Art often reflects the changes that take place within a society and, among contemporary art forms, video clips are among the most widespread. Recently, the Arab Foundation for Freedom and Equality (AFE) sponsored the production of the video Kol Al Alwan (All colours), a song written by Anthony (from the pop-rock group Adonis) and sung by Manel Mallat.
The video and the song are a joyful invitation to the inclusiveness of every type of minority, including LGBTQIA people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual) or, to use an expression dear to Arabophone activism, مجتمع الميم (mojtama3 el-mim, the society of M). M is the first letter of the word مثلي / مثليه (mithly / mithlya) which indicates LGBTQIA people in standard Arabic *, the language in which the text of the song is written to allow its diffusion even outside the Middle Eastern context. In addition to the singer and extras, activists from all over the Arab world appear in the video.
It was a pleasant surprise to discover this video, especially thinking about how the same theme was treated just ten years ago, for example in Nicole Saba’s video Ana Tabee Keda (This is my character), where queer director Yehya Saade (1975- 2010) also imagines a joyful meeting of very different individuals with a decidedly less positive conclusion. The importance of this video lies above all in Yehya Saade’s ability as director and screenwriter: he has always managed to get very important social messages through the meshes of censors in his country and the neighbouring ones. I wonder if Yehya would ever come out in today society … but we’ll never know.
Bou Kerch
©2019 Il Grande Colibrì
picture: elaboration from Max Pixel (CC0)
* Standard Arabic is the mostly written language used in all countries that declare it as their official language and used in both civil and religious contexts. In informal situations, we used regional varieties which have standard Arabic as a matrix.
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Here’s Why in Lebanon Homosexual Sex is No Longer a Crime
