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Easing the Arab Spring
Amatoritsero Ede
“Naming of Parts” is Henry Reed’s long poem about the Second World War and the first of five related sections in his 1942 collection, Lessons of the War. In the narrative poem under focus a drill Sergeant instructs recruits in the use of simple weaponry in a matter-of-fact and conversational tone:
This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got
A second voice, that of a distracted recruit who is also a poet, mentally echoes the clipped military speech of the first speaker. The repetitive echo of the daydreaming soldier-poet’s meditative ruminations matches or even surpasses the Sergeant’s calm and conversational tone. But the soldier-bard transforms the prosaic and colloquial thoughts of the drill Sergeant into impassioned poetry. The Sergent’s running commentary and monologue is married to the soldier-poet’s poignant observations about a sublime spring environment, which fires the latter’s wandering imagination:
To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts
The poet-recruit denotes the brilliance and bloom of spring as a counterpoint to the drill Sergeant’s mechanical and toneless chatter about the cold brutality of guns and their deadly functions. The ensuing parallelism and contrast casts a shimmering glow over the whole, has a defamiliarising effect on diction, expands the field of signification, and imbues us with a sense of the overwhelming beauty of spring and, life – yes, life; even in the tragic situation of impending war. That is just one out of the many subtle ironies pervading this lyric.
Henry Reed’s classic poem on soldiering is apt in thinking about Bashar al-Assad, Syria, and the Arab Spring. Al-Assad is like Reed’s soldier poet-persona, if only in the sense that both give military instructions; the one, towards the training of recruits in a World War II setting and the other, towards invading his own people in peacetime. The contrast does not end there. While the second protagonist in the poem under discussion is a recruit with a poet’s sensibilities, al-Assad is a politician with a psychopathic killer’s instincts. The distinctions are that Reed’s soldier prepares recruits for a desperate and necessary Second World War campaign, while al-Assad, the mindless politician and egomaniac, directs his murderous troops to unleash mayhem under no threat from a Hitler.
Irony is an overriding but silent rhetorical strategy in the “Naming of Parts,†in al-Assad’s massacre of his own people and in the unprincipled global political response to it. Unchecked, al-Assad the experienced political gamer and predator – with his own people as game – is forever on the prowl.  He ignores the moral of  the need for imparting military discipline to inexperienced recruits in the “Naming of Parts,† which is that the ‘easing’  of the spring of a gun can shatter the beauty of spring, the season. Guns should be discharged only when necessary in heat of battle against marauding enemies, not in the repressing of political dissent or decimation of protesting civilians. The last is precisely what Assad does – murder those civilians who he, as leader of Syria and as befitting his office, should be duty-bound to protect. Understandably he is no statesman but a murderous thug and his acts equals a ‘civicide.’
And the United Nations, established in 1945 towards global peace and stability, is itself too troubled internally to enforce real and sustainable peace in Syria. Due to a “politics of the belly†amongst UN member states, particularly China and Russia, the NATO-led military solution to Muammar Gaddafi’s ‘civicide’ in Libya is not applicable in Syria. As such al-Assad, the sad man and sadist of the Arab spring, becomes a modern day Australopithecus Africanus, a killer ape wielding a deadly club. That gangling, ungainly, birdlike but “unfeathered two-legged thing,†as John Dryden would have it, continues to maim and to kill. This is why the opposition is forced to fight a losing and undignified battle against a home-grown Hitler. And that opposition seems to collectively listen to the voice of our drill Sergeant in Lessons of the War:
Things may be the same again; and we must fight
Not in the hope of winning but rather of keeping
Something alive: so that when we meet our end,
It may be said that we tackled wherever we could,
That battle-fit we lived, and though defeated,
Not without glory fought.
As the shadows of a spring day and the drill Sergeant’s dreadful monotone lengthen, some of the rather oblivious recruits – mere boys – coming to a realisation of the terror ahead of them, begin to snivel or weep while they listen to the dispassionate, frank and terrible voice of the drillmaster. The Sergeant, agent of death, bemoans their weakness:
I have no wish to be inconsiderate,
But I see there are two of you now, commencing to snivel.
