**Saddam and Gaddafi's Narratives**
Ahmad Al-Sarraf
Published on: July 30, 2024, 09:58 PM GST
Last updated: July 30, 2024, 10:00 PM GST
A creative individual is a rare commodity, and we appreciate what they present, whether it be a painting, a novel, a visual artwork, a magnificent architectural structure, a musical composition, a singing or acting performance, a poem, a film, a journalistic investigation, or even a sports game. In all these cases, we often do not care about the creator's background, inclinations, views, or biography, no matter how trivial and strange, or even immoral and dishonest they may be. This is because we are generally not concerned with their persona, but rather with their creative output.
The committed writer, critic, or theatrical or cinematic figure, and those like them, who play a role in shaping public awareness, stand apart from this context. It becomes important for them to have a special status, a background free from criminality, and a reasonable biography. It is also advisable to know something about them before believing what they write, whether regarding their political background or doctrinal affiliations, among other things. For instance, it is not deemed acceptable to read the opinion, critique, or article of a writer, to be influenced by it, and to believe it without knowing the truth of their intentions, or if they are being financed by a certain entity. In such a case, they do not deserve our trust, having lost credibility, or due to the contradiction between their personal actions and the "ideals" they espouse. The more backward the societies are, the greater the number of such individuals; thus, we have a large number of them, especially given that we, for several reasons we have previously discussed, are among the peoples that suffer from sharp contradictions in their behavior.
I have been shocked several times or have had my hopes dashed in various individuals when I believed in their idealism through their "productions." However, upon getting closer to them, I recognized their true nature, or so I thought.
One example of the hypocrisy that characterizes our societies is the strange number of writers, critics, and those who claim to carry the banners of culture and knowledge, the so-called "those with letters,” who are willing to heap praise on any action taken by a tyrant or dictator, whether it is a literary work or a political act, as long as there is material benefit behind that praise. For instance, the novel "Zabiba and the King," attributed to Saddam Hussein, received extensive analysis and praise from prominent literary figures, even though it is a nonsensical and meaningless work.
Recently, a letter circulated that included the names of famous literary and cultural figures who dedicated their pens to criticize, analyze, and praise a collection of short stories titled "The Village, the Village, the Land, the Land, and the Suicide of the Astronaut," attributed to Gaddafi. A seminar titled "Gaddafi as a Thinker and Creator" was organized, featuring a group of opportunistic "Arab intellectuals" and writers for dictators who sold their dignity for a handful of dollars, participating in the seminar under titles such as “The Place in Gaddafi’s Stories,” “The Dialectic of Time in Muammar’s Stories,” “The Human Dimension and the Search for the Moral City in the Text,” “The Significance and Paradox of Place in the Literary Discourse of the Creative Leader Muammar Gaddafi,” “The Implications of Spatial Composition in Gaddafi’s Stories,” “The Psychological Dimensions of Creativity in Writer Muammar,” “Narrative Techniques and Language in Muammar Gaddafi’s Stories,” “Irony in the Literature of Muammar Gaddafi,” “Manifestations of Innocence and Wonder in Muammar’s Stories,” and “Revealing Stories for a Man Accompanied by History!” among other nonsense.
In reviewing the names of the "greats" who contributed to writing those "studies" and critical letters, we first feel shock due to the aura that some perceive over the heads of these individuals, and the miserable living conditions they may endure. More dangerously, what those hypocritical writings represented and continue to represent is a humiliation of the self, marking a prolonged phase during which the intellectual lost their pioneering role after being forced by living conditions and oppressive regimes to forfeit much, out of greed or fear. This is the most significant difference between backward societies and their advanced counterparts, especially when comparing the positions of these individuals to the stances of Israelis who stood against their own country, alongside other Jews, in support of Palestinian rights, despite all the dangers and losses that befell them!
