What Exactly Does a Journalist Throwing a Shoe at Bush Mean?
Media organizations are trying to make sense of the shoe-hurling incident
Is the so-called shoe insult an Arab custom, a Muslim one, neither, or both?
The question has surfaced as news organizations struggle to make sense of the shoe-hurling Iraqi journalist whom President Bush encountered at a Baghdad press conference over the weekend.
Many of the media's explanations have saddled the episode with cultural and religious meaning, noting that Muslims consider shoes to be ritually unclean and remove them before entering mosques. But Middle East scholars say shoe abuse appears to lack distinctly Muslim or Arabic origins and that some widely disseminated interpretations of the weekend run-in probably go too far.
"It's one of those cases where we're trying to make it a lot more alien and bizarre than it actually is," says Jamal Elias, a University of Pennsylvania religious studies professor who specializes in Islam. "The journalist was disgusted with something Bush was saying, and he acted out. I can't imagine if you go to a press conference with George W. Bush they let you carry too much with you, so he took off the one thing he could hurl—his shoe."
Elias notes that the shoe insult appears in Islamic literature as early as the 12th century. A hagiography of a Sufi saint published around 1600 claimed that the saint showed his spiritual superiority to a levitating person by making his own shoes levitate even higher and whacking the levitator's head with them.
Most Middle Eastern Muslims remove their shoes before entering a house, not just a mosque, suggesting the custom is more practical than religious. "Taking off shoes when entering a mosque or home is not a religious rule," says Jonathan Brown, assistant professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Washington. "It's just the etiquette that's developed around cleanliness, etc. In fact, Muslims can actually pray with their shoes on. But you can imagine what that would do to the carpet of a major mosque."
Shoe insults aren't limited to the Arabic or Muslim worlds. In South Asian countries like India, Hindus—as well as Muslims—have a custom of humiliating people by parading them in public wearing a garland of shoes.
Even more basic shoe etiquette varies throughout the Muslim, Arabic, and Asian worlds. For instance, it's considered rude in Arabian Gulf nations to sit with a leg lifted or folded over one knee, lest one expose others to the soles of his or her shoes. But that custom is much less widely practiced in other nations in the region, like Egypt.
Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North Carolina, says that the meaning of the recent shoe incident is probably more universal than has been acknowledged. "We saw on CNN and BBC a ton of articles offering instant 'anthropological insights' on how the shoe touches the earth, and is the lowest part of the body," he wrote in an E-mail message. "What if in an American context someone had thrown a shoe at Bush? Would we see that as a sign of great love for the President?"
- Read more on the Iraqi journalist who threw a shoe at President Bush.
- Read more by Dan Gilgoff.
Reader Comments
Shoe Off Uncle Sam!!!
The shoe-incident that took place on December 14,2008 has sent the message loud and clear to Bush: that he's loathed for his wrongdoing, for killing Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
George W.Bush, during an unannounced secret farewell trip to Iraq, a place that defines his presidency for better or worse, just 37 days before he hands the war off to a successor who has pledged to end it, was welcomed with a formal arrival ceremony - a flourish that was not part of his previous three trips to Iraq. Bush had planned a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to mark the recent US-Iraq security agreement, which sets a deadline of December 31, 2011, for the withdrawal of all American troops.
The instantly mythic moment took place Sunday night at a news conference by President Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in Baghdad's Green Zone, a session meant partly to trumpet recent security gains in Iraq. As Bush was speaking, an Iraqi scribe Muntazar AlZaidi rose abruptly from about 12 feet away, reared his right arm and fired a shoe at the president's head while shouting in Arabic: "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" Bush deftly ducked and the shoe narrowly missed him. A few seconds later, the journalist tossed his other shoe, again with great force, this time shouting, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" Again, the shoe sailed over the president's head.
The whole of the Muslim world erupted in glee at the shoe attack on George W. Bush. Far from a joke, many in the Middle east saw the act by an Iraqi journalist as heroic, expressing the deep, personal contempt many feel for the American leader, they blame for years of bloodshed, chaos and the suffering of civilians. The sight of an average Arab standing up and making a public show of resentment was stunning. The pride, joy and bitterness it uncorked showed how, many Arabs place their anger on Bush personally for what they see as a litany of crimes - chief among them the turmoil in Iraq and tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
"Arabs were just glowing with pride over the farewell to Bush by the heroic effort of AlZaidi," By willingly risking prison and death just to throw those shoes, he reminded the powerful and powerless alike that a single symbolic gesture can be more effective than a thousand grenades.