I do not know where such emotional privates can come from.
Try to behave like men.
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This is a very interesting take on the political upheaval in Syria. Brilliant juxtaposition of poetry and politics.
Has Democracy become an illusion.In 1993 Noam Chomsky would concisely describe the work of NED as “an attempt to impose what is called democracy, meaning rule by the rich and the powerful, without interference by the mob but within the framework of formal electoral procedures.” In other words, those fighting in the “Arab Spring” did so for gilded tyranny.
The spring bell tolls for Nigeria too. There is no running away from the springy uprising: “Total destruction is the only solution!” as Bob Marley sang.
it’s sill winter in Syria and Nigeria but the bees are getting restless.
Nice blend of Politics and Poetry
Interesting background and parralels. The Arab spring was a long time coming. The factors that led to this ripe moment in the middle east and showing themselves slowly in nigeria. whether it will be a spring or a flood here, remains to be seen. Nice editorial sir
So it is true that poetry is life! This is an example of art imitating life. The politics in between issues of world affairs is best expressed politically. Otherwise, we will go crazy with the maddening rage.
Wow…this is deep, to say the least. You really use fantastic description and merge poetry and` politics together seamlessly. One hopes that Nigeria does not suffer the same fate because, as romantic as poetry and fine writing and analysis may be, there is nothing glorious in the gruesome death of thousands.
Well done, Mr E..and do keep up the good work!
Very good topic, it is obvious if not careful Nigeria will definately suffer the same.Poetry is really alive and the mixing of it and politics is so amazing. Keep up the good work and the sky is the limit for you Mr Ede.
Beyond the issues discussed, this piece immediately took me back in time to my University days in my Literature class where we had to juxtapose a work of arts with a surrounding situation; hence stressing the point that Literature mirrors life. Literature is life! Brilliant piece which I think should be used as a lecture material. Having said this, it puzzles me to think of what UN is set up for after all. Has it suddenly become a toothless Bulldog in the face of tyranny? Al-Assad is simply another Gaddafi, another Saddam, a clone Hitler that must be uprooted for peace to reign in that country called Syria. Killings are reported everyday as if it is the norm. My ountry Nigeria is also witnessing a similar situation in another dimension. I remember my discussion with Lola Fani-Kayode, the famous TV producer/writer back in Nigeria as far back as in 1994 when the country was in the grip of Late Sani Abacha, everyone wailed and Lola told me that not until the country reach the rock-bottom before anything meaningful or growth can be attained. It is almost 20 years now, yet no sign of reprieval in that country nor in Syria. Like the Drillmaster Sergent in the poem, who prepared his Recruits for slaughter with grace, UN might soon to blame for its role in the daily massacre of the Syrians or what Ama aptly describes as “Civicide”.
using the emotional power of poetry 2 express 2day’s happenings, nice one….., keep it up, expecting more mind blowing topics.
Well put. Your editorial is insightful and thought-provoking. Art cannot help but be political.
This seriously echoes my thoughts about this issue and these so called “Third-World” countries’ leaders, who think it’s a God-given right to cling to power, is it those shameless thieves, who’ve always occupied the corridors of power in Africa, or this present monster in Syria, who thinks he has to blow anyone out of the way, who dares to oppose him, or those in certain African countries, who shamelessly starve babies to death, and cart their countries’ loots away to countries willing to take these bloody monies ?
The poetics of this editorial is “word spring” on the “third world spring” – not limited to the Arab spring because Nigeria is in the picture through a micro-lens of camera. I am unsure of what UN is doing in Syria – playing game with Al-Assad and his soldiers or gambling with lives of Syrians to win something from Al-Assad or other world powers who are interested in this process of “Hitlering” Syrians for common goals.
