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Ahmed Matar: ‘Yes, I Am a Terrorist’

Yes, I am a terrorist أنا إرهابي
(na’am ana' irha'bii)

 The West cries in fear when I make a toy from a matchbox
While they [the West] make a gallows of my body using my nerves for rope 
The West panics when I announce one day that they have torn my galabia 
While it is they who have urged me to be ashamed of my culture 
And to announce my joy and my utmost delight when they violate me!
The West is sorely grieved when I worship One God in the stillness of the prayer niche.
While from the hair of their coattails and the dirt of their shoes 
They knead a thousand idols that they set atop the dung heaps made of the titled ones 
So that I become their slave and perform amongst them the rituals of flies. 
And he, they will beat me if I announce my refusal. 
If I mention among them the fragrance of flowers and grass 
They crucify me, accusing me of terrorism! 

Admirable are all the deeds of the West, and of its tails 
As for me, as long as I am related to freedom 
Everything I do is considered Terrorism!

They have destroyed my world 
Let them reap what they have sown. 
If on my lips and in the cells of my blood 
The globalization of destruction* has borne fruit. 
Here I say it, I write, I draw it I imprint it upon the forehead of the West with my wooden shoe:
Yes, I am a terrorist!

An earthquake has its reasons and knowing them is knowing mine
I will not carry my pens but my claws!
I will not sharpen my thoughts but my teeth!
And I will not return as a kind person until I see the law of the jungle and it’s people return to the jungle
Yes, I am a terrorist and I advise every detective today barking at my steps
To wear a tank because .. I will knock his head off if one day knocked on my door!


—The Iraqi poet Ahmed Matar, 2002, (the Arabic version is available on the CIA website)
From an earthquake to the end is my own translation, N. M. 

*Globalisation in the Arab countries entailed neoliberal capitalist policies (e.g the Syrian case and their outcomes) the invasion and occupation of Iraq (and the consequences), socio-economic and political policies led to explosions dubbed "The Arab Spring", the NATO intervention in Libya, the protection of the rentier economies to ensure outflow of capital and inflow of arms…

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