Iraqi shoe-thrower, Muntader al-Zaidi, has reminded every anti-war campaigner about the downside of abiding by the rules. Away from the safety of crowds, far from the security of collective chants and slogans, right at the heart of a press conference stiffened with security and protocol, one man created massive international impact with a small, well-timed, powerful, personal and lone gesture.
"This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
The YouTube video of those words and those shoes have been viewed at least five million times, an internet game called "Sock and Awe", has been so popular its website has crashed, a Saudi businessman has offered $10m for one of the shoes, a Palestinian has offered $30 thousand for Zaidi’s defence, the TV journalist’s been proposed as the next president of Iraq, and offered sanctuary by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez.
Zaidi could face a two year jail sentence for insulting a foreign leader, or further beatings in jail. But so far his pair of shoes has made more impact than mass protests across the world.
Like Walter Wolfgang, the old man ejected from the 2005 Labour conference for heckling, Zaidi commanded attention by breaking the rules of polite society, whilst being a full-time member of it.
This TV journalist was not an exile from Iraq’s new elite. He did not protest or insult for a living. He was a man who stood to gain everything from biting his lip, shaking the hands that continue to feed and pouring any angry misgivings onto the next film script or piece to camera. Instead he decided to act – and brought meaning to an event bordering on parody. Like a lightning conductor he charged the soporific proceedings of George Bush’s farewell press conference with the angry energy of Iraqis facing an almost hopeless future.
Belter!
Any chance of posting a better quality version of the 'Maltese Double Cross' documentary ?
Posted by: bru | December 23, 2008 at 11:09 AM