Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiThe Shoes We Longed For
The young journalist who took on Bush has become a unifying Iraqi symbol, a national hero
Within a few unlikely seconds, a pair of size 10 shoes have become the most destructive weapon the people of Iraq have managed to throw at the occupying powers, after nearly six years of occupation and formidable resistance. One Iraqi writer called the shoes, hurled by a journalist at George Bush, "Iraq's weapon of comprehensive destruction".
While the uprisings of Falluja, Najaf, Basra and Baghdad against the occupation will always remain as landmarks of a people resisting occupation, these incredible seconds have united Iraqis in the most dramatic fashion.
Contrary to most media coverage, the 28-year-old TV reporter Muntadhar al-Zaidi made history not by merely throwing a pair of shoes, the highest expression of insult in Iraqi culture, at the US president, but by what he said while doing so and as he was smothered by US and Iraqi security men. He groaned as they dragged him out of the press conference. They succeeded in silencing him - and according to his brother he was beaten in custody - but he had already said enough to shake the occupation and Nouri al-Maliki's Green Zone regime to their foundations.
Strip the words away, and his and the Iraqi people's cry of deep pain, anger and defiance would amount to no more than a shoe-throwing insult. But the words were heard. "This is the farewell kiss, you dog," he shouted as he threw the first shoe. The crucial line followed the second shoe: "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." Once those words were heard, the impact of a pair of shoes became electrifying. A young journalist has put aside the demands of his profession, preferring to act as the loudest cry of his long-suffering people. If one considers the torture and killings in Iraqi and US jails that Muntadhar often mentioned in his reports for al-Baghdadia satellite TV station, he was certainly aware he risked being badly hurt.
As the Iraqi and Arab satellite stations switched from the live press conference to reporting reaction to the event, the stunned presenters and reporters were swept away by popular expressions of joy in the streets, from Baghdad to Gaza to Casablanca. TV stations and media websites were inundated with messages of adulation. The instant reply to any criticism of "insulting a guest" was: "Bush is a mass murderer and a war criminal who sneaked into Baghdad. He killed a million Iraqis. He burned the country down."
Expressions of support and demands for Muntadhar's immediate release have spread from Najaf and Falluja to Baghdad, and from Mosul in the north to Basra in the south. An impressive show of anti-occupation unity is developing fast, after being weakened by the sectarian forces that the occupation itself has strengthened and nourished, as Muntadhar himself used to stress.
No one asked after Muntadhar's religion or sect, but they all loved his message. Indeed, I have yet to come across an Iraqi media outlet or website that pronounced on his religion, sect or ethnicity. The first I heard of his "sect" was through US and British media.
The reality is that Muntadhar is a secular socialist whose hero happens to be Che Guevara. He became a prominent leftwing student leader immediately after the occupation, while at Baghdad University's media college. He reported for al-Baghdadia on the poor and downtrodden victims of the US war. He was first on the scene in Sadr City and wherever people suffered violence or severe deprivation. He not only followed US Apache helicopters' trails of death and destruction, but he was also among the first to report every "sectarian" atrocity and the bombing of popular market places. He let the victims talk first.
It was effective journalism, reporting that the victims of violence themselves accused the US-led occupation of being behind all the carnage. He was a voice that could not be silenced, despite being kidnapped by a gang and arrested by US and regime forces.
His passion for the war's victims and his staunchly anti-occupation message endeared him to al-Baghdadia viewers. And after sending Bush out of Iraq in ignominy he has become a formidable national hero. The orphan who was brought up by his aunt, and whose name means the longed or awaited for, has become a powerful unifying symbol of defiance, and is being adopted by countless Iraqis as "our dearest son".
24 Comments so far
Show AllI can just imagine what kind of hero Muntadhar al-Zaidi must be in Islam countries. We are not getting an accurate view here in the United States. I hope he is the new icon, replacing Osama bin Laden. I know Muntadhar is my hero, expressing as he did the absolute contempt I feel for George Bush and his administration. I hope the "shoe incident" is the thing that will go down in history to commemorate Bushes awful reign.
Yes, the current govt. made an error. It went in IRAQ to remove a dictator and now that govt. will be replaced by fundamentalist like in all other middle east countries. At least earlier IRAQ was under a dictator but provided freedom to women, minorities etc... NOw that is completely gone. It will be another IRAn in the making with religious soldiers walking the street imposing their belief and rule.
The massive outpouring of support in Islamic countries with people flocking the street were seen once when the Mohammed cartoons were published in Denmark pages.
US citizens have given their decisions on the policies of the Bush govt.. so that is democracy at work. Hope the other countries can learn from it.
Hurling a shoe is interesting and expression of ones belief, but the authors article of people flocking the streets and being shown on Arab network etc... is really sad. If those network are open and shows every issues with the same candour, i will accept the statement, else it is just a religious act in play.
Coming to ordinary people in daily life seeing that shoe hurling, yes it is fun and interesting and a reply to the policies of this govt.
I will never,ever forget George clowning behind a podium, looking under it, to he left and right, and joking 'Those weapons of mass destruction have to be somewhere'.
The audience, full of rich pigs got a good laugh out of that one. I guess it was kind of funny if you didn't think about young US kids turning themselves into murders, rapists, looters, torturers, and dying like flies in the process.
It was kind of funny, considering the fact that at that moment fire fights were happening because of the lies George, Rummy, Cheney, told.
