thedrifter
05-30-03, 06:45 AM
May 29, 2003
Concept of freedom still alien to most Iraqis
By Scheherezade Faramarzi
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Freedom means turning on the radio without being arrested. It means visiting holy shrines without facing persecution. It means traveling where you want and doing what you desire.
After more than three decades of being denied life’s most basic freedoms under Saddam Hussein, Iraqis are trying to learn what it means to be free. And with more than 60 percent of Iraqis born after Saddam’s party seized power, it is an alien concept to most.
“No one knows what freedom means,” said Salima al-Majali, 29. “When were born, we opened our eyes to Saddam and everything was forbidden. Our life was all about fear.”
By the end of Saddam’s 23-year presidency, no foreign newspapers were allowed in Iraq. Satellite dishes were banned, and cable television was prohibitively expensive.
Since Saddam’s regime was overthrown in early April, Iraq has cast off decades of censorship and state control in just weeks.
Once-banned books, satellite dishes and video CDs are now sold on the streets. A throng of freewheeling newspapers, radio and television stations have sprung up to replace the turgid, sycophantic media under Saddam.
“Freedom means that Saddam is no longer around,” says Firas al-Dujaili, a 28-year-old doctor.
Still, it will take time to win people’s trust.
“The word freedom is a strange word to us because we don’t believe in it,” Ali al-Daham, 25.
Many are still struggling to overcome the horrors of the past.
“My father and brother are in prison. I don’t know where they are. All I know is that they took them away,” Dhawiya Yacoub Yousef, 60, said.
Family members say documents found after Saddam’s fall indicate the two men were executed in the mid-1980s.
Jasim al-Dujaili, 27, spent four years of his childhood in jail after his entire family was arrested in the early 1980s, part of a collective punishment after people from their village tried to kill Saddam. Nearly 40 members of his extended family are still missing and feared dead.
“There is nothing called freedom in Iraq. There’s only terror, prison,” al-Dujaili said.
For several years, Wijda Khalidi taught Iraqi-style patriotism to high school students. Her textbook was filled with pictures of Saddam visiting a weapons factory, Saddam praying, Saddam touring a hospital.
“I couldn’t teach the students the truth,” Khalidi, 37, said. “I was unable to tell them that we were ruled by a dictator. If I did, my neck would be on the line.”
To 30-year-old Suad al-Daham, a Shiite Muslim, freedom means visiting shrines in the cities of Najaf and Karbala.
Saddam’s regime was dominated by members of Islam’s Sunni sect. Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq’s people, were oppressed. For a long time, Shiites were prohibited from visiting shrines in Najaf and Karbala, where two of Shiite Islam’s most important clerics are buried.
“All we have known is war, war and war,” al-Daham said. “Everything was forbidden.”
During Saddam’s rule, Iraqis who wanted to leave their country had to pay $200 at prewar exchange rates as an exit tax. Men who hadn’t completed compulsory military service weren’t allowed to leave at all.
“Freedom means to travel, to get the job I want, to study in the college I want,” said Ahmed al-Samarai, 28.
Mohammed Borhan, a 30-year-old Shiite bus driver, was once arrested for playing a tape eulogizing a Shiite saint. A secret police agent who happened to be on his bus reported him, and he was severely beaten in jail.
“We were under siege,” he said. “We were in fear every time we stepped into the street.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Sempers,
Roger
Concept of freedom still alien to most Iraqis
By Scheherezade Faramarzi
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Freedom means turning on the radio without being arrested. It means visiting holy shrines without facing persecution. It means traveling where you want and doing what you desire.
After more than three decades of being denied life’s most basic freedoms under Saddam Hussein, Iraqis are trying to learn what it means to be free. And with more than 60 percent of Iraqis born after Saddam’s party seized power, it is an alien concept to most.
“No one knows what freedom means,” said Salima al-Majali, 29. “When were born, we opened our eyes to Saddam and everything was forbidden. Our life was all about fear.”
By the end of Saddam’s 23-year presidency, no foreign newspapers were allowed in Iraq. Satellite dishes were banned, and cable television was prohibitively expensive.
Since Saddam’s regime was overthrown in early April, Iraq has cast off decades of censorship and state control in just weeks.
Once-banned books, satellite dishes and video CDs are now sold on the streets. A throng of freewheeling newspapers, radio and television stations have sprung up to replace the turgid, sycophantic media under Saddam.
“Freedom means that Saddam is no longer around,” says Firas al-Dujaili, a 28-year-old doctor.
Still, it will take time to win people’s trust.
“The word freedom is a strange word to us because we don’t believe in it,” Ali al-Daham, 25.
Many are still struggling to overcome the horrors of the past.
“My father and brother are in prison. I don’t know where they are. All I know is that they took them away,” Dhawiya Yacoub Yousef, 60, said.
Family members say documents found after Saddam’s fall indicate the two men were executed in the mid-1980s.
Jasim al-Dujaili, 27, spent four years of his childhood in jail after his entire family was arrested in the early 1980s, part of a collective punishment after people from their village tried to kill Saddam. Nearly 40 members of his extended family are still missing and feared dead.
“There is nothing called freedom in Iraq. There’s only terror, prison,” al-Dujaili said.
For several years, Wijda Khalidi taught Iraqi-style patriotism to high school students. Her textbook was filled with pictures of Saddam visiting a weapons factory, Saddam praying, Saddam touring a hospital.
“I couldn’t teach the students the truth,” Khalidi, 37, said. “I was unable to tell them that we were ruled by a dictator. If I did, my neck would be on the line.”
To 30-year-old Suad al-Daham, a Shiite Muslim, freedom means visiting shrines in the cities of Najaf and Karbala.
Saddam’s regime was dominated by members of Islam’s Sunni sect. Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq’s people, were oppressed. For a long time, Shiites were prohibited from visiting shrines in Najaf and Karbala, where two of Shiite Islam’s most important clerics are buried.
“All we have known is war, war and war,” al-Daham said. “Everything was forbidden.”
During Saddam’s rule, Iraqis who wanted to leave their country had to pay $200 at prewar exchange rates as an exit tax. Men who hadn’t completed compulsory military service weren’t allowed to leave at all.
“Freedom means to travel, to get the job I want, to study in the college I want,” said Ahmed al-Samarai, 28.
Mohammed Borhan, a 30-year-old Shiite bus driver, was once arrested for playing a tape eulogizing a Shiite saint. A secret police agent who happened to be on his bus reported him, and he was severely beaten in jail.
“We were under siege,” he said. “We were in fear every time we stepped into the street.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Sempers,
Roger