67 years ago, in Japan, “THE LITTLE BOY” didn’t mean innocence; it meant damage, pain and suffering. It wasn’t blue and wasn’t white, it was black and grey with spots of red all over the place. And most importantly it wasn’t a toy, it was the bomb that vanished Hiroshima!

It took only 60 seconds to kill 30% of the total population of Hiroshima, 90% of their doctors and 70% of their buildings were instantly turned into ash. Experts predicted it would take a city wiped off the map decades to ever be the same.

Three to four years after the A-bomb, Hiroshima rose from the ashes!

After all, naming a bomb that killed thousands of children “the little boy” wasn’t that cruel. It gave the Japanese the hope of a new start that a “little boy” can have while riding his bicycle for the first time. Each fall showed him the mistakes, which he should never repeat again. And instead of crying, he smiles and tries again and again until the day comes when he can let the winds wipe away all his painful memories as he ride his bicycle as fast as a bicycle can be ridden.

The people in Hiroshima couldn’t fight death, burns or diseases from the radiation, but they certainly could fight fear, despair and negativity. They knew that with hope and faith, everything is possible. They believed in the power of the human willingness, determination and his ability to recover. When people told them “the glass is half full”, they disagreed and refused to settle for anything less than a “full glass”!

As an Iraqi, my left and right brain sides are always in dispute.

My left side thinks we can never be Hiroshima, Iraq can never be the same, the damage can never be undone, the hurt and pain that each Iraqi carries over their shoulders can never be lifted and that we will have to live with the shame of not recovering forever. My left side thinks peace and happiness have left Iraq long ago, and he insists that they will never come back again. He reminds me every day of our mistakes as Iraqis, as a government and as humans.

And whenever someone asks me “where are you from?” he nags me to deny being an Iraqi, he screams loudly the names of the children who were killed by the Iraqis themselves, he sings the wedding songs of the newly weds who were killed on their wedding nights, and sometimes, he makes me listen to the Iraqi mothers telling their stories which always start with tragedy and end with uncertainty. And when I remind him of Hiroshima, with a voice full of rage and anger, trying to hold on to my last piece of hope, quietly he says “but we are Iraqis, we can never do the same!”

Then…just then, my right side wakes up, with his loud silence, reminding me of the days of Hulagu, when he raped, destroyed and shuttered Baghdad. The days when instead of giving up, Baghdad ran and took the hands of her history, medicine, astronomy and mathematics and hidden them inside of her, under her streets and between her walls, turning her rivers into a blue water which she later generously let us drink.

She was smart enough to know that with sword and hatred, you might be able to kill people, damage houses, or even make a city vanish! But she was sure that they could never erase our history, wipe away our culture. That the smell of smoke cannot replace the delicious smell of our tea, and no matter how bitter our pain is, we can never forget how sweet our date once tasted.

I still believe in Baghdad, in Hiroshima!
I refuse to settle for half-solutions, half governments, and that Iraqis will always live with half happiness, half satisfaction and that sometimes they only get to live half a life!
I still want to believe that I will not settle for half a country, I won’t get to choose between south and north, Sunni or Shia, I will never follow half a religion!
And no matter what my left-brain side says, I try to hold on, as hard as I can, to the belief that my right side will always be RIGHT.

When I was a little girl, I used to believe in angels, magic and that everyone is going to heaven!
I used to think that if I’m in danger, angels will save me!
And if I’m having a bad day, it is ok ,
because I’ll end up in heaven.

I’ve never felt sorry about kids with no parents, or my friend, that girl with big glasses at school who everyone used to laugh at.
Because no matter what happens, God will take them to heaven.

When I caught my mum crying after my grandma passed away, I didn’t even try to cheer her up
I though: oh it can’t be that bad, God knows she’s mad,
and he’ll take care of it, isn’t that’s why he invented heaven?
So that kids with no parents can have a shoulder to cry on when they’re sad?
So that my friend, the girl with big glasses at school who everyone used to laugh at, can actually laugh one day? Not out of misery, not out of shame, out of happiness and out of joy
So She can pick up the tiny pieces of her dreams off the floor, the dreams that everyone tried to destroy?
And that one day, instead of remembering her as the girl with big glasses at school who everyone used to laugh at,
she can be remembered as the most beautiful ,smart ,funny girl who knew no matter what happens, god will take us to heaven!

Now I’m not a little girl no more, I know that there’s no magic, there’s no angels…and probably there’s no heaven!
I know that kids with no parents, will have pain, sorrow and tears
And at the end of the night, there will be no one to whisper goodnight in their ears.
And when I think of my friend, I still remember her as the girl with big glasses at school who everyone used to laugh at!

