Signs of War
Flyer for a concert commemorating the killing of 11 Carabinieri in Nassiriya, Iraq in November 2003. Piazzale Loreto, Milano, November 2009.
Archived entries for Iraq
Return to Sender
The alcohol had taken clearly hold. “Saddam Insane,” she shrieked, as the missiles hit Tel Aviv. “Saddam Insane.” For those present at the dinner table, the bad pun had been repeated one too many times. Everyone was nervous.
We all had family in the city. No rebranding of the Iraqi dictator, as a fool for taking on the US, was going to change that. The only thing we could look forward to were the entrees we’d ordered, and, hopefully, some socializing.
This was in Madrid, in January 1991. The teeshirt above was shot at a Friedrichshain flea market nineteen years later.
At Levantine Station
The Middle East has become a metaphor for the world. Whether you chalk it up to undue Zionist influence on post-WWII American foreign policy, the disproportionate impact that the Arab-Israeli conflict has wielded over Western political life, the growth of Islam in Europe, Arab immigration everywhere, or the global impact of Persian Gulf petro-dollars, the point is ultimately the same.
For a variety of legitimate (and, obviously illegitimate) reasons, the Middle East has become more tightly enmeshed in the West than ever before. Though it took until the War on Terror to drive this home, the Jihadi terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have had the ironic consequence of colonizing American culture and politics in return.
-Photo: Archway tube, London. Text excerpted from Israel vs. Utopia
On the Home Front
Two weeks ago, my friend Gary and I were headed to Tooting to have Pakistani food. Sitting next to us on the train was a British soldier in desert camouflage, with two pieces of luggage: a backpack and a duffle bag. It was hard to tell whether he was going home, on leave, or returning to the United Kingdom after a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. His face looked tired. The soldier looked like he had been traveling for a while.
Signs of Britain’s current military engagements are scant here, save for the typical wartime posters one sees in tube stations, like this Sky News advert above, or warnings to commuters to report any unattended baggage. Veterans of recent or ongoing conflicts are not as conspicuous or stigmatized as they are in the United States. Enlisted men, in uniform, unlike in Israel, still catch your eye because they are so rare to see.
Make Art About War
Last summer, discussing the new Bug record, London Zoo, an American friend remarked how many times he heard references to guns on the recording. “Its repeated so much, you’d think the record was made in the United States.” Indeed, the number of gun-related crimes in the UK pales in comparison to the US.
Though we can hear gunfire in our ‘hood (Brixton is considered Britain’s gun capital) most talk of violence in the UK news media has as of late either been in terms of reports of child abuse or stabbings. Nevertheless, certain icons, like this painting of an AK-47 on display in a Camden gallery, seem universal.
Given the current deployment of British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the prominence of such symbols, whether in the form of paintings, or in terms of musical references, makes a great deal of sense. Especially given how, this weekend, the country focused on the deaths of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan on Friday.
The fact that a thirteen-year-old suicide bomber was responsible for the deaths of three of these troops would be enough to make anyone want to paint a Kalashknikov, let alone one that appeared to be in the process of melting.
Iraqi Hardcore
The music is terrific. The liner notes, some might argue, are even better. To top it all off, Give Me Love was issued by Damon Albarn‘s delightfully idiosyncratic Honest Jon’s label. In other words, its got indie written all over it, in every possible sense of the term. However, with a twist. The noise is decidedly Middle Eastern, Iraqi to be precise, played by Baghdad Jews during the British Mandate period.
If you are a fan of vintage Folkways recordings from the 1950s, or own a copy of Sublime Frequencies‘ faux documentary of Iraqi pop, Choubi Choubi!, this record is for you. In preparation since August, Charlie Bertsch’s brand new essay on the 2008 anthology was published in Tuesday’s edition of Zeek. Like all of Charlie’s music writing, The Sounds of Jewish Iraq was most definitely worth the wait.
For an excellent companion piece dialing into the Iraq-dominated zeitgeist, check out Adam Shatz’ Leaving Paradise, published last month in the London Review of Books.
Diego Rivera Versus Saddam Hussein
Socialist realism is alive and well, if not exactly socialist. The fall of Baghdad, reimagined in the heart of the American desert. 29 Palms, California, June 2008.
American Oriental
The main supermarket in 29 Palms, California, home to the largest Marines base in the U.S.
Back from Iraq, the troops bring home a taste for middle eastern food, American-style.
The new desert couture: three keffiyehs, next to a U.S. flag in a surplus store down the street.
It’s Getting Closer
Sometimes a well-placed sign says everything. A block east of Bayshore, at the foot of Bernal Heights. San Francisco, May 2008.
