By: Ahmed ELNAHAS – Montopoli, December 4th 2013.
He was just
a FREEMAN.. Stood tall as our living monument for COURAGE.. Not even the
indignity of imprisonment or the agony
of torture inside the wet prison cells for eighteen long years were able to
take away his sound sense of FREEDOM; or strip off his protective armour: the
pride of being born Egyptian, and his deep belief in divine justice.
Unlike
his predecessors the grand masters of Dialect
Poetry like Beyram El Tunsy and Salah Jaheen, or his coevals Ma’moun El
Shennawy and Youssef Edris; he was entirely devoted and radically committed to
issues like Freedom of Expression, Social
Justice and Human Rights; just as
much as he has never pronounced or wrote a word or a verse of hypocrisy in
praise of any other human being.. The others did.
His
master piece “AZZA” is the icon of a life long battle sustaining and
preaching those noble issues.. One of the many poems he wrote in prison and was
bravely smuggled out.. A poem that we exchanged clandestinely in school yards
and on university benches after 1967, and publicly chanted it out in the
streets during the ‘Students Riots’ of 1968.. If you can find it read it
carefully to discover his cruel definitions for freedom and justice, along with
the tender images originating from his root peasant life culture that forged
his solid sense of belonging.
My
generation will remember him as the domestic who became a postman who became
the poet who became a prisoner to inspire hope and incite us to stand firmly
for our hopes and resist peacefully awaiting a day of relief that will surely
come.
Ahmad
Fouad Negm died yesterday (December the 3rd) on 84
years of age, but his shouts for freedom, ideas on justice, inspirations to tolerance
and teachings in courage will remain alive and dearly treasured in our
conscience.
May Allah
grant you his pardon and absolution by his infinite mercy.
Pass On The Word.
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