Arab Army
In the old city of Amman, tucked away in a small alleyway, there is a workshop where the symbol of the Arab Army* is sown onto uniforms by semi-mechanical machines.
The place itself and the way of production evoke nostalgia for Pan-Arab ideas, which were established during the movement for independence of the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of last century.
Arab Army, video still
The great Arab revolution led by Sherif Hussein bin Ali ended with the British Mandate and Sike Spiko. Greater Syria was split into Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. Great Britain declared Mandate of Palestine and under the patronage of the Balfour declaration allowed tens of thousands of Jew to migrate to Palestine.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sadam Hussein and others invested in the idea of Palestine and inspired the Palestinians in one way or the other to continue to carry the flag of Pan Arabism.
Arab Army, video still
Today, not least because of economic instability and progressive Pan-Islamism the overwhelming idea of an Arab Nation is nothing more than a token used and employed according to agendas. The embroidered symbol of the Arab Army is carried away in dreamlike spheres, where heroic action stands for wishful attitude.
Arab Army, video still
*The Jordanian Armed Forces is also referred as “Arab Army”
video stills and video by Fawzy Emrany, Amman, Jordan 2007
text by Rayelle Niemann, 2008
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