She is an Arab woman suffering with her people through the occupation by our country of hers..
Via e-mail she gave me permission to post her work.. Her words speak for themselves. so no more introduction..
An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle...
Who am I ? The eternal Question . Have not figured it out fully yet . All you need to know about me is that I am a Middle Easterner ,an Arab Woman - into my 40's and old enough to know better . I have no homeland per se . I live in Iraq,Lebanon,Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt simultaneously .... All the rest is icing on the cake. / Copyrights reserved, 2006-2007
The uncensored Anger Manifesto - Part I
Painting : Iraqi Artist Rafa Nasiri.
I cannot sleep . My seething anger keeps my eyes wide open .
But you are sleeping safely in your home , holding your partner or your child and you know in all probability that you will awake tomorrow. And tomorrow , you will open your eyes, step into your bathroom and you will find running water . You will fix yourself a coffee and you will find electricity, you will open your kitchen cupboard and you will find food .
Then you will get dressed , and you have clothes for winter and if you catch the flu , you can always call up your doctor or run to a hospital . Hey, you can even take flowers to your beloved ones if they happen to fall ill ,or just check to make sure that the surgery of Uncle Tom was successful . Oh yes, you can afford to do so.
Then you will get into your car, drive merrily or maybe not so merrily to your work place , or go shopping worrying about what to cook for your sweet family, or meet with your friends for a morning cup and rant neurotically about how miserable your life is .
Your day is probably filled with things to do . Most likely you have a job and you know you have an income at the end of the month. And you can give yourself the luxury of planning for your future.
You plan everything don't you? What you will be getting for your kids at Christmas, how many parties you have booked on your agenda , your next vacation trip, your one year plan, your five year plan , when your goverment will be invading another country. You are in fact a great planner.
If you have kids , then you know they are getting an education . You can buy them pads, pencils, drawing books , toys and even take them for a stroll in a park free from Depleted Uranium and you can fly kites and raise your eyes to the sky and not see fire jets hovering above your little head . You can do that. I know you can.
And if you are walking about , you know that no bomb or bullet is going to blow you or blow your loved ones away. You will neither be kidnapped nor abducted never to be seen again.
You feel queasy at the sight of blood . Yes I know that. Even the blood you watch on your TV screen when you get back home safely in the evenings is censored so as not to disturb your sensitivities. You don't see limbs , bowels, and brains blown away, you are really cared for and so protected . And if per chance you come across such scenes, you conveniently zap or ask your kids to run upstairs. You don't want them traumatized . Yes violence is bad for you .
It disturbs your peace of mind . I really sympathize.
And when Saturday or Sunday comes , you go to your worship place , and praise the Lord for being born in the greatest country ever . Yes I know you enjoy your rights and freedoms.
During weekends , you can take time for your leisure, tend your garden , go to a gym, invite your friends, barbecue, go dancing , party. You can have fun . But of course, it is natural, it is written in your constitution "the pursuit of happiness" is just for you, and only for you. I don't need to remind you . You already know it by heart.
And when you are with your friends you can be so very interesting . You can tell them how fucked up the world is , how people can't get along . You will point your finger in our direction and hold us as an example . Oh yes, you know so much . Your press told you all about it.
And when you are done with all of the above , you will go back to sleep in your cozy bed , switch the lights off and snore in total oblivion. All the way to that state you are so familiar with, all the way back into your usual comatose indifferent self .
And we are still here,counting the minutes, the seconds and hoping we will taste life again. A life we had before you and your ilk took it all away.
Painting : Iraqi Artist Rafa Nasiri.
Posted by Layla Anwar at 5:16 AM
The Uncensored Anger Manifesto - Part II
** Painting : By Iraqi Artist, Rafa Nasiri.
Warning : This sequel to Part I may contain strong language that may offend some of the readers . To those, I say: Skip it.
To whom it may Concern
So, you are stuck in a quagmire huh?
No shit Sherlock . What did you expect then ?
Did you expect a cake walk or did you think you will be tanning your ass in Baghdad like you do when you go on your yearly Caribbean vacation?
Yeah I know, you managed to have a little fun raping "Eye Raqis " from little girls, to boys , to women and men .
And I also know that a good deal of you managed to pocket a few hefty bundles of dollars .
Some through dubious contracts and some through sheer theft . Stealing the palaces , the houses and even the huts . Don't ever think anything goes unreported.
Or maybe you thought that you can walk into our holy places with your filthy boots, spit and piss on our holy book and kill our preachers and worshippers when in prostration at dawn and we will just stand there and turn the other cheek?
Or maybe you thought we will give you candies and roses or better still make a statue in your honor , a statue dedicated to Freedom and Democracy?
Tell you what , I will show you my gratitude . I want to offer you a statue , a homage for your valiant acts. I want to edify it in your name and in the name of your founding fathers , and in the name of your Mafia ancestors . Yes I will dedicate this work to you . It will be made of skulls and bones , painted in blood and feces.
Yes you read me right . The skulls and bones that you left in every single street you visited , the blood of innocents that you spilled and the feces in which you drowned the faces of your "detainees". And I will crown that beautiful statue of your acts with the genitals you hacked off . Remember those ? I do .
It will be an art work of phallic proportions dedicated to your virility and courage. A farewell token.
You don't like this language ? I will try another.
I will not be like this poor illiterate peasant who screams when he sees his family killed by one of your smart missiles and his tiny house destroyed :
"I don't want democracy , I want to live , your democracy is killing me".
No I will not do that. I will be civilized , I promise you .
I will be the nice "Ayrab" girl now . I will bow down to you and be very graceful. I will even put on my best show of tears and touch your heart with my pleas , so you can finally feel safe to look at me or hear me .
You like it when am so servile don't you ?
I will wear my best pair of satin gloves and use your other dialect. The dialect of the oppressed begging. This will make you feel like the Master and I know, you just love that high. The high of your grandiose arrogance .
I will say to you : Please understand , we are a backward "12th century tribal people"*, who are not used to democracy.
"We don't dig it"* . We are a tribal insane religious lot that thrives on "blowing themselves up". Your presence is just exacerbating this horrible trait in us . "We don't understand ballot boxes and votes , these are disgusting words"* for us and as a woman I can't even address you but behind a veil because gender equality is not something I am used to . Please leave us in our backwardness and pack your bags and go .
Does this ring better for you ? No ? Ok . Let me use a simplified version .
If neither dialect is comprehensible to you :The dialect of violence which you are so proficient at nor the Dialect of slavery that you just relish , then let me use plain English maybe you will finally understand :
Fuck off - Right back to where you came from.
- Sentences heard on Mike Malloy Radio Show to "sensitize" the American Public /5.12.06