Iraqi singers, actors and artists are fleeing the country after dozens have been killed by Islamic radicals determined to eradicate all culture associated with the West.
Cinemas, art galleries, theaters and concert halls are being destroyed in grenade and mortar attacks in Basra and Baghdad.
The Iraqi Artists’ Association says at least 115 singers and 65 actors have been killed since the US-led invasion, as well as 60 painters.
PHOTO: AFP
But the terror campaign has escalated in recent months as both Shiite and Sunni extremists grow ever bolder in enforcing religious restrictions on the citizens of Iraq.
Those remaining are in hiding as they make preparations to get themselves and their families to safety.
Haydar Labbeb, 35, a painter in Baghdad, said he had received five death threats and an attempt was made on his life as he drove his family home from a wedding. He is now trying to get to Amman in Jordan, where he hopes to continue painting.
“My art is seen by extremists as too modern and offensive to Islamic beliefs,” he said. “For them, every painting has to be based on Islamic culture. But I am a modern artist.”
“Life for artists in Iraq has turned into hell. We have been forced to stay in our homes and to stop working,” he said. “I don’t remember the last time I saw an exhibition, or a singer at a club, or an actor at a local theater. All of us have been prohibited from working as a result of the killings.”
Singer Muthana al-Jaffar, 37, from Baghdad, said: “The government is not giving us any protection. I witnessed two of my friends being killed for singing Western songs at weddings. The Shiite extremists who killed them shouted that that was the price they had to pay for singing ‘the devil’s words.’”
“There is no life for artists in Iraq anymore. We are unable to work. Our families are starving because we cannot feed them,” he said.
Al-Jaffar said he had sold his house, his car and his wife’s jewelry to raise enough money to get to Syria. The Shiite demanded 20 percent of his house proceeds to allow him to leave safely, he said.
“We are packing and next Monday I should be far from Iraq, a country that one day inspired my songs but today is just a disgrace,” he said.
People had stopped listening to music in public because of fears they would come to the attention of the extremists, he said. Pop music, in particular, was no longer being played.
“People are afraid to walk into a music store for fear that someone is watching them. Instead, they can only listen to songs on their mobile phones,” he said.
The Iraqi Ministry of Culture estimates that about 80 percent of singers and other artists have now fled the country.
In November Seif Yehia, 23, was beheaded for singing Western songs at weddings, and painter Ibraheem Sadoon was shot dead as he drove through Baghdad. In February Sunni fighters killed Waleed Dahi, 27, a young actor, while he rehearsed for a play due to open at the Jordanian National Theater this month.
Culture was encouraged during former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s regime, but no longer.
Abu Nur, an Islamic Army spokesman, said: “Acting, theater and television encourage bad behavior and irreligious attitudes. They promote customs that affect the morality of our traditional society.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS