Celebrating a Hero

by Maan Al-Taie

Baghdad Bulletin (used w/permission).

For the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the death of the great Iraqi poet, Al-Jawahri, the General Union of Writers in Iraq organized a symposium from July 25-27 dedicated to his life and works.

The symposium was supposed to be held last month, but was postponed at the request of Al-Jawarhi's son, Kefah Al-Jawarhi. Kefah requested the dates be changed because in order to coincide with the exact dates of the poet's birth and death. The new date also allowed the poet's family abroad to come to Iraq to attend the celebrations.

The GUW received many requests from poets and critics to participate in this festival. Poems, papers and research were submitted by different poets, critics and cultural figures to be presented during the symposium.

The celebrations opened at the Sheraton Hotel at 11 am, with a speech delivered by a representative of the GUW. Then a musical band sung several songs chosen from Al-Jawarhi's poetry. The executive committee also played several rare video tapes of the late poet reciting some of his famous poems.

The committee also held daily and evening sessions. Those during the day were dedicated to poetic readings celebrating the great values that the poet represented socially, politically and literally. The evening sessions were mainly for papers and research findings read by critics discussing aspects of Al-Jawarhi's poetic experience and creativity.

Among the prominent names that participated in the festival over the three successive days were Mohammad Hussein Al-Yasin, Fadhel Thamer, Muafaq Mohamad, Fariz Al-Sharaa and Mohamed Hassan Radhi.

The closing day of the celebrations also took place in the Sheraton Hotel. The famous Iraqi sculptor, Nida Kadhum presented a statue of Al-Jawarhi crafted by his own hands, and several poems were read and the musical band sung his great poem, Yadijlah Al-Kheer (The Good Tigris).

Al-Jawarhi is considered not only as an Iraqi poet but also as symbol of the whole of Iraqi culture. His daring social and political activities gave him wide acclaim as did his creative poetry. He had a revolutionary spirit that rebelled against all kinds of tyranny, whether through words or action. This quality made many critics compare him to the famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. During his lifetime, Al-Jawarhi found himself at odds with successive Iraqi governments.

Al-Jawarhi was born in Najaf city, south of Baghdad. The city is known for its religious and cultural activities. At an early age he manifested a great poetic talent and was able to develop a highly individual style. He participated in Baghdad politics during the thirties and forties. He criticized the royal government that controlled Iraq and welcomed the 1958 revolution led by Abdul Karim Qasim. But soon he also started to show his dissatisfaction with Qasim's military government.

His dissatisfaction and disagreement continued when the Baath Party took control of the country. Al-Jawarhi was never afraid to raise his voice in criticism of political and social corruption. Thus he was forced to leave Iraq and settled in Prague in the former Czech Republic. He lived there for more than 10 years and in 1963 became the head of an organization known as "The Committee for Defending Iraqi People.."

Al-Jawarhi's favorite caf