The Iraq war is the most prominent cause of Arab resentment of Bush. Even many who were outraged at Shiite and Sunni militant groups for the killings of civilians and sectarian strife that tore the country apart ultimately blamed Bush for unleashing the chaos. Some accuse his administration of fueling Shiite-Sunni tensions across the region. But more broadly, nearly every U.S. policy in the region became seen as part of a campaign to divide or subjugate Muslim nations, from Iran and Syria to Sudan and Somalia. His administration's war on terror was seen as a war on Muslims and Arabs in general, an image fueled by civilian deaths in Afghanistan and, in particular, the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo bay. Bush was seen as heavily favoring Israel over the Palestinians. His administration's campaign to isolate the Palestinian militant group Hamas translated to the Arab public as an attempt to starve Palestinians in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Shoes hold a special place in the Arab lexicon of insults as a show of contempt — effectively saying, you're lower than the dirt on my shoes. Even sitting with the sole of a shoe pointed at another person is seen as disrespectful. Iraqis had bashed the statue of Saddam with their shoes after US marines toppled it to the ground following the 2003 invasion of their country.
AlZaidi attained instant hero status around the Arab world. People from around the world have rejoiced in the glory of a frogmarched Iraqi reporter and vowed to make him rich and eternally famous. What made al-Zaidi's defiance particularly resonant for many was their anger at autocratic Arab leaders whom they have considered slavish followers of Bush's policies in the Middle East.
Zaidi, who has not been formally charged, faces up to seven years in prison for committing an act of aggression against a visiting head of state.
A statement from the Maliki's government described the shoe-throwing as a "shameful, savage act that is not related to journalism in any way."
Some deplored Zaidi's act as a breach of respect or of traditional Arab hospitality toward guests, even if they shared the sentiment.
"Although that action was not expressed in a civilized manner, it showed the Iraqi feelings, which is to object to the American occupation," said Qutaiba Rajaa, a 58-year-old physician in Samarra, a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad.
Zaidi, who remains in custody, provided a rare moment of unity in a region often at odds with itself.
The al-Baghdadia television network, which employs Zaidi, Arab satellite TV channels and Web sites repeatedly played the scene of Bush ducking as the shoes flew past. Saif al-Deen al-Kaisi, an editor at al-Baghdadia, recalled a conversation a year and half ago in which Zaidi said, "I hope to meet Bush and hit him with my shoes." Zaidi opposed a recently signed U.S.-Iraq security agreement that will extend the presence of U.S. troops for at least three years. "Any honest Iraqi patriot will reject the agreement," Muntazar has not joined any party or movement and Nobody paid him to do this. His love for Iraq made him do this, he added.
According to the New York Times, in Sadr City, people calling for an immediate American withdrawal, removed their footwear and placed the shoes and sandals at the end of long poles, waving them high in the air. And in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, people threw their shoes at a passing American convoy.
In street-corner conversations, on television and in Internet chat rooms, the subject of shoes was inescapable throughout much of the Middle East on Monday, as was the defiant act that inspired the interest: a huge and spontaneous eruption of anger at President Bush on Sunday in his final visit here.
In Syria, Zaidi's picture was shown all day on state television, with Syrians calling in to share their admiration for his gesture and his bravery.
In central Damascus, a huge banner hung over a street, reading, "Oh, heroic journalist, thank you so much for what you have done."
In Lebanon, reactions varied by political affiliation, but curiosity about the episode was universal. An American visitor to a school in Beirut's southern suburb, where the Shiite militant group Hezbollah is popular, was besieged with questions from teachers and students alike, who wanted to know what Americans thought about the insult.
In Libya, a charity led by Moammar Gaddafi's daughter Aisha announced it would give Zaidi an award for bravery and urged the Iraqi government to free him."What he did represents a victory for human rights across the world," said the organization, Wa Attassimou.
"The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets that Bush meets with during his travels in the Middle East," Asad Abu Khalil, a Lebanese American college professor, wrote in his blog, the Angry Arab News Service (http://angryarab.blogspot.com).
A Saudi businessman offered to buy either of the shoes thrown at Bush for $10 million, Saudi television reported.
In the southern city of Najaf, several hundred followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets Monday, describing Zaidi as a religious warrior. They threw shoes at U.S. military Humvees but the Americans did not respond, witnesses said.
In Sadr's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, protesters burned American flags and chanted, "Bush, Bush listen well: We pushed you out with two shoes."
Zaidi's brothers said they had received scores of offers from lawyers to represent him. Iraqi politicians have also expressed their support, but Durgham said he was worried about his brother. "If in front of TV cameras, they are beating him, can you imagine what they are doing to him behind the cameras?"
At one Baghdad elementary school, a geography teacher asked her students if they had seen the footage of the shoe-throwing, then told them, "All Iraqis should be proud of this Iraqi brave man, Muntazar. History will remember him forever."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hailed the Iraqi reporter as a role model for courageousness. "It's a good thing it didn't hit him. I'm not encouraging throwing shoes at anybody, but really, what a courage," he said.
