Mahmoud Darwish on Football Game محمود درويش على مبارة الجزائر
In Egypt
Inspired by Nas
I was in Egypt last week. And even though my love to Cairo is as big as the pyramids, I was disappointed at how Egypt received the Algerian team. Not only did they beat them up, but thousands of people spent their night honking and beeping around the hotel in which the Algerian team spent the night… They made sure the team stayed up all night without a moment of sleep.
Truthfully, we, as Arabs, never handled our football lightly… I came across a piece written by Mahmoud Darwish in his book “The memory of forgetfulness”… Beirut was under siege… the Arab street was silent… but … the referee cheated in a football game in which Algeria was playing, and the whole Arab world took the streets in angry demonstration.
The piece saddened me… it is nostalgic… brought fuzzy feeling in my heart… nostalgia to a reality that only exists in my mind…. I know that tonight millions of Arabs are watching the game… just like did in that day when the referee cheated.
In Darwish’s words:
محمود درويش من كتاب ذاكرة النسيان
” و لكنني لا أغضب، كما يغضب غيري، من المظاهرات العربية الصاخبة التي خرجت تحتج على حكم منحاز في مباريات كرة القدم. لا لأن كرة القدم تلهب الحماسة أكثر من هذا الصمود الطويل في بيروت، بل لأن المكبوت العربي، المتعدد المصادر، قد عثر على نقطة الإنفجار في المتاح العربي. ووجد فرصة التعبير الممكن عن غضب مزمن في حرب لا تهدد الوطن ماديا،في حرب معنويات تنتهي الى هدنة اكيدة بعد 45 دقيقة، يعيد خلالها المتحاربون، توزيع صفوفهم، و تعديل خططهم الهجوميةو الدفاعية، و يتزودون الى ما يحتاجون اليه من ذخية معنوية، و نجدة شعبية، ثم يعودون الى القتالتحت اشراف قوات دولية لا تسمح باستخدام الأسلحة المحرمة دوليا.”
”و لأني احب كرة القدم، لم أغضب كما غضب غيري من المفارقة. لا مظاهرة واحدة يثيرها حصار بيروت، بينما تثير كرة القدم هذه المظاهرات أثناء حصار بيروت. لم لا؟ أن كرة القدم هي ساحة التعبير التي يوفرها تواطؤ الحاكم و المحكوم في زنزانة الديمقراطية العربية المهددة بخنق سجنائها و سجانيها معا. هي فسحة تنفس تتيح للوطن ان يلتئم حول مشترك ما، حول شىء ما, تضبط فيه حدود الأطراف و شروط العلاقة. .
“Not only did they beat them up, but thousands of people spent their night honking and beeping around the hotel in which the Algerian team spent the night… They made sure the team stayed up all night without a moment of sleep.”
Correction, this never happened. Actually it was the Algerians who did that to the Egyptian team in the 1st match and there were calls for “an eye for an eye” treatment. But the secuirty couldn’t let the fans do it.
Truth to be told, Egypt stayed up cheering all night. Not only Cairo, so if the Algerians couldn’t sleep it is because the whole country was up. Fear is what kept them up not the Egyptian horns.
They are a team of sissies. And this has to do nothing with Arabism or whatever they did after the match in Sudan.
They have always been a team of sissies. They fake injuires and they waste time. It is the Algerian style of football.
You should play against them to know the real deal. Lucky that Jordan don’t compete in Africa. You would have adopted the “eye for an eye” philosophy after 2 hot receptions in Algeria!
Reply
Madas Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 11:34
Egyptian girl,
For me as a Jordanian, it does not matter who started what… the situation would be equally sad… for me Maser will always be the mother of the world, and Algeria will always be the land of the million martyrs! I tend to agree with those who claim that the situation was escalated by political agendas…
I started thinking that nationalism killed us, we became so engaged in our individual problems that we forgot about the beautiful dream of the fifties…
I am a Muslim, I am an Arab, and I will always be proud to be part of these two identities.
Reply
[...] great poet Mahmoud Darwish talks soccer, among other things, in Memory for Forgetfulness, which you can read as part of our Summer Reading [...]