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For Iraq (with)out Saddam
Nadia Abou El Magd
Published in
Al-Ahram Weekly
on 08 - 03 - 2001
By Nadia Abou El-Magd
At Al-Watani theatre in
Baghdad
, the queue for tickets to The Bodyguard, starring
Egypt
's leading comedian Adel Imam, winds around the corner and people have been waiting here since the early morning. The same is true at Al-Rashid theatre, where Samir Ghanem's play, Me, My Wife and Monica, is running. Last Ramadan,
Egyptian
comedian Mohamed Sobhi brought his famous play Mama America here, also to great success.
This is a city where the Arab artist is given a hero's welcome. Theatres are swathed in posters bearing pictures of
Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein and offering catchy slogans that draw comparisons between the revolutionary and the artist, the pen and the gun. Ten years after Desert Storm and the economic sanctions imposed on
Iraq
, a visit to
Baghdad
still carries complex connotations -- is it a show of solidarity with the
Iraqi
people, or simply a boost for the
Iraqi
regime? One
Egyptian
commentator has described the parade of
Egyptian
pop and movie stars, intellectuals and businessmen jumping on the
Baghdad
bandwagon as a "black comedy."
Advocates of greater solidarity with
Iraq
, on the other hand, base their case on more than just principle. They argue that the US-led sanctions regime runs counter to
Egypt
's interests, not only on the political and national security levels but also on more immediate economic and business-interest levels.
Businessman Emad El-Galada has chartered six planes since last October. The latest carried the banner "No to aggression, no to sanctions." Detractors, however, cite El-Galada's business interests in
Iraq
to shed doubt on the motives behind what some of them have derisively named "the pilgrimage to
Baghdad
."
Still, last Sunday's trip to
Baghdad
was crowded full of more than 200 members of a growing solidarity movement. "These trips don't simply defy the illegitimate and unjustified sanctions against
Iraq
, but also counter the latest wave of cowardly American, British and Zionist aggressions on
Iraq
," El-Galada retorted. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly aboard the flight, El-Galada called the visits a "successful show of support for the
Iraqi
people," but Akhbar Al-Youm columnist Anwar Wagdi (a nom de plume) begs to differ. It is all well and good that
Egyptian
businessmen are dreaming of
Egyptian
-
Iraqi
cooperation, Wagdi wrote, but "it is ugly and ignominious to see this popular support transformed into support of the
Iraqi
regime."
Last Monday,
Iraqi
newspapers were loaded with articles on "the valiant
Iraqi
triumph over evil" and "10 years of American occupation of
Kuwait
." Back in
Egypt
, the tone was considerably more contrite. "In our hearts, we are all with the
Iraqi
people, and
Egypt
condemns the tough sanctions imposed on
Iraq
," wrote poet Farouk Goweida in Al-Ahram. "At the same time, and with the same passion, we are with the
Kuwaiti
people, who want to live securely in their homeland without threats from their brothers and neighbours." Why, noted Goweida, did these artists not go to other countries, like
Sudan
,
Libya
or
Somalia
. What about showing their solidarity with the children of the Al-Aqsa Intifada?
Comedian Adel Imam has defended his visit to
Baghdad
by saying his performance there was in his capacity as a United Nations goodwill ambassador. Comedian Mohamed Sobhi, who has never shied away from politically charged material, has not gotten off so easy. His photo with Saddam Hussein has brought on more anger than anything he has done in his esteemed 30-year career. Attempts to defend himself by saying that he is equally against the invasion of
Kuwait
and the sanctions on
Iraq
have fallen on deaf ears.
On the other side of the fence sits Syrian-
Egyptian
actress Raghda. "Art mends what is distorted by politics. But when art is politicised, it harms them both," she says. Like Sobhi, Raghda has come under fire for her frequent visits to
Baghdad
, but unlike him and Imam, she faces the criticism head on. The campaign against her, she told the Weekly, only "distorts the main issues, which are the suffering of the
Iraqi
and Palestinian people." Raghda has been quoted as saying Saddam Hussein is not a dictator, "because the
Iraqi
people love him." She has also boldly defended her support of Hussein -- "Why shouldn't I like him? He is the first Arab leader to fire a missile against
Israel
." She added: "Saddam Hussein is not a catastrophe -- but the situation in
Iraq
is."
Respected leftist writer and chief editor of the weekly Al-Qahira Salah Eissa claims the problem lies in the lack of depth in popular movements in
Egypt
. These movements, he told the Weekly, "lack a clear-cut political agenda."
Egyptians
welcomed the trips to
Iraq
at first because they "expressed real spontaneous feelings that didn't involve personal interests." It is easy to rally support for lifting sanctions against
Iraq
. It is not so easy, perhaps, to admit that these sanctions have persisted largely in part because of the
Iraqi
regime and its continued threats against its neighbours. Without emphasising this important point, Eissa noted, local movements will simply become fuel for the
Iraqi
media machine. "We have to get past this Cold War mentality that anyone who is America's enemy is our friend," he said.
Recommend this page
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Flight no.1 to
Baghdad
19 - 25 October 2000
Cairo
-
Baghdad
-
Cairo
19 - 25 October 2000
Little steps, big goal 5 - 11 October 2000
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