Malaysia's foreign minister has praised the Iraqi journalist, saying it was the "best show of retaliation" for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Rais Yatim praised "the shoe-throwing act by that remarkable reporter who gave President Bush his final farewell last week."
"That shoe-throwing episode, in my view, is truly the best weapon of mass destruction to the leader who coined the phrase 'axis of evil' to denote Iran, Iraq and North Korea," he said in a speech late Friday at a dinner to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the United Nations
"I am not surprised. Whole word hates him." said the CPM general secretary Prakash Karat. Himself an ardent Bush baiter, Mr Karat was unfazed and felt that Bush deserved that. "I am not for once surprised. What he had done is well known and hence the entire world hates him" he added.
Kolkata students staged a demonstration demanding immediate release of Muntazar alZaidi. The long march, organised by the All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO), ended in front of the US Consulate. Carrying banners and placards, the demonstrators raised slogans against the US President and called for an immediate release of reporter Zaidi.
Abdel-Sattar Qassem, a Palestinian political science professor at the West Bank's An Najah University, wrote in an online commentary that "Bush wanted to end his bloody term hearing compliments and welcoming words from his collaborators in the Arab and Islamic world. But a shoe from a real Arab man summed up Bush's black history and told the entire world that the Arabs hold their head high."
Players can now hurl their shoes in a video game designed to bring back memories of the Iraqi farewell to Bush. Internet surfers got a kick out of making Flash-based games. In one of the games, players assume the role of Bush to earn points by dodging the shoes flying toward him. Another game scores player on how many shoes hit the animated Bush.
The intense personal resentment of Bush may give Obama an automatic advantage in his attempts to repair the U.S. image. Obama's race and his family ties to Islam have raised hope among some Arabs that he'll be more sympathetic to their views. Obama's aides have spoken of his delivering a major address in a Muslim capital early in his administration to set a new tone. But many in the Middle east say it will take more than symbolic gestures. The president-elect's promises to withdraw from Iraq and close Guantanamo have also raised Arab hopes. Another top demand is for a more balanced U.S. stance in the Arab-Israeli peace process.
"I've watched the video over a dozen times on You Tube and was excited every time I see him (alZaidi) standing up and calling Bush a dog". "But I felt so bitter when he missed." It was the least thing for an Iraqi to do to Bush, the tyrant criminal who is responsible for the genocide of muslims in Iraq, palestine and Afghanistan. I wish he'd got it in his empty pinhead. I feel sorry for the only person I've ever seen who had the courage to say and do what billions on this planet want to do, which is far less than that murderous little cretin Bush deserves. AlZaidi shouldn't be tortured, he should be given a medal!
president is agile
wow our outgoing commander in chief is agile! if only he was so politicaly agile! The Arabs have a very emotional "culture"
Arabs Asked to Release More Anger at Bush, This Time in Cyberspace
Arabs Asked to Release More Anger at Bush
This Time In “Cyberspace”
December 17, 2008 - Tripoli, Lebanon
NEW Web Site to Whack Bush designed to help Arabs experience what Al-Muntazar Al-Zeidi really felt by throwing the shoe at Bush.
It is professionally designed and includes Arab and English Vocal-Shouts as well. User can select the shoe of choice to whack at Bush including the appropriate-for-the-holidays Santa Clause’s Boots. The default selection is a Texan Shoe, the type of shoe Bush probably understands best, it also inflicts maximum damage.
The site is dubbed to be the Official Site to Yell at and Whack G.W.Bush with a Shoe: http://www.ShoeBushWorldwide.com
“This is not just a game” explains the site creator TEN24x.com who developed it in just 8 hours, “it is intended to help more angry Arabs release their anger at bush thru Cyberspace”. The creators attempted to create a very formal and serious set-up to the game to mimic the usual formality during a “presidential” press conference, where a “reporter” throws the shoe at the President. After being hit and bruised 3 times, on the fourth hit, Bush ducks and pulls out his white underwear as a sign of surrender.
PWEMA.com will track Participants, Whacks, Favorite Shoes and Favorite Yells. The Stats will also later display participating countries. The creators encourage Arabs and all foreign supporters to practice their Freedom of Expression by visiting the site and taking a Cyber Whack at Bush.
In a fun sequel, Ten24x intends to add new features such as Select the US Official you wish to Whack, and In case reporters are asked in the future to take off their shoes in Presidential Press Conferences, they plan to Increase the list of objects to throw at bush to include Cell Phones, Cameras, Tape Recorders, Pens, Lipstick, Wallets and just about anything else allowed by a reporter inside a Press Conference, additional multi-lingual shouts will also be supported.
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