The author of the infamous and incendiary song "Boulicia Kleb" (Cops Are Dogs) has turned himself in (December 5) to Tunisian authorities, and will serve a 4 month prison sentence, after his 21 month sentence for "insulting the authorities" was reduced. (As reported by Informed Comment.)
I've posted previously about Tunisian rappers (including Weld El 15) and their struggles with the authorities, post-revolution, here and here.
And, as noted previously, Pussy Riot continue to receive lots of publicity and support in the West. Tunisian rappers: almost none.
Last August I posted a complaint about the vast discrepancy in Western media coverage and popular and celebrity solidarity between the case of Pussy Riot and that of Al Haqed. I've been ranting about the cases below on Facebook. A friend said I should consider asking the legions of Pussy Riot supporters and admirers to pay attention to these cases rather than mocking them for not doing so. So that's what I'm doing: Please, lovers of Pussy Riot (and I include myself in that camp), note these cases and publicize them, if you love music and the freedom of expression.
1. The Moroccan rapper Al Haqed (Mouad Belghouat) was released from prison on March 29, after serving a year's sentence for insulting a public official in his video, "Dogs of the State."
Predictably, not much publicity in the Western media. At least this from Huffington Post.
2. Sandy Tolan has been blogging about the 22 year-old Palestinian singer Oday Khatib, who has been arrested and charged with throwing stones, which could send him to prison for up to 10 years. According to Tolan the evidence is ambiguous. Read about the case here. (The trial keeps getting postponed: the scheduled date is now April 17.) Nicola Perugini also reported on Oday for the LRB Blog.
Check out Oday's singing, backed by Ramzi Aburedwan.
3. Amira Masrour reported on tunisia live that Tunisian actress Sabrine Klibi and cameraman Mohamed Hedi Belgueyed were sentenced on March 21 to six months in prison for defaming police officers and contributing to civil disobedience, through their role in the video "Cops Are Dogs" (Boulicia Kleb) by rapper Weld El 15 (Ala Yaakoubi). Weld El 15, who is on the run, was sentenced to two years in absentia. HipHopDX reports that Tunisian rapper Emino, who was thanked in the credits section at the end of the music video, also received a two year sentence. He's on the run too.
According to, Weld El 15, Masrour reports, the song was inspired by his prison experiences after the 2011 revolution and the treatment he received at the hands of the police. “‘Cops are Dogs’ is a song based on metaphors with which I wanted to
send a message to policemen,” Yaakoubi said. “I wanted them to respect
people so that people respect them.”
How about some solidarity from Ice Cube, a member of NWA? NWA's classic song "Fuck the Police" was massively condemned,
and even prompted a letter of complaint to NWA's label, Priority, from the FBI director of public affairs. Cops throughout the country refused to provide
security at many of NWA's concerts.
Or from Ice-T, whose group Body Count released the song "Cop Killer" in 1992. The song inspired so much outrage, ranging from President George Bush the First to various law enforcement agencies, that Ice-T felt compelled to recall the Body Count album and re-release it without "Cop Killer."
Both the Ice-T and the NWA cop songs are way, way more incendiary than Weld El 15's.
Professor of Anthropology, University of Arkansas. Author of Memories of Revolt: The 1936-39 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. Co-editor of Palestine, Israel and the Politics of Popular Culture and of Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity.
