Democratic Palestine : 26 (ص 4)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 26 (ص 4)
- المحتوى
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Naji Al Ali
Palestine’s Foremost Cartoonist Assassinated
The assassination of Naji Al Ali was an attack on the Palestinian cause and on Arab progressive thought.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday,
July 23rd, Ali Naji Awad Al Adhami,
known as Naji Al Ali, was shot and
critically wounded outside the offices
of Al Qabas newspaper in Ives Street,
London. After five weeks of suffering,
he passed away. Thus another grave
loss was added to the list of great
Palestinian and Arab thinkers who
have been assassinated.
Naji Al Ali was simply the most
outstanding and courageous cartoonist
in the Palestinian and Arab press. His
weapons were his pen and the
caricatures which he said were put in
the service of «the common man in the
Arab world, who has few outlets for
expressing his point of view.» Unfor-
tunately, the assassination of Naji Al
Ali at this particular time comes as no
surprise. Before Naji, there was
Ghassan Kanafani, Majid Abu Sharar,
Hussein Mroweh, Mahdi Aamel... and
the list of those martyred for their
thinking goes on and on. These great
people were targeted by a well-defined
decision aimed at eliminating all the
bright values, history, heritage and any
outspoken voice in the Arab nation.
The loss of Naji Al Ali is a loss to the
Palestinian national culture. It is the
loss of a genius, an artist deeply
dedicated to his people’s cause and
homeland, an artist whose life was a
struggle to safeguard the revolution and
expose all threats and conspiracies
against it. Throughout his long and
hard struggle, Naji Al Ali resisted all
attempts to intimidate or lure him into
altering his principles.
distinguished for his art which he
dedicated to fighting injustice, oppres-
sion and capitulation.
Naji Al Ali was the voice of the poor
and oppressed. He drew their suffering
and their happiness, their hopes and
their tears. His simple drawings touch-
ed the hearts of the poor and filled
them with a desire for life, revolution
and hope. Since Naji Al Ali clearly took
4
He was.
sides, his enemies were many. They
were the enemies of democracy and
thought, of reason and logic, of change
and revolution. His enemies were to be
found in the Zionist and imperialist
camp, and among Arabs as well. His
enemies were those who feared his
caricatures, for these unmasked the ug-
ly face of the oppressor. These enemies
feared Naji’s ability to mobilize the
poor against all oppression and mani-
pulation, against all forms of subjuga-
tion and surrender, and ultimately
against them themselves.
But Naji never feared these enemies.
He kept on drawing pain, revolution
and the future, disregarding the reac-
tions of his enemies. In fact, their reac-
tions only gave him greater incentive
and strengthened his convictions. Naji
was therefore pursued from one place
to another. His enemies realized that
his ‘danger’ spreads and that his calls
for change and revolution were non-
stop and effective. They saw how the
people treasured his caricatures, how
these drawings decorated the walls of
houses and offices. Looking at Naji’s
caricatures in the morning newspaper
had become a daily rituals for millions.
Naji Al Ali’s assassination was the
result of a conscious decision taken by
the enemies of the national cause and
culture. Unfortunately, one cannot say
that his assassination will be the last.
Those who seek to eliminate the
Palestinian cause in order to achieve
their own goals, are ready to use all
means to eliminate progressive na-
tionalist thought, for only such thought
can expose conspiracies and mobilize
the national conscience of the oppress-
ed.
Palestinian freedom fighters are the key to the solution. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 26
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