Instituted in response to Hitler to prevent and intervene in crimes against humanity, the UN ironically continues to play politics and watch on the sidelines as another Hitler reigns. They are more focused on ‘numbering’ the last days of citizens, rather than dictatorships. Given this fact, it begs the question why al-Assad has not been overthrown as yet. The US — by providing arms to rebels, conducting strategic NATO interventions, etc. — is scripting this Arab Spring as they attempt to restructure the Middle East in their interests – for oil, recolonization. Watch as al-Assad is assassinated when he does not follow the script. There is nothing civil except the ‘civicide,’ as you aptly note, of this war. Here, we have an article that calls al-Assad as he is – ” a politician with a psychopathic killer’s instincts,” “a killer ape wielding a deadly club,” ” gangling, ungainly birdlike but “unfeathered two-legged thing.” Even these characterizations are generous, but if this can be said about him, what does that make the US? A year on, al-Assad still walks in the footprints of Libya’s Gaddafi, Egypt’s Murabak, and Tunisia’s Ben Ali – a pawn only overthrown in the interests of the Pentagon. How can al-Assad pull back if the US is arming the rebels to fuel the civil war…?
What a piece!
Incredible mix of intellectualism, politics and poetry, culminating in what most would describe as “art imitating life”.
Brilliant as always, Ama.
Like Syria like Bahrain and other politically ba(h)rren nations. Th UN in its ‘siddon look’ approach is like the League of Nations on its way out of the world system.
A well crafted analogy of the fate of the Syrians in the hands of one of their own.Of particular interest is the use of Henry Reed’s poem to simplify the complexities of the human emotions involved and the author’s unsparing rod of reason that pricks the consciences of those that have been abstaining from taking proper actions to remedy the situation.
Correct analysis. Al Assad murders people while he smiles. He reminds me of Stalin, who smiles as he puts a flame under the nails of Russians. Al Assad smiles while putting a knife against the throat of hapless Syrians.
Very interesting!!
Interesting analogy.I like the inferred meanings you pointed out, especially as they relate to the uprisings in the Middle east. I especially like the Irony of Spring being a season that connotes beauty, calm and freshness, while the Arab Springs are a sure testimony of pain and loss, albeit in the struggle for a rebirth out of a chaotic situation.Very incisive !
Unfortunately, the UN cannot do a lot for these troubled countries if they’re not ready for a change. Peace begins with the self.
Syria is a sad but not surprising story unfolding.The Houla massacre
occurs while the UN observes a cease fire that only seems to exist in the UN and Annan’s mind,yet the ‘spring’ of guns (opposition’s or Al Qaeda group’s?) keep easing somehow. Of course the UN has to make politically correct statements now that the deaths involve women and children, the untouchables of war. The question that is quickly asked is: will the UN fold its arms like it did in Rwanda, Serbia, or will it swing the NATO forces into action, to oust Assad like it did Gaddafi? only time can tell. As for the Syrians perhaps poetry can ease their spring:
that they must fight
in the hope of winning keeping
Something alive: so that when
they
meet their end,
It may be said that they tackled
wherever they could,
That battle-fit they lived, and
though defeated(for now),
Not without glory fought (rephrase mine)
Beautiful and provoking piece Ama, as always.
As the poem connotes in the latter parts, the world watches as the killer fucks with the children of Syria. Very sad.
When the peacekeepers are not themselves at peace who will keep the peace? You can’t but love Irony, it always finds a way to draw the lines betwixt and between. More importantly it shows unmistakably; like the soldier, like the people of Libya and like the UN, The power for positive change lies in the hands of those who refuse to conform to the boxes they’ve been enslaved in no matter what.
In the final analysis, very Ede; always working on irony’s tight rope, and in this instance, as with Syria as with our referenced persona.
Dear Ama.
The weaving of politics with poetry makes a delectable read for the discerned.
The law of matter states that ‘matters tend to move towards maximum ‘entropy’ which means maximum disorderliness’ . Hence I totally concur with Lola Fani-Kayode. It will get worse before retrieval if only that word exists in this scenario. However, as for Assad, he has taken a political boat to journey that will ultimately take him to the mythical ‘triangle that leads to nowhere’. That place will be called ‘ political Bermuda triangle’ He is like one of those hunters in the book of D.O.Fagunwa who went to see Baba Onirugbon Yeuke” in Yoruba mythology. He is not coming back for sure.
As for Nigeria, I reserve my comment. Nice one Ama
Hey, Ama this is really great. Your use of poetry complements your political narrative beautifully. I really enjoyed it:)