Now, I know that life can be hard…it can be tragic,
and I can guarantee you, there’s no fairy tales and there’s no magic!

And that life can be an awful song, with bad rhymes that you have to listen to every morning!
But you have to sing it anyway, and sing it loud until your ears fall in love with what they’re hearing.

I tasted the bitterness and I’m still striving to taste the sweet.
I gave pieces of my heart away more than once without asking for anything, and I was like: hey, that’s my treat!
When I was close to the edge and about to fall, I reached out to life,
and instead of taking my hand she gave me an earthquake
I looked up and said no no, don’t expect me to fall…not that quick!

Life, tried to shake my faith, as hard as she could, and you know what! some of my faith is lost now
But As a grown up women, I still play hide and seek and merry go rounds
I hide from pain and seek comfort under my mum’s arms.
I run away from the people I don’t like and around the ones I love.

And if you’re having a bad day, I’ll tell you don’t worry, it is ok
Cause no matter what happens, god will take us to heaven!

Today in Baghdad  the Iraqi people celebrated the memory of the great iraqi sculptural  Jawad Salim, the clebration was orgnize by Al-mada   Foundation  of information  culture and the arts in collaboration with the secretariat of Baghdad on Friday night in Tahrir Square under the Monument of Liberty by the late Jawad Salim on the occasion of the passage of half a century of his death where the ceremony was attended by a large number of political figures, cultural and artistic by playing pieces of the music by Iraqi  Symphony and  reading poetic pieces in his honer ,this was a message from the people to the world that in spite of all the violence in Iraq they still believe in hope ,art and better live and future

The kinetic imagery of dread violence set her on leaping fire,
A sentence of death to her feelings and to her hopes conspired,
Her delightful dreams shattered and her thoughts bemired,
Abuse and cruelty is still ruled in human’s world with admire,

The screaming voice of her agony and the assault on her soul,
The peace of her night and the glory of her day stoled,
The crumbling voice and the mist of her dreads woke,
The honorable pride of womanhood ravaged and sold,

Remember it can’t be washed away in silence and rain,
Sorrows behind their faces will bring curse and pain,
Lets pledge to stand and to stop the inhuman sane,
Stop violence, Stop violence, this must be our aim,

In oppressive countries, the noble persons dwell behind the bars. Don’t grieve my friends, I’m in the normal place!

I’ve made a mistake when I was in Hisham Mubarak Law Center once, and declared my intention to write a sequel to my article “The army and the people were never one hand.” However, when I get detained in order not to write a specific article, it becomes the most valued testimony I could ever receive in my lifetime!

This is the seventh time to get detained; Two times in Syria, two times at the hands of the Egyptian police, and three times at the hands of the Egyptian military. How many times are required before I can live free?!

In Mubarak’s era, detentions were issued by administrative decisions. But nowadays, blessed with the Military Council, detentions pass through military court rulings!

Yesterday, Saturday 9th April 2011, I’ve commemorated the second anniversary of No for Compulsory Military Service Movement by drinking juice and eating some pieces of chocolates. O’ Egypt! Why do you always steal our joy deliberately?!

I’m reminiscing Mubarak and State Security days now! At least, I have never been sent to prison, and neither beaten by a state security officer, nor sexually harassed!

Weirdly enough, on the walls of the opposite cell, some prisoner has inscribed “This is from the favour of my Lord.*” Is this your favour, Lord? Do You really bless those who kill and torture our brothers?!

“You! With the star, eagle, and beret**… Why are you possessed by arresting young men?

“Raise the walls of my prison more and more! The revolt will soon destroy the sore!”

These are the chants which I keep on repeating inside the military prison!

I can feel the intention of harming me after the court ruling. Don’t believe the army’s worthless claims about suicide attempts. Hence, the Military Council is responsible for my safety and well-being until the time of my release.

Thanks to everyone worldwide who showed solidarity with me. Freedom has its price, and I’m paying this price behind the prison walls, while you’re paying it outside.

—

Note:

Maikel Nabil has written this article in Arabic on Sunday 10th April 2011, and handed it to one of his lawyers inside the military court around 1400 local time, before being informed with the “mysterious” court ruling which has sentenced him to 3 years in prison charging him for the likes of articles, Facebook comments, and many other unbelievable things words.

Foot notes:

* 27 – 40 of Qur’an. This specific verse, Ayah, among various verses, is used publicly in different contexts to publicly praise to the Islamic god, Allah. You will surely witness this verse inscribed on many shops nameplates, service cars, private cars, as well as home entrances, etc… Maikel here denotes to a popular phrase, but this time inscribed by a prisoner on the wall of his own cell, which Maikel perceives as weird.

