After the Paris attacks, The newspaper El Mundo asked me to interview the singer-songwriter and poet Marwan, son of a Palestinian and a Spanish woman. He was in Mexico, he was playing that night with Jorge Drexler (Jew) and we met in a hotel in Colonia Roma. I wasn't going there to ask about his art, despite the fact that his books of poems have been on the best-seller list for months and his songs have become a reference for thousands of people, I was going to ask him about that duality of the man who was born in the Madrid neighborhood of Aluche and grew up listening to and understanding the stories of his father and that eternal struggle of the Palestinians to have a state.. Marwan is one of those few men who lives in these today, seems, two worlds so opposed in which both parties believe they are right, They believe they are victims and need to be executioners. I found him to be a nice and honest guy.. The interview that appeared in print in the newspaper, space problems, It was very short and the most critical aspects were especially left out.. Here is Marwan in full, without any cut, and his opinion on those two worlds that collide, spreading hatred and blood. VAP, which is a magazine that tries to explain the planet, today has a reflection of those two halves that are least understood.
-You who are a singer-songwriter and poet, in this world in which everyone gives their opinion and judges on social networks, Do you think there are too many or missing words today??
-There are plenty of bad words and a lack of good ones. Machado said that luxury is not saying what you think, but think what is said. I also sometimes say stupid things on social media.
-He wants to talk about his art, of your works and I come to talk to you about violence because you are the son of a Palestinian, does it bother you?
-I don't mind, I understand that people want to know the opinion of a person who knows that where his father was born, every day he lives in a state of war..
-Can you understand the Middle East conflict from your native Spain??
-No one can understand it because there are things that no one knows., there are too many interests.
-His father, Palestinian, was born in a refugee camp, in a country without a country and with a lot of poverty. What do you have about him?
-There is a lot, mainly his great compassion for the weak. I have that compassion to the cube, The weak are my weakness.
-Do you feel free or fear the prejudices of each other?
-I try to feel free although I know how Palestinian's son I can say things that all Palestinians do not like. We are at a time when we must try not to be Hooligans when defending a people or political party.
-Good and bad?
-Is that there are always nuances. I can agree with the creation of a Palestinian state and I do not agree with the Islamic policy of Hamas. That said, I am against the Israeli occupation, The reason is from the Palestinians, I want a Palestinian state but sometimes by doing certain things you lose your mind. The great misfortune of the Palestinians is to have been represented by Islamic radicalism
-Has the first victory of terror been that no one can feel safe and free to say what they think??
–The greatest victory of terror is to make people feel afraid.
-Are you afraid to talk about these topics??
-Not, I feel like nothing is going to happen to me but I know that if I criticize some things it is possible that the networks will come down on me.
-Have you suffered threats from one or another?
-Not.
-What do you think of the infamous Muhammad cartoons??
-I think that if for Islam it is something sacred, there was nothing wrong with respecting it.. Black humor must have certain limits too. That doesn't mean that I think it's an aberration to kill someone for making a cartoon.. Religion enters the realm of the emotional, If you make fun of something sacred you are attacking a person's identity..
-Are you offended by the difference in treatment in the media and public opinion between the Paris attack and any of those that occur outside the West??
-It's sad, but generally for the West the dead of the south are worth less. It's not fair. What happens is that the nearby dead touch more and we are so used to deaths in the Middle East that we have become a little immune. It's not that it doesn't hurt us, it's just that we have gotten used to it
-As the son of a Palestinian and born in Spain, Have you ever felt discriminated against here or there??
-Yes, I have suffered racism in Spain
-How?
-I had a racist teacher when I was little and they called me a Moor many times.
-Is Spain a racist country towards Muslims??
-Yes, quite. I do not identify with the Muslim, I identify with Arabic, but Spain is very racist. At least a third of the population is racist.
-After 11-M did it get worse??
-The truth is that no, or I or at least I didn't notice it.
-do you have a poem, Refugees, what question: Have you entered the eyes of a refugee?… What do the eyes of a refugee like your father say??
–The deepest sadness and abandonment. Having to leave your life behind without wanting to be expelled by the noise of the bombs brings you a tremendous feeling of misfortune and emptiness..
-He also says in that poem: And you saw this planet allowing the carnage that brought these sludge, the double standards that exist in every war… What carnage and double standards are you referring to??
-Having gone to bomb Iraq brought about the 11-M attack. If the Spanish army had not participated in a tremendously unjust war, they would not have chosen Spain to attack. I believe that this type of constant bombing that has occurred in almost all Arab countries is a disastrous policy and that it has generated a satiety and hatred among the Arabs towards the normal West like the one we would feel if the countries next door had bombed us..
-You talk about us, Do you feel more Spanish or Palestinian??
-I feel Spanish, I'm Spanish. Imagine that in Spain they bombed us, we would feel hate. There is no sympathy for the one who attacks you.
-Paris is important in your work, Why do you think Paris is suffering from this wave of violence??
-I have no idea
-In his opinion, Are European countries supportive of the Syrian conflict??
–Not.
-And the Arab countries?
– Jordan and Lebanon host many refugees from other conflicts, I think the rest are not from what I know..
