'The dream is still alive'

By Amira Howeidy

The video sets brutal scenes of Israeli repression to music and lyrics in an effort to convey the simple message that Arabs must unite if the injustices are to stop.

"The darkness of night may keep us apart for some time, but the ray of light can reach the farthest sky," the singers chant in chorus. "This is our dream, the dream of our life, to be locked in an embrace that brings us together."

An official at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), which broadcasts the song several times a day, told Al-Ahram Weekly: "Not only are we proud of its artistic quality, but we, as a Lebanese media channel, support its message fully."

The message is repeated again and again: "The dream is not impossible to achieve. The night, no matter how long, will be followed by sunrise."

The Arab Dream is reminiscent of Al-Watan Al-Akbar (The Great Homeland), a group song composed by Mohamed Abdel-Wahab to celebrate the 1958 merger of Egypt and Syria, under Gamal Abdel-Nasser's leadership, in the short-lived United Arab Republic. But while the tone of Abdel-Wahab's song was clearly triumphant, The Arab Dream is obviously bitter, reflecting the many setbacks suffered by Arabs since then. The bitterness is clear in the footage and is also evidenced by the words: "Justice needs force to protect it; not with words and complaints will the land return to its people."

The footage documents 50 years of Arab-Israeli conflict. It begins with the escape or expulsion of thousands of Palestinians following the establishment of Israel in 1948. Scenes of trucks packed with Palestinians, refugee camps and Arab prisoners of war initiate the "beginning of the dream."

They are followed by Nasser's 1952 Revolution and his nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company in 1956.

Next is the tripartite aggression of 1956 and the destruction of Port Said and Al-Arish.

Nasser is the focus again when he is shown making his famous resignation broadcast following the June 1967 defeat, followed by the public outcry against his decision.

Millions of Egyptians are shown again, some weeping hysterically, in "the departure" scene mourning Nasser's death.

With so much attention devoted to Nasser, questions were raised about the director's political affiliation. "I am not a political activist or even a Nasserist," Ahmed Al-Erian, the song's director, told the Weekly. "I focused so much on Nasser's era because to me, and to millions of Arabs, he is the sole symbol of Arab unity. The dream began with him and partially died with him."

Apart from a few "happy" scenes depicting the 1973 Arab victory, scenes of war horrors follow -- the Lebanese civil war, the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Palestinian Intifada in 1986, Israel's Grapes of Wrath operation against Lebanon and the Qana massacre in 1996.

The footage is poignant and painful: Israeli soldiers breaking the bones of a Palestinian youth; another youth receiving a bullet in the head before dropping dead; and, of course, the bleeding corpses of the Qana victims.

Erian said he included this footage to "provoke everyone into realising the necessity of establishing a real peace and real cooperation between the Arab states."

Did he have to go to this extreme? "Why not?" he responded. "I did not make these scenes up. This is our reality. That is what happened. And, as an artist, I have no way of opposing it, except by producing this type of work."

According to Erian, the production of The Arab Dream cost $50,000, half of which was used to purchase the footage from 19 television stations, including the BBC and WTN. The song was performed for the first time by nine singers in an Abu Dhabi song festival two years ago. Erian decided a year later to expand it and turn it into a video. "It was painstaking... it took me a whole year to complete it," he said.

Erian said the first copy of the video went to Egyptian Television, but, for unknown reasons, it was never screened.

But Sanaa Mansour, head of the Egyptian satellite channel, told the Weekly she had never seen it. Soheir El-Atrebi, head of Egyptian Television, claimed she knew nothing about it.

Could it be because the footage incites anti-Israeli sentiment? "If censors approve a film like An Upper Egyptian in the American University, which includes a scene in which the Israeli flag is burned, why not The Arab Dream?" asked Erian.

Tunisian singer Lutfi Boushnaq, one of the 23 participants in the group song, told the Weekly that he agreed to take part out of his strong belief in Arab unity. "I will always pursue this dream peacefully," he said. "But if I'm forced to use a different language, I will carry a machine-gun in my right hand and an olive branch in the left."

Qatari singer Ali Abdel-Sattar, another participant, said The Arab Dream had "mobilised many Arabs politically and culturally. This is why it is screened so often."

But is it a success? Composer Helmi Bakr believes so. "When was the last time you saw 23 singers from all over the Arab world singing the same song and celebrating a dream that seems to have been forgotten, but apparently, is still alive?" he asked.