[ARABIC SURREALISM - POSTCOLONIAL ART HISTORY] Le désir libertaire: publication de l'Association Arabie-sur-Seine [The libertarian desire: publication of the Association Arabia on the Seine]. 2 issues (of a total of 3 published in the second series), with the subtitles: "SUBobJECTIVITÉS" (Sub-objectivity) and "L'amnésie administrée" (Administered Amnesia)

Two of three issues of the remarkable neo-avant-garde Arab-French exile magazine, which opposes Islamism and Arab nationalism under the banner of surrealism. The jouirnal was founded in 1975 by Abdul Kader El Janabi, who was born in Baghdad, emigrated to the USA in the 1960s and has lived in France since 1972. He soon met Georges Henein. The meeting was decisive. El Janabi saw Henein (who founded a Surrealist group in Cairo in 1938) as an embodiment of Breton. After Henein died, shortly after their meeting, the Iraqi exile decided to continue his work and founded the Arab Surrealist magazine "Le desir libertaire." Even before meeting the Egyptian avant-gardist, El Janabi was already interested in the various groups of surrealism. For example, the "London Bulletin", which he studied in the British Library, had already influenced him in his turn toward surrealism. He came across Henein in the magazine "View", which had published his text "Message from Cairo to the American Poets". However, El Janabi knew nothing of the relationship between Henein and Surrealism at the time. It was only in Paris that he learned of this connection. "Le desir libertaire" also began with a manifesto. In it, it becomes clear that El Janabi and his comrades-in-arms were aware of the anachronism that their turn to Surrealism, their connection to Henein, meant. Nevertheless, they saw this as an opportunity to counteract the then current developments in the Arab world as intellectuals, artists, and writers from exile. Surrealism was seen as a method of subversively attacking the language and aesthetics of Islam and Arab nationalism. One of the slogans was "Our surrealism is the destruction of the Arab fatherland!"

The issues here were published as a second series after a short break. This was characterized even more by an opening towards current trends in literature, art and theory, such as Lettrism and Situationism. The issues bring together contributions by various authors from different subversive and critical movements. At the same time, there is an unmistakable desire to influence the Arab world. The magazine is printed in French and Arabic. The issue "L'amnésie administrée", for example, deals with Adorno and the Frankfurt School, among other things. And the issue "SUBobJECTIVITÉS" contains texts by Walter Benjamin, Paul Celan, Karl Kraus and Paul Virilio. Nevertheless, pillar saints such as Hans Arp and Henein are not missing from these issues either. (Cf. Monique Bellan, Three eccentric manifestos: Art et Liberté, the Arab Surrealist Movement in Exile and Habib Tengour's "non-message", in: Surrealism in North Africa and Western Asia: Crossings and Encounters, Beirut 2021, pp. 39.-44)

As of April 2024, no copies could be found in North America via OCLC. Two of three issues of the remarkable neo-avant-garde Arab-French exile magazine, which opposes Islamism and Arab nationalism under the banner of surrealism. The jouirnal was founded in 1975 by Abdul Kader El Janabi, who was born in Baghdad, emigrated to the USA in the 1960s and has lived in France since 1972. He soon met Georges Henein. The meeting was decisive. El Janabi saw Henein (who founded a Surrealist group in Cairo in 1938) as an embodiment of Breton. After Henein died, shortly after their meeting, the Iraqi exile decided to continue his work and founded the Arab Surrealist magazine "Le desir libertaire." Even before meeting the Egyptian avant-gardist, El Janabi was already interested in the various groups of surrealism. For example, the "London Bulletin", which he studied in the British Library, had already influenced him in his turn toward surrealism. He came across Henein in the magazine "View", which had published his text "Message from Cairo to the American Poets". However, El Janabi knew nothing of the relationship between Henein and Surrealism at the time. It was only in Paris that he learned of this connection. "Le desir libertaire" also began with a manifesto. In it, it becomes clear that El Janabi and his comrades-in-arms were aware of the anachronism that their turn to Surrealism, their connection to Henein, meant. Nevertheless, they saw this as an opportunity to counteract the then current developments in the Arab world as intellectuals, artists, and writers from exile. Surrealism was seen as a method of subversively attacking the language and aesthetics of Islam and Arab nationalism. One of the slogans was "Our surrealism is the destruction of the Arab fatherland!"

The issues here were published as a second series after a short break. This was characterized even more by an opening towards current trends in literature, art and theory, such as Lettrism and Situationism. The issues bring together contributions by various authors from different subversive and critical movements. At the same time, there is an unmistakable desire to influence the Arab world. The magazine is printed in French and Arabic. The issue "L'amnésie administrée", for example, deals with Adorno and the Frankfurt School, among other things. And the issue "SUBobJECTIVITÉS" contains texts by Walter Benjamin, Paul Celan, Karl Kraus and Paul Virilio. Nevertheless, pillar saints such as Hans Arp and Henein are not missing from these issues either. (Cf. Monique Bellan, Three eccentric manifestos: Art et Liberté, the Arab Surrealist Movement in Exile and Habib Tengour's "non-message", in: Surrealism in North Africa and Western Asia: Crossings and Encounters, Beirut 2021, pp. 39.-44)

As of April 2024, no copies could be found in North America via OCLC.