** Reference to the Egyptian army and police insignias and uniforms.

Maikel in a flash

Maikel is a 26 year old anti-militarism activist, pacifist, and blogger. He studied veterinary medicine and was exempted from the compulsory military service for being a harsh critic of the conscription. He’s also a vocal critic of violence, wars, and militarism. Maikel has founded a famous movement named No for Compulsory Military Service exactly from two years ago. He was arrested three times by the military police in Egypt in the last 6 months, and blogged about his second experience on Mideast Youth here. His liberal opinions, as well as being the first publicly contentious objector in Egypt, have stirred a lot of controversy in a third world country which is powered by a reactionary society stacked with routine, tradition, and conspiracy, let alone the military institution. Tragically enough, a major sect of the so-called Egyptian humanitarians, activists, and bloggers are still possessed, themselves, by conspiracy, and some of them even bless the country’s historical oppression against the minorities. Maikel is trapped in the middle of a reactionary society, dictatorial military institution, and a swamp of mutant silent civil society. On Sunday night, 10th April 2011, Nabil was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail. Then he was immediately moved to Marg Prison, not Tura prison complex as mentioned before. Let alone the legitimacy of the military court to a civilian and the verdict, the court has lied to the lawyers, hidden the facts, and deceived everyone, even Maikel himself. They’ve claimed at the beginning that the court ruling would be issued on Tuesday April 12th, but it was already issued in absentia on Sunday. They’ve lied again when they’ve claimed that Maikel would be moved to Tura prison complex, while in fact he was moved to Marg prison in north east Cairo.

This article was exclusively published on MEYArabic, and translated into English by MEY team.

Links:

Free Maikel Nabil on Facebook.

Petition to support Maikel Nabil.

#FreeMaikel and #MaikelNabil on Twitter.

The power of ruling and leading is a god blessing to Bhutto family. Ex-President Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his brave daughter Ms Benazir Bhutto recognizes that blessing power and ability in their selves and endeavor on it to enhance the ability gifted by God. The Standard of vision and foresight is the consent given to them by Allah Almighty. There is no doubt; Bhutto family gave their lives for their remarkable land. They are called caretaker of their country.

The two main pillars of political regime, built such a strategy that leads our country from diffident to modern and bold nation. Like her father, Ms Benazir Bhutto spent her whole life to save political roots of his divine country. She stipulates the straightforward legacy motto “Bread, clothes, and shelter for the deprived.” The initiatives of moderate Bhutto family hold power and urged the indolent to revert.

Whenever, Bhuttos came in to lead there was a period of great social and political change. The grand historical important events took place that had a global effect and provided the valuable outcome all over the world with the hope of a better future. The thought of social equality and a shift headed for egalitarianism congregate potency and people’s aspirations achieved a fresh momentum. The leadership, which had launched a struggle for liberation and made great scarifies for the realization of their cherished goal.

Pakistan is the only country where army has ruled the country for twenty-eight years. The larger piece of Pakistan’s history is a story of the affiliation of military and the bureaucracy. They have mutually grip the country and have effectively set aside community legislative body away from their legitimate role. There was a disparate system in which the local authorities had very limited power.

The circumstances thus trudge the way for a painfully long series of traumatic destruction that left their scars on the political body of the country. The dissatisfaction with the sluggish rate of development and disappointment with the virtually unchanged social management and economic situation dishearten the citizens’ at large extent. Thus, the demand of change aroused and dispute transpire to generals’ government. And the voice rose “No any nation can persuaded that they are living in a democracy when they see their country run by a general uniform”.

Democracy can only rise from the heredity, and only when the lowest level of divisions can resolve their problems and agree on their medication for their tribulations, and only when they are given the wake to raise their voices, will they begin to solve their problems. Only then democracy will take root. Democracy can only grow from foundation and should be permitted to pursue this innate path. Ms Benazir Bhutto understands that power has to be devolved from the centre, and the first step has to be taken by devolving power from the centre to its provinces. When this has been done, only then can the provinces devolve power to the districts. She also understands that the outside world, motivated by its narrow selfish interests, may troubled the immense potential of country. Her proceedings to save the democracy were ahead of the call of duty and were motivated only by a high sense of responsibility.

The journeys of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Ms. Benazir Bhutto frequently developed into succession with dominant public reactions. They know that people had high hopes in a prompt recovery to their problems and for this the solution is to raze monarch in one hand, is only the key to people’s hopes.

