{"id":10034,"date":"2013-03-09T19:24:52","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T23:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=10034"},"modified":"2013-03-09T19:24:52","modified_gmt":"2013-03-09T23:24:52","slug":"al-ajami-jasmine-revolution-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/al-ajami-jasmine-revolution-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"al-Ajami “Jasmine Revolution Poem”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Via Arabic Literature (in English)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

As We Wait on al-Ajami\u2019s Final Appeal, a New Translation of \u2018Jasmine Revolution\u00a0Poem\u2019<\/h3>\n
Posted on\u00a0March 9, 2013<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0mlynxqualey<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Leave a comment<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

A week and a half ago, a Qatari appeals court refused to overturn the sentence against poet Mohammad al-Ajami, instead reducing it from life to 15 years.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"al-ajami\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s Supreme Court is set to make a final ruling within the month. You can still\u00a0sign a petition urging the poet\u2019s release<\/a>, or contact a Qatari embassy or consulate.<\/p>\n

Also, translator Kareem James Abu-Zaid tells me that, in January, he translated \u201cVERY freely, I will admit!\u201d a poem of al-Ajami\u2019s\u00a0for an event held in the Qatari poet\u2019s honor\u00a0<\/a>in San Francisco,\u00a0organized by the city\u2019s former poet laureate Jack Hirschman. Other readers included\u00a0\u00a0Dee Allen, Mahnaz Badihian, Judith Ayn Bernhard, Kristina Brown, James Byron, Neeli Cherkovski, Bobby Coleman, John Curl, Carol Denney, Steven Gray, Richard Gross, Martin Hickel, Marc Kockinos, Jessica Loos, Rosemary Manno, Sarah Page, Maketa Smith-Groves, and David Volpendesta.<\/p>\n

Abu-Zaid\u2019s translation:<\/p>\n

Jasmine Revolution Poem<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Mohammad al-Ajami Ibn al-Dhib<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prime Minister, Mohamed al-Ghannouchi:
\nIf we measured your might
\nit wouldn\u2019t hold a candle
\nto a constitution.
\nWe shed no tears for Ben Ali,
\nnor any for his reign.
\nIt was nothing more than a moment
\nin time for us,
\nhistorical
\nand dictatorial,
\na system of oppression,
\nan era of autocracy.
\nTunisia declared the people\u2019s revolt:
\nWhen we lay blame
\nonly the base and vile suffer from it;
\nand when we praise
\nwe do so with all our hearts.
\nA revolution was kindled with the blood of the people:
\ntheir glory had worn away,
\nthe glory of every living soul.
\nSo, rebel, tell them,
\ntell them in a shrouded voice, a voice from the grave:
\ntell them that tragedies precede all victories.
\nA warning to the country whose ruler is ignorant,
\nwhose ruler deems that power
\ncomes from the American army.
\nA warning to the country
\nwhose people starve
\nwhile the regime boasts of its prosperity.
\nA warning to the country whose citizens sleep:
\none moment you have your rights,
\nthe next they\u2019re taken from you.
\nA warning to the system\u2014inherited\u2014of oppression.
\nHow long have all of you been slaves
\nto one man\u2019s selfish predilections?
\nHow long will the people remain
\nignorant of their own strength,
\nwhile a despot makes decrees and appointments,
\nthe will of the people all but forgotten?
\nWhy is it that a ruler\u2019s decisions are carried out?
\nThey\u2019ll come back to haunt him
\nin a country willing
\nto rid itself of coercion.
\nLet him know, he
\nwho pleases only himself, and does nothing
\nbut vex his own people; let him know
\nthat tomorrow
\nsomeone else will be seated on that throne,
\nsomeone who knows the nation\u2019s not his own,
\nnor the property of his children.
\nIt belongs to the people, and its glories
\nare the glories of the people.
\nThey gave their reply, and their voice was one,
\nand their fate, too, was one.
\nAll of us are Tunisia
\nin the face of these oppressors.
\nThe Arab regimes and those who rule them
\nare all, without exception,
\nwithout a single exception,
\nshameful, thieves.
\nThis question that keeps you up at night\u2014
\nits answer won\u2019t be found
\non any of the official channels\u2026
\nWhy, why do these regimes
\nimport everything from the West\u2014
\neverything but the rule of law, that is,
\nand everything but freedom?<\/p>\n

Jack Hirschman also recited a poem about al-Ajami at the event, \u201cLife Suicided, Life Sentenced<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Via Arabic Literature (in English): As We Wait on al-Ajami\u2019s Final Appeal, a New Translation of \u2018Jasmine Revolution\u00a0Poem\u2019 Posted on\u00a0March 9, 2013\u00a0by\u00a0mlynxqualey\u00a0|\u00a0Leave a comment A week and a half ago, a Qatari appeals court...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1012,11,52,71,91,103],"tags":[1365],"class_list":["post-10034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arab-spring","category-arab-culture","category-human-rights","category-middle-east","category-poetry","category-translation","tag-mohammad-al-ajami-ibn-al-dhib"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10034"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10037,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10034\/revisions\/10037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}