Edward Said Mural Controversy and Debate

It’s my first semester at SFSU and during one of my classes, I was made aware about this mural controversy shaping up on campus right now. It’s a debate over Edward Said’s Mural that was approved to be painted on the Cesar Chavez Student Center building with other Murals but was halted, without any specific (vague) reason at first and then the Art committee was asked to revise it’s mural approval process. This helped start a petition drive which is currently under way.

[X]Press at SFSU has never talked about Edward Said in any of the Mural related articles. Before I talk about this issue, let me talk about Edward Said. From wikipedia:

“Edward Wadie Said (November 1, 1935 – September 25, 2003; Arabic: إدوارد سعيد‎) was a well-known Palestinian-American literary theorist, critic, and outspoken Palestinian activist. He was a University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and is regarded as a founding figure in post-colonial theory.”

In his long list of contributions, he is best known for describing and critiquing “Orientalism”.

“Said is best known for describing and critiquing “Orientalism,” which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism (1978), Said described the “subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture.” He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and America’s colonial and imperial ambitions. Just as fiercely, he denounced the practice of Arab elites who internalized the American and British orientalists’ ideas of Arabic culture.”

It would be a good idea to google Edward Said and read more about him. I just wanted to give you a basic idea as to what this man is and why I believe people like him are important in post 9/11 world.

Student Center Governing Board at SFSU approved the mural in a 6-2 vote on July 13th 2006. SFSU President Robert Corrigan placed an “immediate moratorium” on Edward Said Mural and all other murals at the student center. According to Corrigan, the mural is “conflict-centered”. He fails to mention what about it is conflict centered. He has also asked the board that approved the mural to change its policy because “it is at odds with the most fundamental values to which San Francisco State University is committed”, said Corrigan.

This mural is sponsored by General Union of Palestinian Students or GUPS. They have worked for over a year on this mural as you can see in the mock-up and if it goes live, SFSU will become the first university in the U.S that will have a Palestinian Mural.

Corrigan has shown his concern over murals in the past also, he had problems with Malcolm X mural once it was approved and painted. Situation got a little out of hand and he had to order riot police to take charge on campus. The original Malcolm X Mural “contained the Star of David with dollar signs and skulls superimposed over it.” Corrigan took some heat because of that controversy which he wants to avoid this time.

It’s not the Star of David this time that seems to be issue, it’s the cartoon character “Handalah” holding a key and a sword shaped pen on the right hand side of the mural. “Handalah” was created by a news paper cartoonist Naji Al-Ali. Talking about this cartoon character will take us away fromt the real debate which is about a mural that honors Edward Said. Every element of the mural has a meaning and in this instance, “Handalah” represents struggle.

Knowing the history of Islam, in simple terms, sword shaped pen can be seen as an image translation of a popular Hadith by Prophet Muhammad. He reportedly said “The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr”. Edward Said was a scholar; he brought more positive attention to the issue of Palestine than any martyr of Hamas. That explains the sword. The key, I believe is once again enforcing the view that the “Key” to the solution is through “Pen”. The cartoon character, the pen, and the key, put it all into perspective and it should be clear that “Handalah” has nothing to do with violence or hatred.

This is not a view shared by Corrigan or Hillel, the off-campus Jewish group opposed to the mural. Corrigan recently called supporters of this mural “Bigots”. It should be known that this mural was approved by a democratic process in place for murals. Corrigan now wants the mural approval process to be revised, that’s one of his conditions to approve the Edward Said Mural besides the fact that “Handalah” should be erased. Only after the approval of this mural it occurred to Corrigan that the mural approval process has flaws and needs to be revised.

It would be interesting to see what happens with this mural. Every issue has two sides to it, sometimes one side is right, sometimes both the sides are right, and sometimes none of the sides are right. This mural debate speaks for itself and the clear facts incline us to support one side.