Booksellers All But Gone from Baghdad

This is what the street of the booksellers in Baghdad
would have looked like on a Friday before the war.
This is a picture from that street on a recent Friday.
Read the full article titled "Violence Changes Fortunes Of Storied Baghdad Street" by Sudarsan Raghavan in The Washington Post of September 18, 2006.

Mutanabi Street, named after a 10th-century poet, was famous for its booksellers, and for the throngs of people who shopped there on Fridays in the past (Friday being the only day off of the week). This is a story of loss.

There is a saying known throughout the Arab world:

Cairo writes. Beirut publishes. And Baghdad reads.

Perhaps it will be changed to:

Cairo writes. Beirut publishes. And Baghdad used to read.

Baghdad's booksellers were the guardians of a literary tradition that stretched back centuries if not millennia, a tradition that "survived empire and colonialism, monarchy and dictatorship."

According to WP:

Under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Mutanabi Street was the nexus for resistance and freewheeling debates, where underground writers published illegal books that denounced Hussein.

"I wish you could see how it used to be on Fridays," Shatri spoke before he broke down in tears. "You could not even walk. The whole street was filled with books and people. Mutanabi Street is a part of how great Baghdad is."

In the heady days after the U.S.-led invasion, Mutanabi Street pulsed with the promise of freedom.......After the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, once-banned Western magazines were displayed openly. Religious books, especially those catering to Iraq's long-oppressed Shiite Muslims, flourished.......

Now, in the fourth year of war, it is a shadow of its revered past. Many of the original booksellers have been forced to shut down. Others have been arrested, kidnapped or killed, or have fled Iraq. "We are walking with our coffins in our hands," said Mohammad al-Hayawi, the owner of the Renaissance book store, one of the street's oldest shops.......

Three months ago, the government imposed the midday curfew on Islam's holiest day to stop attacks on mosques. That was a major setback for Mutanabi Street, named after a 10th-century poet. Now, the street is still a hive of activity on every other day. But poor security has altered its character, said many of its old booksellers. Before the invasion, they used to stay open till evening. No longer. "By 2 p.m., we close our shops and run away fast."

A bookseller which imported 1000 boxes of books even a year ago, imported 20 boxes last month. Abdullah Gumar al-Ogaeli, 85, who opened a stationery shop in 1947, said

he knew about 200 merchants in the months after the invasion. Now, he knows three. Some died of natural causes, others lost their lives to the violence. Several booksellers, he said, were kidnapped by gunmen, but were later released. In Baghdad, the elite and the educated are often targets of criminals, who seek ransom, and of extremists, who seek to shred the city's cultural and intellectual fabric. "Many of our merchants have left Iraq and opened shops in Egypt, Syria and Jordan," said Ogaeli.......

(G)unmen a few months ago killed two professors after they left the cafe, Khakshali said. And before men entered the nearby Al-Sadim bookshop last August. As they exited, they left a suitcase by the door. It exploded, killing the owner's son.....

"All the educated people have left," said Shatri, as he reached into his pocket to pull out a neatly folded, gray handkerchief......

Today, a new generation of merchants sells paper and other supplies. Several original booksellers said the newcomers were looters who thrived during the chaos of the invasion.

Mohammad al-Hayawi

has always resented the U.S. occupation. But now he outright blames the Americans for the violence that is tearing apart their lives. "The Americans are the reasons for it. This is the truth. You must hear it. Sectarian strife is like a fire. When the fire starts, it eats everything."