Every political party has its own moral fiber and it surprising to what degree the character is reflected in its members. Their manifesto, if truthfully projected, ought to consequently mirror thinking on nationwide issues. Their party had constantly taken his work sincerely. They understand that the restoration of mutual confidence and respect are the important measures such as, when the people of all the religions, feel that they are, in all respects, equal citizens of this country. She seems to be always working and conveying her party manifesto in his lectures throughout the world which would meet the needs of the time.

BB always tried to provide complete control of the country’s affairs in the hand of citizens. She showed remarkable patience when she kept away from his country’s heart in stormy days. These unpleasant incidents helped her to build up the confidence, which had to pass through a severe assessment of endurance and courage. She was conscious of the fact that she had annoyed the forces because of her true directions towards developing Pakistan a stable state of Asia.

She knows that nothing can be gain through fight and battles. Wars fought between many territories probably could not meet their requirements and have no any achievements made at all. She knew that the change, the development, the revolution, could only be brought by the people freely elected by their votes. The campaigns lead by BB was the rational conclusion of a great movement in which the people of Pakistan had made it clear that they wanted to be masters of their own destiny.

She has a clear-cut confidence in the future of Pakistan. Outspoken and fearless, reciprocity and a spirit of generosity is her command. She gave women to fight for its right to speak. She is the one who speaks for each and every one, who stands for each and every one and who won for each and every one, putting backward her personal whims and interests. Once she stated one of the Quaid-e-Azam quotes in her speech:

In the Lahore High Court Bar Association for the youth she addressed:

Our worries however, were not yet over. We are still struggling for our cause Bhuttos had. The rippled loss of absence of great leaders, which we are facing today, is the loss which will never ever fills in the history.

Several creatures of the world, even plant species communicate with each other. Human beings are not sole in this facility yet human language is unique in being a figurative communication structure. One of the foremost benefits of human language communication system is that it is much flexible. It is a fact that changes made in previous words and new words are produced each and every day. A single expression formed of multiple words that in mixture convey particular denotation consign by a language, which creates such a powerful sense that people are willing to take and give their lives for just a pair of words.

Moreover, the most, the highly interesting matter about language which is in-the-air all the time is that, how languages grow and alter over instant, how languages are used in conversation, the past and present relationships between languages, the responsibility of language in nation-building and identity marking, the advancement of script classification, how they are learned by children, how the common sense enrolled, how the mind processes speech and language, how communication is achievable when speech and language are prejudice, how to save the vanishing languages prior to their disappearance. These all questions are those which gave born to the science of language known as Linguistics.

There is no doubt language is such obsession which is used to build every other obsession. Language is power and by endeavoring your proficiency with language you can craft masterpieces. It is a fact that a language dies when nobody speaks and to say that language is dead is like saying that person is dead. If we didn’t exist the language also won’t exist.

Every nation is recognized through its language and every arrogant land conserves its wealthy civilizing customs in the shape of its language. Language is the most essential aspect of culture. Language is a symbol of a people’s heritage and identity. It plays central role in shaping identity. It is a binding force among different states of a single land that they are joined together by one national language which is the heritage of all. Language illustrates the traditions of existing and the degree of interaction between people. It is a strength that brings closer a group of people, and crafts them as a unique and discrete nation.

The national language of Pakistan is Urdu. Every national language of any country represents the identity of a nation. Those who are living abroad are always identified as Pakistani because of their national language. The citizens of Pakistan represents solitary nation, and to what extent, their thinking, aims and objectives are common. Their maturity, development and privileged circumstances depend upon their harmony and for this the Urdu language is the most vital feature for achieving this unity.

Urdu is a gorgeous language. Urdu is a Turkish word, which means ‘foreign’ or ‘horde’. The existence and advancement of Urdu language has been made in a period of centuries by gathering different civilizations underneath single platform. It forms relation between local people of north of Sub Continent and Muslims of Arabia, Iran and Turkey. It is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed beneath the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. The Urdu language flanked by the Muslim soldiers of the Mughals armed forces that belonged to a variety of ethnicities like Turks, Arabs, Persians, Pathans, Balochis, Rajputs, Jats and Afghans. Urdu is the official language of Pakistan. It is also an official language of Jammu and Kashmir territory which India occupied. At the time of independence; the dawn of independence Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah said that

“Let me make it clear that the national language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Without one state language no nation can remain tied up solidly together.”

Urdu language possesses a valuable treasure of verses and styles. No doubt, great poets and writers were born from this language. Our motherly language is in our blood. It is a duty of every citizen of its nation to serve at peak and inculcate their national language in new born generation. Therefore, whatever the circumstances were faced and whatever the circumstances we will have to face, it is clear that they could never ever weaken our divine and charming Urdu language.