Amro Hamzawi
After The War
This collection of photographs is comprised of images from two series, ‘Bint Jbeil, Martyr Town’, taken in Southern Lebanon following the war of summer 2006, and ‘Iraqis Today’, a collection of portraits of Iraqi refugees taken in 2008.
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While the two series are not directly related to one another, they both inform us of the West’s double standards when it comes to the Arab world. For decades now, there has been a tendency in Western media to justify colonization and occupation by dehumanizing Arabs and Muslims. This tendency reached its paroxysm under the leaderships of George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Bint Jbeil, Martyr Town:
‘Located only 3km away from the Israeli border, the town of Bint Jbeil was severely hit during the war of summer 2006. Unable to occupy it due to the fierce resistance opposed by Hezbollah's fighters, the Israeli army pulled out and shelled it almost entirely to the ground. To this day, its inhabitants feel that prime minister Olmert carried out a war of collective punishment against innocent civilians, not against Hezbollah.’
Iraqis Today:
‘Ordinary Iraqis are the first victims of the Iraq war, yet there is barely mention in the media today of the cruel toll the conflict has taken on them. It is difficult to give a precise estimate of the number of civilians who perished or were injured as a result of the invasion, but by all accounts the conditions on the ground are a humanitarian disaster with the civilians caught in the line of fire between the occupation forces, the militias that have taken over the country and the various insurgent groups wreaking havoc. With its infrastructure destroyed and its resources pillaged, Iraq has become a shadow of itself.’
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