Many just wanted to touch the coffin of the legendary poet who glorified love and freedom, women and dignity, condemning all kinds of repressive authority.” Remembering the event, he told Gulf News: “It was amazing how crowds rushed, gathered and filled the streets men and women marched together defying the conventional traditions of separating sexes during Muslim burial. US-based Syrian playwright Riad Usmat was one of those who attended his funeral. “He loved the city to the point of fanaticism,” Qaddura said. He later moved to London where he lived in self-imposed exile until he died at the age of 75 on April 30, 1998.Īlthough he lived out his remaining years away, his love for Damascus never died. He moved to Beirut after the Baath Party seized power in 1963, resigning from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he worked since the mid-1940s. The entire city came out to the streets to bid him farewell, transforming the event into a thinly-veiled procession of “pride and dignity” for Syrians, who felt that they had lost one of their last standing icons.Īlthough occasionally visiting, Qabbani had not been to Damascus for years. His death took Syria by storm when his coffin was transported from London to Damascus. In fact, Qabbani only named two leaders directly in his works: once praising Jamal Abdul Nasser and second to trash his successor Anwar Al Sadat. His prose got him into trouble throughout the Arab world, and his works were banned in Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo and Tripoli - with each security service getting hints that he was referring to its own leaders. The security branch at my palace tells me everything - even what happens in the wombs of pregnant women!” I am responsible for every piece of bread that you eat.
In another poem, he takes over the character of an Arab dictator and addresses the masses saying: “I am responsible for your dreams - if you do dream. I am just a citizen in the state of Suppressionstan.’ One who doesn’t cuddle his wife before the place is approved by security One who dreams of one day reaching the rank of an animal …Ī citizen who avoids sitting in cafes so that the “state” doesn’t jump out of the coffee cups It reads:Ī citizen who lives in the state of Suppressionstan One poem in particular titled “Suppressionstan” hits home to many in the Syrian opposition. In 2011, Syrians across the country revolted against the decades-long Ba'ath party rule - one where dissent was not tolerated. His works which focus on corruption, injustice and an end to military rule greatly resonate with Syria’s opposition today. When he wasn’t writing about women, he penned nationalistic poems about the Arab struggle against Israeli oppression or US hegemony. “He championed victims throughout his life,” says Nourallah Qaddura, a Dubai-based Syrian poet greatly inspired by Nizar Qabbani. Today, it has been 19 years since the legendary Syrian poet died, but his iconic works remain as relevant as they were decades ago. Nizar rejoiced like all Syrians of his generation, when the French ended its occupation of Syria in 1946. Our country needs two legs to stand upright one is independence and one is freedom and freedom starts with the emancipation of women!”
He smiled and asked gently: “Why are we fighting the French?”
. Damascus: While still a student at Damascus University Law Faculty, Nizar Qabbani was approached by a classmate who asked: “The country is ablaze against the French and you are sitting there writing about women.”
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