Watching TV In Iraq

This is what one can expect tosee when zapping through the TV channels on a random night in Baghdad.

TV1 shows an English-American action movie with axe murderers. TV2 transmits a livefootball match. Another channel offers an interview with a British activist who brought medicine to Iraq anddiscusses how important it is to inform the people at home. The interview is going on in English without anytranslation. As the logo pops up on the screen, I learn that I am watching Iraq Highlight, one of the twoprogrammes that I have seen with an international profile. Here, viewers are briefed on what happened duringthe day: diplomatic meetings of various leaders, the regime's political focus, and of course, whom SaddamHussein has met, written a letter to or received a letter from today. Another evening I hear him praise theair force's heroic combat and readiness against aggression.

Press Review is on Iraq Satellite Channel around midnight. The programme describeswhat foreign newspapers, especially in the West, have written about Iraq. Various articles critical of Westernand the US foreign policy are cited. The international news coverage has the following headlines: "Iraqfights international terrorism but the US is the biggest terrorist of all"; "Improving relations anddialogues with other Arab countries"; "Iraq has improved its relations with Iran and SaudiArabia"; "Export of raw Iraqi oil to Turkey resumed"; "Earthquake in Taiwan";"Heat wave in India"; "Arab countries support the courageous combat of the Palestinianpeople." I begin to understand how useful it is for me to get a glimpse of the world-view that the Iraqipeople live with.

Later on, the Iraq TV Channel presents a documentary on the creation of the state ofIsrael. It focuses on the terror under Begin and Shamir, Ben Gurions' leadership and today's Zionism, whichIraqis generally perceive as a bigger problem than American imperialism. Arabic music videos are presented onother channels as well as a report from a military training camp and, surprise-surprise, a film with JuliaRoberts...

In the afternoon, around 4pm, I can watch Arabic solo dancing to the music of atraditional orchestra and languorous violins. Wearing a tight black dress, a short woman with red lips, longhair and voluptuous breasts, moves her hips in a very expressive way, to say the least. The neighbouringchannel's disco-gogo girls (who are no less scantily dressed than their Western sisters) appear like amateurscompared with that girl and the others dancing gracefully after her.

Iraq is definitely not immune from the internationalisation of American culture.Everyday, various American movies are presented on one channel or another. What's funny about those movies isthat both sound and image will suddenly freeze and a sign appears saying that "this film is strictly forprivate showing" and that one has to call a number in New York if the movie is rented! They are probablybootleg videos from around the world. Many of them had subtitles in Japanese and a Disney film had Swedishsubtitles!

In the morning, the country's emblem with an eagle and a heart-shaped flag in themiddle appears on one or several channels. Then, all of a sudden, the face of Saddam Hussein comes out of theheart and the image changes to soldiers marching to a overly sentimental choir singing of the glory of Saddam.

It is naturally impossible to forget who is in power here. There are thousands ofmonuments and paintings on Baghdad's streets and gates, some of them rather poor artistically. Similarly, inevery public office, there is at least one (often 3 or 4) pictures of Saddam. It is a unique cult ofpersonality that appears rather pathetic to me. I see it as Saddam's will to be remembered, not only whilealive, but also after his reign, just like the great Nebukadnezar. He is unfolding some sort of plan forimmortality. One wonders if anyone actually sees those portraits on the gates and walls of the city, or ifthey escape notice like streetlights or advertisements.

On Iraq Satellite Channel News around midnight on 20-21 May, President Saddam Husseinis shown chairing this year's 27th cabinet meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council. He is the only one incivilian clothes. All of the other Ministers are wearing a green uniform and a beret. They salute Saddam as hewalks into the room. The walls and the tablecloth are white, and so are the curtains that filter the lightcoming into the room. There is an Iraqi flag on the left-hand side of the screen behind Saddam. A flowerarrangement and glasses of water on the table; there are no piles of paper or signs of hurry. The speaker saysa few words. The camera then focuses on the President's motionless face. The sequence is repeated, and thenthe speaker stops talking. For about a minute, the room's sacred character is emphasized by a slow passage ofa Bach cantata. A true seance of political religion!

Later on, viewers are informed that Baghdad's 33rd Internet cafe is now open. I foundthis slightly confusing because it was said at the same time that the sanctions had hindered the spread ofcomputers, since computers can be used both for civilian and military purposes. The announcement exposes theextent of the smuggling industry in Iraq.

Internet and e-mail are also spreading in Iraq. But the situation is slightly moredifficult with satellite television. Private individuals are not allowed to have their own satellite dish. ButI am told that quite a few have one anyway, hidden behind a water tank on the roof. The owner then risks beingreported by the neighbours or even their own family. A person caught with such a device gets the equivalent ofa 500$ fine, while the informer receives a reward of 250$. It is a considerable sum for the ordinary citizenwhose monthly salary or pension is approximately 5-10$. It is very tempting to be an informer in suchconditions.

Finally, what is the situation with the newspapers? As I cannot read Arabic, I do nothave a valuable personal opinion on the three daily papers. But according to certain sources, all three papersbelong to the army and the Baath party. On 22 May, all three papers had the same picture of the Presidentdiscussing with the same diplomatic delegation, the same headlines and the same layout on the front page.There is a daily paper in English, Iraq Daily, which always carries a quote by Saddam Hussein (allegedly badlytranslated) as well as other domestic, international, and Arab news and features such as society, lifestyle,sport, science, technology and computer information. In the 28 May edition, there were four pages on culture,literature and films and a single one about sport, which in my opinion is a good balance compared to what isoffered by most of the Western newspapers! Many articles are about Western writers and artists and aretranslations from, for example, BBC material (see for yourself) 

It is true that there are no such things as the freedom of the press and the freedomof speech in Iraq. All important media channels are said to be controlled by Saddam Hussein, one of his sonsor another family member. Nevertheless, one should not conclude that Iraqis are ignorant or that they cannotthink for themselves. In reality, they know a lot more about the West, through radio, television, the Internetand newspapers, than we know about Iraq from our media here in the West. Our press is also censored andcontrolled; driven by other interests, to be sure, but also not truly free.

Jan Oberg is director of Transnational Foundation forPeace and Future Research based in Lund, Sweden. Translated by Jean-Francois Drolet.