Sunday, September 20, 2009

TEXT OF MUNTAZAR Al-ZAIDI'S GREAT SPEECH

By way of final and definitive obituary for America's criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq plus any future temptations on the part of that or any other nation or gang-thereof to engage in imperialistic/expansionistic invasions in the ME or anywhere else on the planet, here - via the FP blog "Enduring America" - is the full text of Muntazar Al-Zaidi's magnificent speech explaining why he threw his shoes at Bush:



"I am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the symbolic act. But, simply, I answer: what compelled me to act is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot.

Over recent years, more than a million martyrs have fallen by the bullets of the occupation and Iraq is now filled with more than five million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed. Many millions are homeless inside and outside the country.

We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shia would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ. This despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than a decade.

Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression. But the invasion divided brother from brother, neighbour from neighbour. It turned our homes into funeral tents.

I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, pushing me towards the path of confrontation. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Falluja, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.

As soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies, while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the blood that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.

The opportunity came, and I took it.

I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.

I say to those who reproach me: do you know how many broken homes that shoe which I threw had entered? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.

When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.

If I have wronged journalism without intention, because of the professional embarrassment I caused the establishment, I apologise. All that I meant to do was express with a living conscience the feelings of a citizen who sees his homeland desecrated every day. The professionalism mourned by some under the auspices of the occupation should not have a voice louder than the voice of patriotism. And if patriotism needs to speak out, then professionalism should be allied with it.

I didn’t do this so my name would enter history or for material gains. All I wanted was to defend my country."


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Posted with applause and very deep respect.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

"TAGHSIRE MAN BOOD?"/"IT'S MY FAULT?"

GREAT NEW SONG BY KIOSK ON IRAN'S SHOW-TRIALS with English and Italian translations of the lyrics after the video:



Lyrics in English:

My Fault

If a war started somewhere
or someone became poor
It was my fault

If there was a shortage of water
Emigration was just a mirage
It was my fault

If winters were cold and summers were warm
It was my fault

If the roads are narrow
and the streets are dark
It was my fault

It was my fault

If there was an unemployment crisis
Poverty and homelessness
It was my fault

The Arab - Israeli war
And the Tamil Tigers conflict
It was my fault

Identity crisis
The death of spirituality
It was my fault

The deconstruction of civilization
It was my fault

It was my fault (This is a confession)
It was my fault (I really apologize)

Politics plagued by populism
Defeated diplomacy
It was my fault

National soccer teams elimination
Due to playing with emotion
It was my fault

If Bin Laden managed to get away
and Oil prices shot up to the sky
It was my fault

If you got bored with all these promises
It was my fault

It was my fault (Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologize)
It was my fault (Im very embarrased)
It was my fault

If the plaintiffs are in jail
but the criminals are out on bail
It was my fault

If these are all secrets that everyone knows about
It was my fault

If God unwilling, one day I am not among you
What will happen then?

Or will it always be my fault even if Im not there?
There is no other way


It was my fault
It was my fault
(Traffic) (Environmental pollutions) (passenger airlines crash) (inflation rate)

I'm really sorry I dont know who to apologize to.


With special thanks to Zedekooteda1 for translating the lyrics for me!

........

Italian:

E' colpa mia

Se da qualche parte scoppia una guerra
O qualcuno cade in miseria
E' colpa mia

Se manca l'acqua
Se emigrare è solo un miraggio
E' colpa mia

Se fa freddo d'inverno e caldo d'estate
E' colpa mia

Se le strade sono strette
e i vicoli sono bui
E' colpa mia

E' colpa mia

Se c'è disoccupazione
povertà e senzatetto
E' colpa mia

Se c'è la guerra arabo-israeliana
E il conflitto delle Tigri Tamil
E' colpa mia

La crisi d'identità
La morte della spiritualità
E' colpa mia

La decostruzione della civiltà
E' colpa mia

La colpa è mia (ve lo confesso)
E' per colpa mia (ve ne chiedo scusa)

La politica ammorbata di demagogia
La sconfitta della diplomazia
E' colpa mia

Se la nazionale di calcio s'è fatta eliminare
Perché giocava con troppa emozione
E' colpa mia

Se Bin Laden è sfuggito alla cattura
E il prezzo della benzina va alle stelle
E' colpa mia

Se vi siete stufati di sentire tante promesse
E' colpa mia

E' colpa mia (Signori e Signore, ve ne chiedo scusa)
E' colpa mia (Me ne vergogno proprio tanto)
E' colpa mia

Se le vittime finiscono in galera
e i criminali girano a piede libero
E' colpa mia

Se tutti questi segreti sono di pubblico dominio
E' colpa mia

Dio non volesse, se un giorno non ci fossi più
Allora che succederà?

Sarà sempre colpa mia anche quando non ci sarò più?
Non c'è altra via

La colpa è mia
La colpa è mia

(Il traffico) (l'inquinamento) (i disastri aerei) (il tasso d'inflazione)

Mi dispiace tanto non so proprio a chi chiedere scusa.


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More about the show-trials here.