Iraq’s politicians, fearing that voters have wearied of speech-making that often proves to be little more than hot air, have hired a slew of singers to woo them.
They have bought the pens of poets and the voices of performers to sing their praises on the nation’s television and radio networks ahead of tomorrow’s (Sun) vote, the second parliamentary ballot since former president Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
“You alone resisted the tyrants, you are the protector of the Tigris and the Euphrates who brought back to us life and security,” goes one refrain as pictures flash across the screen of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visiting schools and shaking hands.
“National Alliance, we are with you. All the people are following in your footsteps and will vote for you,” sings another choir on Al-Forat television in praise of the Iraqi National Alliance, the main Shiite religious list and a rival to Maliki’s coalition.
“Hashemi, O Hashemi, you kept the promises you made to the people,” is the song for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi that can be heard on Al-Babyliya and other Sunni-run television stations.
“Iraqis, like all Arabs, are sentimental,” said Ahmed Mahdi, a press attache for Al-Forat television. “You can win them over with music, not with speeches.”
Musical campaigning was a godsend for many Iraqi singers, he added.
“We pay US$1,000 a song but often the poets and singers work for free because they can get exposure on television or because they believe it is important to get people to vote,” he said.
Salah Abdel Ghafour, a 57-year-old poet and singer and one of the best paid of the batch, insists his work backs no political party but is simply a call for people to exercise their democratic rights. “In my song, I say that all the candidates’ posters are worth nothing because the best poster is that of Iraq,” he said.
Ghafour’s Oh people, take care of your Iraq is repeated throughout the day on the state-funded Al-Iraqiya channel.
Poetry, which also figures in the election campaign, is “more seductive than candidates’ speeches or invectives,” poet Karim al-Lami said.
In the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional northern city of Kirkuk, the TERT television station, run by the Turkmen minority, has called upon Turkman poet Jomhour Karkouki to provide several works.
“Kirkuk is and will remain Turkman, Kirkuk is Iraqi,” one of them says.
Turn over to the Kirkuk TV channel, a Kurdish-run station, and the viewer can hear calls for the disputed city to be annexed to Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region and for voters to plump for the Kurdistani Alliance in Sunday’s vote.
Meanwhile, Iraqis living abroad have began casting ballots. Hundreds are lining up at stations in Syria, home to the largest Iraqi expatriate community.
The UN refugee agency estimates that about 2 million Iraqis are living abroad after fleeing since the 2003 US-led invasion.
In addition to Syria, voting began yesterday in the US, Canada, Australia, Austria, Sweden, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Holland, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The balloting will go on for three days.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS: Beijing’s ‘pronounced aggressiveness’ and ‘misbehavior’ forced countries to band together, the Philippine defense chief said The Philippines is confident in the continuity of US policies in the Asia-Pacific region after the US presidential election, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said, underlining that bilateral relations would remain strong regardless of the outcome. The alliance between the two countries is anchored in shared security goals and a commitment to uphold international law, including in the contested waters of the South China Sea, Teodoro said. “Our support for initiatives, bilaterally and multilaterally ... is bipartisan, aside from the fact that we are operating together on institutional grounds, on foundational grounds,” Teodoro said in an interview. China’s “misbehavior” in the South
RSS