-Is asking for human rights intervention in Afghanistan and not in Saudi Arabia to be economic hypocrisy?,?
-It's absolute hypocrisy but money rules. It is a lack of empathy and sensitivity. A dictatorship and we open our arms to them and with Saddam it is a dictatorship that must be bombed even if the weapons are invented. There is a double standard.
-Doesn't the relativism of equalizing everyone under the umbrella of injustice especially benefit those who are worse at this moment??
-All inaction ends up becoming complicity. Human beings are bothered by that responsibility., but we have it.
-Is the ISIS message a global threat with a higher priority to tackle than other threats??
-I do not know, I don't have that much intelligence. The priority is to educate in values and for the universal charter of human rights to govern governments..
-The most dangerous terrorism is lack of education and hunger?
-It is one of the most dangerous terrorisms. Don't believe friends abandon other people
-You have the same name as that Syrian boy who crossed the Jordan desert alone and who became an emblem. Then it turned out that this was a lie.. Who benefits from the constant lie about the Middle East conflict??
–It was a very positive lie that sparked great solidarity. The problem is the big lies that seek the submission of the people
-Is combining the Israeli occupation or the invasion of Iraq with Paris a scam or a reality to explain the problem??
–Anyone who justifies the Israeli occupation by radical Islam is a scoundrel. It is not a war for religion, It's a war over territory.. The problem for the Palestinians is that Islamic radicalism rules in Gaza, They are considered terrorists, although there are also nuances: Anyone who suffers aggression has the right to defend themselves.
-Is the topic Israeli-Palestinian conflict also an umbrella in the radical Arab world to justify everything?
–It's slab slab, A constant escalation. The real problem is that there is a submission from one people to another. I LIKE ILAN PAPPE, An Israeli intellectual, which said that Palestinian violence was justified. There is no one to whom you talk 20 times your finger in your eye and don't give a shit.
-To Paris, Madrid, London or New York have also put their finger in their eye, Does that justify that there is an aggressive response too?
-I think it is important to clarify that violence solves anything or very, Very few things. I am violently pacifist, I don't believe in wars, And I am not smart enough to answer if an attack is justified in these cases. I believe that war brings more war and I believe that we must look for ways to peace or disarmament.. Build before destroy. Maybe we should stop and see why they attacked certain places. The West has been a continuous aggressor in Arab countries. War is the last resort and for France it has been the first
-Is Arab society uncritical of Islamist extremism??
-I think they have many more problems expressing themselves than in the West because freedom is much less.. It's very difficult. The Syrian poet Adonis recently said that the problem in Arab countries is that religion is part of the Government. When religion rules you become less flexible, more dogmatic. I think he 98% of the peaceful Muslims of the world should rebel against the radicals but I don't know if they can.
-What did you think of Matisyahu's veto?? Would you play on stage with a Hebrew musician?
–I play tonight with Jorge Drexler who is Jewish. It seemed bad to me that they went after Matisyahu, although he was wrong in minimizing the Palestinian problem. You should not go for pacifist people like the case of Noa, who is a pacifist and supports peace. Energy must be spent on other boycotts.
-Again the good and the bad…
-The nuances are missing. Matisyahu said he was singing for peace. I think the boycott campaign I'm involved in 95% in favor is wrong only on that point. Boycotting Israeli products seems to me to be very positive.. If the West had the courage to place an economic blockade on Israel for violating human rights, the problem would end..
-You who have both halves of this conflict in your culture and in your genetics, What do you think is necessary to achieve peace??
–Empathy is needed, put yourself in someone else's shoes and not be dogmatic, something difficult because the West believes it is a superior civilization and the radical Islamists believe they are also right.. He doesn't see an easy solution and we are very far from that.
-Be very sincere, On Friday there was the Beirut attack and on Saturday there was the Paris attack., Did they affect you the same??
-They both made me sad, but the one in Paris impressed me more perhaps because, as I said before, we are more immune to the violence in the Middle East..
-As a poet, do you have the need to make a social complaint about your roots??
-It's not because of my roots, It is due to social sensitivity.
-Is love the same in all cultures, Do you think your mother and father understood it the same way??
-Guess not, It's obviously very different., but the truth is that they have had a harmonious relationship.
-Do you have that duality?
-I have a very western education.
-Do you want to express something with your work or is it pure inspiration?
-At first it was pure inspiration but in recent years I would love for everyone who comes across an album or book of mine to have a renewing experience., to move something and tell him something that he didn't understand. I try to talk deeply about what moves us as human beings..
-And your more social and less romantic side??
-Sometimes we see a mass of refugees and we don't know what's going on inside their heads., What are they running from?. We see some refugees, but they are a teacher, a doctor, a merchant, rich people who have had to leave everything. We think they are poor people coming for us.
-Does your work try to teach?
I try to transmit awareness.
-Is it a universal work?
-.I try it and I want it to be popular too, that anyone understands.
-Is it just as easy to understand for a Spaniard as for a Palestinian??
-If a song of mine were translated into Arabic it would be understood perfectly.
–Would you like it translated?
-Of course, to any language.
