Arif Alwan

Life at a glance:
Born : Omara/Iraq July 1941.
Education: 1959 National Baccalaureate, Albataween High School, Baghdad. 1996 C&G of DiskTop Publishing, London-UK. 2000 C&G of Upgrading and Maintaining Computers, Leeds.
Employment: 1967-1969 Political Commentator, Althawra daily newspaper, Baghdad. 1968-1969 Editor, Alnasser weekly newspaper, Baghdad. 1969-1972 Writer and Artistic Supervisor, Almasrah theatre and cinema magazine, Iraq. 1972-1974 Writer, Alulom Magazine, Lebanon. 1975-1978 Correspondent, Alalam newspaper, Morocco. 1978-1980 Political Commentator, Almithaq Newspaper, Morocco. 1982-1990 Information Supervisor, Eritrian Information Office, Rome-Italy.
Novels: 1999 Orange Room. 1997 Terminus. 1992 Basha of Baghdad. The Lights, 2006.
plays: 1975 Babylon Destruction. 1977 The Game of Deluded. 1986 The Tartars are Coming. 1988 The Prophet (collection of Plays). 1990 Lake of Canga (collection of plays). 1996 Tartuff. 1998 The Crack 2000 Dear London. 2002 Noah's Arch.
Others: 1998 Texts (collection of essays). Forthcoming, Princess of The White Lily and Oysters (collection of short stories).
His essays and shortstories appear frequently in Arabic papers such as; Alhayat daily newspaper, London. Asharq Alawsat Daily Newspaper, London. Nizwa Quarterly magazine, Oman, and others.

Arif Alwan's Testament

To be free is to stand at a distance of events the better to contemplate them. Conscience is a good motor for discipline by which one’s conduct is measured, credits and debits added and subtracted, as in an instrument wherein the delicate level goes up and down then settles to mark the result.
During the difficult years in which Iraq went through(were there ever any others which were not difficult?) I avoided close allegiances while others were immersed in them to the point of madness. Since 1958 I have witnessed a surfeit of violence that has not ensnared me; nor do I hope yet to evade it by adhering to its opposite. Thus I keep to the margins, contemplating with neutral eyes the privileges that come and go, stubborn patience my only ward.
I rise at four in the morning, I make the coffee and after two or three sips I light a cigarette. The world news will then pass in my head as a long reel of events, each drawing one to the circle of light by which one seeks to review them: Wars, tensions, antagonisms, ambitions, repressions, violations, denial of rights, deceptions, lies, famine and homelessness. Whichever way one turns one will find a subject to address in an economy of words that bear deep meanings bringing one to the position that one wants to articulate.
When I turn to literature I am then in the best state, depicting my characters and contriving diagrammatic endings that draw out the conflict to its climax in the manner of the Athenian Cassandras.
The twentieth century witnessed the downfall of fascism, Nazism, Bolshevism, the Khmer Rouge, then the Ba'ath Party at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Each of these was based on the reverence of an ideology and the idolisation of the ruler. Yet another is the Ba’ath Party in Syria which will also come to an end because it puts the interest of one family and its wealth above everyone, so it is beset by grudges that will suffocate it. As for religion, it will be in conflict over the course of the century. The churches and the minarets will remain finally as a testament to a dark period illumined by the oil of mindlessness.
I repudiated the traditions of my family, then rebelled against them and began to live alone from an early age. After a long period a young man said, “I wish to live like you, in solitude." I replied that solitude is intolerable, that it is difficult for a human being to desire it for its own sake and to bear its severity. It is a means of plunging into the battle of the conscience! The young man desisted. He was married, had two children and felt that solitude was a type of masochism.
It is said tat true faith can only be that which is based on reason. Thus, convictions are beset by doubt and shaken to dissolution with the change of circumstances. Time can be counted on to turn to dust that which was the most firmly held. The years are the bacteria that crunch, erode and bring down the most lofty of edifices with their false influences.
Ideology hates freedom. Partisan and religious ideologies hate everything that relates to freedom. Instead they purloin and claim ownership of such of its true attributes as democracy, free speech and the right to life, which they then use as their nomenclature. Yet whenever a criticism is raised against it by one of its own it betrays him, casts him out and wipes him out of existence while alleging that he had overstepped the permitted limit, permitted limit not extending beyond the very iron mantle that shields its beliefs from criticism. For in criticism is the beginning of disintegration.
In life there is no true gain and loss. We struggle and we drink and we eat and we starve, then the brief flicker of light on which we first opened our eyes is extinguished leaving not a trace nor a false hope. Would that those to come after us be thankful of the great opportunity to be granted them, the same as that from which we failed to take full advantage.

1982-Rome
Rome - 1982
كاميرا الصديق الفنان بسام الفرج

1992-London
London - 1992
كاميرا الصديقة صباح الخراط زوين

2004- Leeds
Leeds - 2004
تصوير باسم موسى (5 سنوات)
"لا يعرف الأطفال كم يهزءون بنا حين يصوروننا بكاميراتهم الصغيرة الحديثة!"

2015- Holland
تصوير
كاميرامان هولندي

��

- �� ١٩٤١ �� ޡ �� (��) �� (��).
�� ϡ �� . �� (��) �� ١٩٧١ �� (��) �� ١٩٧٨ �� (��) �� ١٩٨٠ �� (��) �� ١٩٩٠ �� . �� .
�� .
�� 
�� 1975
�� 1977
�� 1986
�� 1988
�� 1990
�� ١٩٩٢
�� ١٩٩٦
�� ١٩٩٩
�� ٢٠٠٠

�� 
�� 1997
�� (�� / ��) 1992
�� 1999
�� 2005� ��
�� (�� ) 2012
�� (�� ) 2015
�� "�� - ��" �� (��) �� 1998

- �� . �� . �� (�� )� �� :
�� . �� ޡ �� ߡ �� ѡ �� .
�� (�� ɿ) �� ʡ �� . �� 1958 �� ݡ �� ԡ �� ͡ �� .
�� ʡ �� : ��ȡ ��ʡ ��ʡ ��ڡ ��ڡ ��ʡ �� ޡ �� ȡ ��ڡ ��ϡ �� ɡ �� ɡ �� . �� ȡ �� ʡ �� ޡ �� ڡ �� . �� ɡ ��ɡ ��ɡ �� ѡ �� . �� ڡ �� . �� ! �� ɡ �� ߡ �� ɡ �� ޡ �� ǡ �� ! �� ȡ �� . �� . �� !
�� ɡ �� ɡ �� ɡ �� ɡ �� ɡ �� ѡ �� ɡ �� ǡ �� ǡ �� ǡ �� ϡ �� ϡ �� !
�� ǡ �� ѡ �� ڡ �� !

�� �������

��