Eggs, and rotten tomatoes used to be the missile of choice for coating a politician — but it seems shoes are fast catching on as the new weapon of humiliation. After shoes were hurled at world dignitaries like Ex-US President G.W. Bush in Iraq,
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Britain, Benny Dagan — Israel’s ambassador to Sweden and recently shoe hurled at BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, L.K Advani, some politicians around the world must surely be thinking: am I next? The soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture, which many in the West would have first noticed when Iraqis crushed the toppled statue of Iraq military ruler Saddam Hussain in 2003. But it took the efforts of Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi to give the insult instant worldwide fame on December 14 last year when he threw his shoes at the then US president George W. Bush during his farewell visit to Baghdad.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Britain, Benny Dagan — Israel’s ambassador to Sweden and recently shoe hurled at BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, L.K Advani, some politicians around the world must surely be thinking: am I next? The soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture, which many in the West would have first noticed when Iraqis crushed the toppled statue of Iraq military ruler Saddam Hussain in 2003. But it took the efforts of Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi to give the insult instant worldwide fame on December 14 last year when he threw his shoes at the then US president George W. Bush during his farewell visit to Baghdad.
That cranked up the ratio to one shoeing of a dignitary every third day. It begs the question of what will happen next if the practice continues to spread. US president and the Chinese premier having already been shoed, will other statesmen, and then progressively less interesting people come under a hail of reeking footwear before the fad gets boring? Neither Bush nor Wen were hit and seemed unmoved by the incidents. Bush, with a seemingly amused look on his face, ducked both shoes, which were thrown with menace from close quarters. He then shrugged off the incident, joking about the shoe size. He even compared it to the April 2006 press conference with himself and Chinese President Hu Jintao, which was disrupted by a Falun Gong demonstrator.
Perhaps in time to come, shoe-hurling will be considered as most the popular weapon to draw attention of media and public to demands of aggrieved section of the society. Interestingly, no security exists against non-violent yet most powerful weapon in form of readily available shoes! When even the all-powerful Supreme Court judges could not be secured against the ‘fool-proof’ weapon of shoe-hurling, our ever-erring politicians/political rulers should always keep themselves prepared against regular such attacks.
The obvious next question is: how can security officials prevent further incidents of flying footwear? Will all footwear have to be removed and left outside big name events? Similarly another journalist from the daily Dainik Jagran, Junrnail Singh hurled his shoe at Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram over his responses to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He confessed that the method of protest was wrong but the issue (1984 Sikh riots) was right. “I just wanted to ask (Chidambaram) how he can be happy when one whole community is in deep torment,” Jarnail Singh said when he was in police custody.
Initially, shoe hurling might sound hilarious but now this has become a disputable issue, which has raised many questions over the professional conduct of a journalist. Is shoe hurling the new political tool? The shoes so far, missed the political leaders but it did leave a mark on their political conscience. Some journalists are of the view that such an act was indicative of the public’s deeper distress and frustration with political leaders. Journalists are also part of the society and the iniquities happening also affect them. So does that mean it is justified on part of media to succumb to such emotional eruption? On the other hand, there are others in media who consider it to be one of those senseless acts of hooliganism. According to them, journalists have bent down to a very low level and this sort of act like hurling the shoe at notables for nothing but to become center of attention. Furthermore, hurling shoes is an act of rabble that may invite a strong audience on internet but it does not really help in solving problems.
Media men can always use the most effective weapon that is their ‘pen’ to articulate their assessment. Is the shoe is most effective than the pen for the journalists? However, if we look at the other side of the coin, some call it a courageous sign; even a heroic act that has opened a new chapter in communication. An act that declares that public is no longer oblivious and will not tolerate the unrighteousness any longer.
Yet others condemn this act saying journalism is a field concerning reporting news and not making news. Let not attackers take law in their hands. ‘News is what consensus of journalists determines to be quote by whom? Moreover, hurling shoes during Press Conference is overall defamation that professional reporters should always abstain. Perhaps in time to come, shoes will be banned in future Press Conference and journalists will be asked to leave their footwear outside specially in countries like India, Pakistan and might be in USA. That is one of the suggestions for tightening security for the political leaders as no security exists against non-violent yet most powerful weapon in form of readily available are the shoes.
