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As a curious exception to the revolution from below example, the Taliban completely eliminated heroin production in Afghanistan when they were in power. Produc
by narrator 9y ago
As a curious exception to the revolution from below example, the Taliban completely eliminated heroin production in Afghanistan when they were in power. Production has skyrocketed since their overthrow. There's a reason why religious fanaticism, for better or worse, is popular among the destitute. It represents an alternative to criminal gangs for dealing with government failures.
- digi_owl 9y agoThen again the notion of religion and state as two separate entities is a fairly new one. Dig far enough back into the texts of most religions and you find that they have sections that are old laws dealing with everyday domestic quarrels.
- bovermyer 9y agoConsidering that religion from the relevant eras was largely a mechanism of control (or, less ominously, societal orchestration), this is not surprising. I'd very much like to read an exploration of the relationship between the rise of irreligious social constructs and the decline of the importance of religion in modern states.
- andrepd 9y agoYou don't need to go any further that "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." to see the principle of separation of church and state laid in a religious text. Not that it was ever followed in practice in the centuries that followed.
- scardine 9y agoIf I'm not mistaken this is found only in the book by the apostole who was a tax collector for Caesar. :-)
- krapp 9y ago...still canon.
- jimmywanger 9y agoThat was sort of the whole point of the parable.
- nyolfen 9y ago>As a curious exception to the revolution from below example, the Taliban completely eliminated heroin production in Afghanistan when they were in power. not so much lately. the taliban are at their highest peak of territorial control since the invasion, but these days their territories export poppies.
- mgleason_3 9y agoApparently not completely - and now they’re profiting from it. http://www.businessinsider.com/taliban-control-of-heroin-drug-production-trafficking-in-afghanistan-2017-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/taliban-control-of-heroin-dru...
- int_19h 9y agoThey changed their policy on it after the 2001 invasion.
- ocschwar 9y agoThey did that when they were trying to be recognized as a state, which they were earnestly trying to do all the way to September 10th, 2001. Without that prospect, they stopped bothering. The Taliban's popularity came despite the opium ban, not because of it. The poppy growers did not get high on their own supply.