Following the July 7, 2007 release of the results of a global poll to select the new "Seven Wonders of the World," three satirical articles with alternative lists of seven wonders were published in the Arab press.
Each of the articles approached its subject from a different angle. Syrian columnist As'ad Aboud presented the "Wonders of the World of International Politics," with winners U.S. President George W. Bush; former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair; U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon; U.N. foreign policy chief Javier Solana; and former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.
In contrast, two liberal columnists, Mashari Al-Dhaidi and 'Issam Sahmarani, marked the unveiling of the new list by protesting against the situation in the Arab and Islamic world. Their lists included sites such as Dhahiya in Beirut and the Hamas emirate in Gaza.
The following are excerpts from the three articles:
Syrian Columnist: George Bush Surpasses All the Wonders of the World
As'ad Aboud, columnist for the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, wrote: "...Those surrounding the American president, and those who work with him, themselves constitute more than seven wonders [of the world], whose wondrousness is notorious from one end of the earth to the other.
"The American president, of course, surpasses all the wonders of the world, and all the strangeness of place and time. For six and a half years... this man has been presenting to the world what [even] a magician, a cynic, or a pessimist would not have expected of him. The wonders [he has wrought] in Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon are more impressive and amazing than the pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Petra, Tadmor, or even the Great Wall of China. Also, those who float [in the world of imagination] never imagined in their [wildest] visions that this man would leave in the world such a mark of death, destruction, murder, and conflagration. He calls – and no one believes him – for democracy?! Is there anything more wondrous on earth than his democracy?!
"Tony Blair is [also] among the wonders [of the world]. This man, who has never concealed his animosity towards the Orient, the Arabs, and Palestine, is to be a peace emissary [mediating] between them and Israel. This is a true wonder.
"[The wonder of Blair] is no less than the wonder of [U.N. Secretary-General] Ban Ki-Moon. This man has set a record with his silence and with his repetition of the words of others, as if he has no opinion [of his own] – to the point where there is a sense that the U.N. in the American era has no secretary-general.
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"[Another] of the wonders of the world is Javier Solana, a fighting Spanish socialist who succeeded in going over to the other side [and serving there as] a fighting leader for NATO. It is notable that he is spending his life in sudden leaps from one side to the other.
"[Yet another] wonder of the world is the global concern for discovering who killed [former Lebanese prime minister] Rafiq Al-Hariri...
"I will conclude with the wonder of Ariel Sharon. He is the one rotting, hanging between life and death for months and years on end – while the Angel of Death refuses to take his filthy soul."[1]
Saudi Liberal: The Entire Arab and Muslim World Could Become One of the Wonders of the World
Saudi liberal Mashari Al-Dhaidi warned in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the entire Arab and Islamic world could become one of the wonders of the world. The following are some of his suggestions:
"...The Red Mosque in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan: This site originally served as a great mosque and a center of religious education... Then it got out of control, and became a refuge for those fleeing the government, some of whom were involved in an assassination attempt against [Pakistan president Pervez] Musharraf, such as Maulana Masoud Azhar, leader of the Army of Muhammad... The mosque's imam, Maulana Abd Al-Aziz, has openly declared his demand to implement shari'a according to the Taliban model, beginning with the area [near] the mosque, and his best learned disciples, both male and female, conducted raids in the neighboring [areas] and returned with booty...
"The tribal region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, or what is known as Waziristan: According to the widespread explanation, it is there that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri are hiding, together with the other Al-Qaeda leaders... This region is both Pakistani and not Pakistani, Afghan and not Afghan, tribal and not tribal, and fundamentalist and not fundamentalist. This is a wondrous piece of land, that exists outside [the laws of] time and place.
"Dhahiya in Beirut: This region is completely subject to the security, military, economic, and social control of the fundamentalist Shi'ite party Hizbullah – that is, it is a Hizbullah state...
"The Hamas emirate in Gaza: This is a wonder of wonders. The whole situation in Palestine is strange and wonderful... Hamas, which has well-known slogans such as '[Palestine] from the sea to the river' and 'Palestine the Islamic waqf' has taken control of a regime that basically stems from the Oslo accords that it rejected. It wants to stick to their original slogans, and at the same time maintain a regime that derives from the agreement that is against these slogans!...
"The Iraqi Kurdistan region: This may be the loveliest of the wonders. This is the only region in Iraq that retains some of the characteristics of a state, and has not become a daily arena of explosions, murder, and destruction – though it is harmed by the fragments of this black rain. [The Kurdistan region] is part of Iraq and not part of it, within Iraq and not within it... "[2]
Lebanese Liberal: Arab Wonders That Can't Even Be Dreamed Of
Lebanese columnist 'Issam Sahmarani, on the reformist website www.elaph.com presented a list of Arab world wonders that cannot even be dreamed of, including the following:
"...the wonder of [Arab] unity; the wonder of eliminating Israel; the wonder of repelling colonialism; the wonder of control over our agricultural and petroleum resources, and our energy sources; ...the wonder of the public freedoms that we enjoy; the wonder of the equality between men and women [that exists in our society]; the wonder of upholding the rights of the disabled; the wonder of upholding the rights of children; the wonder of eliminating ignorance; the wonder of our prisons that are empty of journalist and oppositionist detainees charged with expressing their views; the wonder of open borders between our countries; the wonder of our common currency; the wonder of our dedication to science; the wonder of our self-sufficiency in all areas; ...the wonder of renunciation of hereditary [power] and the endless perpetuation of presidential [dynasties] that would rule the Arab [world] for ever..."[3]
[1] Al-Thawra (Syria), July 9, 2007
[2] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), July 10, 2007.
[3] http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/AsdaElaph/2007/7/246590.htm
