Iraq

It Is What It Is

A call by the Hayward gallery has been circulating regarding a second installment of the Jeremy Deller piece, It Is What It Is. The call, an excerpt of which follows, was sent out to look for participants in the gallery show opening this month (February 22) in London: “I work as Assistant Curator at the Hayward Gallery and am currently carrying out research for our forthcoming exhibition on Turner prize-winner Jeremy Deller which takes place at the Hayward Gallery from 22 February - 13 May 2012.  The exhibition will feature a number of works, including an installation of ‘It Is What It Is’ - a work which explores the recent history and current circumstances of Iraq ...

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's War

For a couple of centuries now, we have had to make due with Samuel Johnson’s famous phrase: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Thanks to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, we can now revise this phrase for the twenty-first century. Tthe last last refuge of a scoundrel, it appears, lies in taking up the battle against something called “Christophobia.” Hirsi Ali coins this term as part of her alarmist and deeply hateful cover story for Newsweek. “The War on Christians” is splashed across the cover, but the actual target of Hirsi Ali’s piece becomes more clear in the title provided for the online version of the piece: “The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World.” The ...

Suzanne Alaywan's The Gazelle's Throw

[Suzanne Alaywan was born in 1974 to a Lebanese father and an Iraqi mother in Beirut. Because of the war, she spent her childhood years and adolescence between Andalusia, Paris, and Cairo. She graduated in 1997 from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University of Cairo. She has written thirteen poetry collections. The selection of poems below comes from her latest collection The Gazelle's Throw (2011). Her poetry and paintings are available on her website: www.suzanne-alaywan.com] (Am) waiting for you With the utmost despair can afford with the least measure of my shadow   I trust the rain   like a gardenia flower a ...

The War on Error

New Texts Out Now: Joseph Sassoon, Saddam Hussein's Ba'th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime

Joseph Sassoon, Saddam Hussein’s Ba‘th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Jadaliyya: What made you write this book? Joseph Sassoon: The Ba‘th Party documents provide a treasure trove that allows us to understand how authoritarian regimes function and how the Iraqi system was sustained for thirty-five years in spite of wars and sanctions. I was intrigued by the ability to delve into those primary sources to find out how the different organs of the regime operated. For example, among the collection, there are almost two thousand files of the Special Security Organization (jihaz al-amn al-khas), which was, in ...

The "Young Baghdad" Society Launches The National Campaign Against Sectarianism

[The following statement was issued in Arabic by the Young Baghdad Society on 12 June 2012.] Toward a Civil and Tolerant Iraq A few months after the founding of “Young Baghdad,” with the participation of a group of Iraqis from various fields, the society launched its first campaign under the title “The National Campaign Against Sectarianism. While the signatories of this statement recognize the devastating effects of sectarianism on the structure of Iraqi society and its political elites, they yearn for a civil and tolerant Iraq, worthy of the dreams of the martyrs who died on the road to liberty and of the ambitions of this great people. In a virtual meeting that ...

Al-Zahawi's Revolt in Hell (Part I)

The thawra of Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi (1863-1936) was an Iraqi poet, critical figure in the development of Arabic literary modernism, and a scholarly and outspoken contributor to political and social debates during the early part of the twentieth century. Zahawi envisaged a revolutionary role for poetry, transforming the purpose of verse into a utility by which contemporary social critiques could be posed. This is evident in his staunch support for women’s rights, his involvement in the politics of the Ottoman Empire until the constitution of 1908, his affiliation with the Young Turks, as well as his avid observation of the political currents in ...

Sargon Boulus: News About No One

["Akhbar `an la ahad" was published in Sargon Boulus' posthumous collection "`Azma Ukhra li-Kalb al-Qabila" (Another Bone for the Tribe's Dog) (Baghdad and Beirut: Dar al-Jamal, 2008)   News About No One Sargon Boulus   Those about whom we hear no news Those who are remembered by none: What wind has swept their traces as if they never were? My father and the others Where are they? Where? * What became of the man who made beds and bridal chests? Wood was so sacred to him! * Where is the silent shoemaker? Hugging the anvil chewing on his bitter nails? * His cave was full of old shoes Did they bomb it with one of those ...

Stark Challenges for Iraq as US Exits: Interview with The Guardian's Martin Chulov

Martin Chulov has been the Baghdad correspondent for the Guardian of London. He has been covering the Middle East since 2005. In this interview, Chulov discusses the situation on the ground in Iraq as the last of the American soldiers complete their withdrawal. The end of the war leaves a country with a tense atmosphere, a fearful populace, and barely-functioning state institutions. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's agenda is uncertain, and his recent issuance of an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashmi on terrorism accusations has outraged many Sunnis and risks fanning the flames of sectarian tensions. Chulov offers a stark assessment of ...

New Texts Out Now: Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt, Between Nationalism and Women's Rights

Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt, "Between Nationalism and Women's Rights: The Kurdish Women's Movement in Iraq," Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 4.3 (2011): 337-353. Jadaliyya: What made you write this article? Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt: This article is part of a special issue of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication on contemporary Iraq, which seeks to go beyond the mainstream focus on security issues, elite politics, and oil to understand the political, cultural, and intellectual trends within Iraqi society. The aims of our contribution are to shed light on the largely neglected issue of the women’s movement in ...