6June 06
No.279
The Revival of Cultural
Life in Iraq
He is defenseless. He has nothing but a pen
in a forest of
guns [1]
(Reference to the Iraqi poet Adnan al-Sa'igh)
They [Iraqis] have taught me the meaning of hope [2]
(Bassen Fayadth,
Lebanese Film Producer)
Introduction
The culture of a nation embodies
institutions, values and norms of
behavior that are rooted in its history and collective memory. For the Iraqis, that history is
long and proud, extending back to
the glory days of Babylon, one of
the great civilizations of the
ancient world - extending back even further, at least well into the third millennium B.C.
Iraqis often remind the world
that their country is the
"cradle of civilization."
Within its present borders lay the ancient southern Mesopotamian city of Ur- birthplace of Abraham, and the even older
Sumerian walled City of Uruk. On the
land that was to become Iraq, the
great Babylonian King Hammurabi
constructed the obelisk which
bears the earliest written legal code
yet discovered; on this land archeologists have uncovered libraries of cuneiform tablets bearing, in Sumerian and Akkadian languages, the earliest written epic
yet discovered -the epic of
Gilgamesh. The culture of today's
Iraqis - descendents of Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Arabs, Kurds,
Turkmen, Persian and Armenians -
is a fabric woven of many threads.
I. Cultural Periodicals
When one surveys the cultural landscape in the post-Saddam era one is
struck by the diversity, quality,
cultural scope, and analytical rigor of the many periodicals born since the regime's demise. In a
recent dispatch, "Magazines
Iraqis Read," [6] MEMRI introduced its readers to some of the periodicals
that have proliferated during the
past three years. The present
special report will look at the
broader cultural and artistic landscape. This survey is by no means all-inclusive but it is intended to provide the reader with
some understanding of aspects of
Iraqi life that may not be readily
accessible to the Western reader in
general, and the American reader in particular. It will offer a flavor also of what had
been missing under a despotic
regime which characterized freedom
of expression and artistic freedom as
pernicious if not as high treason.
Mesopotamia
The Mesopotamia periodical published by the Center for Iraqi
National Studies is devoted to
reviving and promoting Iraqi
identity and culture. The editor is the playwright and novelist Salim Matar.
The most recent issue (no date provided) comprises issues Nos. 8 and 9
and is devoted to religion in
Iraq, starting from the ancient
Iraqi religions and discussing Shi'ite
Islam, Sunni Islam, Sufism and Christianity, and ending with the religions of Sabeans, Yazidis, and Jews. The last chapter of the
issue discusses such topics as
"Religious Tolerance in the
Iraqi Mind," "Religious Tolerance is a Humanist Demand," and "The Dialogue between Creeds and Religions." There are
63 articles in this issue.
An earlier issue of Mesopotamia - issue No. 2 - is devoted
to the women of Iraq. The issue's
editorial states, "There can
be no doubt that Mesopotamian
civilization would not have attained its historical distinction and left its fingerprints
without the celestial presence of
woman illuminating the skies of
our history and our land." [7]
