- 11 Dec 2006 03:29
#1071456
With all this rhetoric today equating Islam with Fascism (an article in National Review Online even went so far as to blame the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem for giving Hitler the idea of killing all the world's Jews back in 1931), not too many westerners remember Omar al-Mukhtar, the Libyan Qu'ranic scholar who led the anti-Italian resistance in his homeland of Libya. The Italian conquest of Libya was brutal even before Mussolini's takeover. Back in 1911, an Italian invasion force arrived and demanded that the Ottoman Turkish authorities immediately surrender Libya to them and leave. They did so. Yet, the Italians bombarded Libya's capital Tripoli anyway. For two decades, al-Mukhtar led a guerrilla campaign against the Italians, his ultimate nemesis being Gen. Rodolfo Graziani who captured him in 1931. al-Mukhtar was hanged later that year. Because of his success against al-Mukhtar, Graziani was later chosen by Mussolini to lead the 1935 invasion of Ethiopia. After the end of WWII, Graziani was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the deaths of thousands of Libyan and Ethiopian civilians, but was released after only a few months' imprisonment.
The Syrian-born filmaker Moustapha Akkad made a film about al-Mukhtar 25 years ago, Lion of the Desert. Akkad's perhaps better known as the producer of the Halloween horror movie series. But that was just to raise cash to make movies that really mattered to him, like The Message (a film about the prophet Muhammed). Lion was'nt recieved well by western audiences. It was banned in Italy (I think it's still semi-forbidden in that country even today) and was slammed by western critics because it had been partially bankrolled by Muammar Qaddafi, who apparently pressured Akkad to include fallacious scenes defaming a prominent Libyan family who were opponents of Qaddafi. But even that little fact about this movie's financing is somewhat interesting, since Qaddafi was often accused of supporting neo-Nazi or fascist groups.
Akkad was killed back in November 2005 in Jordan by one of Zarqawi's human bombs.
Al-Mukhtar is one of Libya's greatest historical heroes. His image is one of their monetary notes and their new "fossil water" facility is named after him. In addition, he's also an example that Middle Eastern politics is bit more complicated than the way it's often portrayed by western and Israeli hawks, who constantly try to shoehorn everything into a World War II scenario with the Arabs or Muslims always being "fascists".
The Syrian-born filmaker Moustapha Akkad made a film about al-Mukhtar 25 years ago, Lion of the Desert. Akkad's perhaps better known as the producer of the Halloween horror movie series. But that was just to raise cash to make movies that really mattered to him, like The Message (a film about the prophet Muhammed). Lion was'nt recieved well by western audiences. It was banned in Italy (I think it's still semi-forbidden in that country even today) and was slammed by western critics because it had been partially bankrolled by Muammar Qaddafi, who apparently pressured Akkad to include fallacious scenes defaming a prominent Libyan family who were opponents of Qaddafi. But even that little fact about this movie's financing is somewhat interesting, since Qaddafi was often accused of supporting neo-Nazi or fascist groups.
Akkad was killed back in November 2005 in Jordan by one of Zarqawi's human bombs.
Al-Mukhtar is one of Libya's greatest historical heroes. His image is one of their monetary notes and their new "fossil water" facility is named after him. In addition, he's also an example that Middle Eastern politics is bit more complicated than the way it's often portrayed by western and Israeli hawks, who constantly try to shoehorn everything into a World War II scenario with the Arabs or Muslims always being "fascists".
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