That was a good one alright, considering most of the grunts were dirt poor and wanted money for school, which they were never going to be able to use because they would be coming back insane.
Some of the world's poorest, made poor by George's domestic and foreign policies, were killing each other for the profit motive.
It was funny but I didn't laugh.
While the Iraqi People suffered the meanest, cruelest, Bush Doctrine, accused of having weapons of mass destruction, they fight Bush personally by throwing a pair of shoes. We, no, those who voted for Bush, should hang their heads in shame!
Was that pair of shoes the weapons of mass distruction Bush was talking about?
Last night I emailed to
comments@whitehouse.gov
and I cc'd to Rachel Maddow, because her response was to be aghast of the incident toward a US President. (Rachel - say it isn't so?)
In that email I attached two photos, one of Bush ducking the first shoe threw by the journalist, and one of a very nice looking pink high heel shoe. I also added these comments: If I may, let me "virtually" add another to the two shoes sent your direction by a reporter who tried to "send" you a heartfelt message, which you proceeded to mock, and just as those shoes sailed above your head, so to does most which calls for truth and understanding. I believe your legacy is; you inspired the entire world to go shoeless.
My computer is still working, my dog is still alive, and no one from DOJ has called (yet).
I encourage others to use this method to send him their shoes and a greeting.
al Zaidi is a hero, and has been so severely beaten for his action that he cannot attend his own court hearing. Shame on Maliki for this, and shame on us all for being complicit by not speaking out. Let's all send Bush a pair of shoes for Christmas - it would be the perfect response to his asinine remarks and to al Zaidi's courage. He should be a decorated hero and not wasting time in a prison cell. That's where Bush belongs.
Let's send Zaidi some money and make him a billionaire and then maybe his country will see that they need him to spend his money and help the economy, and he can run for office and help that country rebuild. As for George W. Bush? Go to your nearest Salvation Army, or Goodwill store and find the crummiest shoes you can find and send those to Bush or to your Congressman or Senator with a note asking for Bush and Cheney's impeachment and indictments before they leave office. Just thinkin.
http://www.b3ta.com/board/9024217
WELL, over here in a true democracy !!!!!?????!!!!!! we do not have the RIGHTS as they do in those strange countries. SAY WHAT. Most of us are so full of fear we don’t even talk about politics over the phone afraid that BIG BROTHER I MEAN CROOKED BROTHER is listening in.
What man over here would want to take a licking and beating like him to set the stage for others to say DON’T TREAD ON ME. GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????????
Bless Muntadhar al-Zaidi
Muntadhar al-Zaidi
New Americam Hero
My favorite new Bush whacking
http://play.sockandawe.com/
We need Muntadhars in America.
good to see journalists who haven't soled out.
"Breaking News: The Shoes have been Traced
The pair of shoes which was thrown at Mr. Bush in Iraq has links to Pakistan, said a statement from Pentagoon. They have the following proofs:
i) The journalist had visited Pakistan earlier this year. There he was inspired by the shoe throwing at former CM Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Sher Afghan Niazi.
ii) He received his training of throwing shoes by a Pakistan based Jihadi organization.
iii) The DNA sample of leather has revealed that the animal whose skin was used for manufacturing the shoe had traces of grass which is grown in North of Pakistan and this skin was collected by a Jihadi organization on Eid-ul-Adha this month.
Hearing this, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani have decided to launch a country wide crackdown against all the cobblers in Pakistan. Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar who also owns Service Shoe Company will lead the Task Force."
The above was 'borrowed' from a China Daily forum.
(The shoes were probably made in China which makes this a truly dastardly plot!)
"may you live in interesting times"
Please show your support by signing this petition to free Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/montather/
Then ask these human rights orgs to demand his release: Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Amnesty International & Journalists Without Borders.
Thank you!
He is in durance for exposure of the vile. May he heal and walk free once again and may the vile choke on his own bile.
I am comforted and warmed on this extremely cold morning by the fact that a symbolic gesture like this can be so powerful and have such enormous effect. I am also comforted by George Wanker Bush's utter humiliation. The Wanker can make all the jokes he wants; he can lift his chin, puff out his puny chest and say it doesn't bother him at all. Bush is a punk, the very defintion of a punk and this kind of thing, even more than if someone had actually taken a shot at him, strikes at the very foundation of his jerry-rigged ego. Hundreds of millions of people have seen this. They laugh; they cry; they cheer. Bush knows this and it drives the little MoFo out of his mind. This is how you go out, you son a shoe lace.
Exactly. And to think that he snuck into Irak (last place the lazy little suck would ever want to go) to get some smiling, positive photo ops to bolster his ridiculous lie that he liberated Irak and that there's some normalcy there now.
Instead he gets what is likely at this point the most seen (or about to be) clip ever and one that provides the perfect 'visual' to encapsulate his 'reign'.
Sometimes there is some justice.
Everyone around the world should send a pair of old shoes to the White House:
The Decider (your own pet name)
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Yes! Your stinkiest pair!
Mr. al-Zaidi deserves our undying gratitude and respect and I demand his immediate release. He did what many of us have wanted to do for years. Bush and his gang are criminals and the worst that this country has to offer. Even though so many of us - unreported by the media in this country - have been fighting against the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, we have not been able to do what Mr. al-Zaidi did in one brief glorious moment. He is my hero. Thank you for your courageous act of resistance to my country's destruction of yours.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi will be to Iraq what Patrick Henry is to America: "give me liberty or give me death."
Let the shoe revolution begin!