the funds necessary to pay for the tuition, but lacking 600$ for the plane ticket. He started a GoFundMe, and I did my best to help him share it, but as things are, aggravated by the fact he was Pakistani and people didn't trust him based on that, he was unable to gather the remaining funds, and his plans were cancelled. I knew it was important to him, but not to the point that I discovered a week ago.
On that week, he contacted me again with a plea for help. And it wasn't about DA. It was about his family. A situation many of us are all too aware of, either from people we know, or even personally. He is under physical, verbal and emotional abuse by his family, and is currently locked inside the house by them, with any means of communication taken away from him save for a phone he managed to hide. His plea for help in getting the money for the university? It was his only way out back then, and it was denied. Now, he's stuck.
He wasn't able to find a job in the past because of the situation, and even if he could, he would still need to return to the house, because again, the rules over there are religion-based, and an unmarried individual cannot rent lodgings. And he cannot marry, because they are still with the arranged marriage system, and couples are not allowed to see each other before the actual marriage.
Police and social services are out of the question because of the region he's living in. They are still very much religion-based (he's an atheist as a result), and they refuse his plea for help, because to them, that is a normal father behaviour as dictated by their religion. If the "father of the house" tells rules and do things because he wish them, then his household must obey, and stand the consequences if they don't. It's not just from him that I've learned that, it's a very common idealogy in Middle-Eastern, including one of my friend had to fight against when she went underground to catch abusers and help abused Middle-Eastern women find shelter.
He and I are not making this up. It's real, and it's happening right now to a fellow artist and friend. His university plan was the only way out he had found, and even that failed because no one bothered. And now, he's stuck in an abusive family that here would be completely unacceptable, but over there, is considered the "norm".
I know we cannot help right now. Our community has no physical shelter, we do not have power to do anything. But I'm nonetheless doing my duty as an Elysian Mark CAG volunteer and a Whitestag, and I'm relaying this urgent plea of help. If there is something we can do, or even suggest, or plan, now is our chance as a community to help a fellow human being.