Shoe Thrower's Story

Recording intelligenceAI-generated brief · check the source for context

1:17:29 recording · EN · 4 speakers

Original link: waaa.wnyc.org/758af4c0-a2c3-47ec-a2d8-05f41bfbde51/episodes/4e8d47c7-d565-49ea…

Listen to the original

Listen to the episode

Executive Summary AI

Radiolab reporter Sara Khari interviews Muntadhar Zaydi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush at a Baghdad press conference on December 14th, 2008, with Iraqi journalist Mays Al-Bayat translating.2:09
He became a journalist after the 2003 invasion and reported for Al-Baghdadiya on civilian suffering, including eight-year-old Zahra, shot and killed in 2007, after which he was kidnapped and later detained by American soldiers.11:59
Feeling no one outside Iraq was listening, he chose a shoe as the opposite of the roses Iraqis were said to greet Americans with, and rejected violence because killing the president would make him a martyr.22:46
At the press conference he sat in the third row, shouted that this was a goodbye kiss, threw both shoes, and was then beaten, sentenced to three years, and held in solitary confinement before release after nine months.39:11
Khari and Jamila Raqib of the Albert Einstein Institution discuss the space between violence and nonviolence, the global copycat protests, the cost to his career, and his view that the shoe throw was worth it.54:15

Brief overview

Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at George W. Bush so the world would ask what happened to Iraqis.

A shoe as the opposite of rosesHe wanted to answer the claim that Iraqis would welcome American soldiers with roses.
Between violence and nonviolenceHe chose a shoe because killing the president would have made him a hero and a martyr.
It undercut the liberation narrativeKhari concludes it did not end the occupation but made people pay attention to Iraq.

Questions this recording answers

4 questions, each answered where it is said

Why did Muntadhar al-Zaidi throw his shoes at George W. Bush?

He says he had documented civilian suffering in Iraq for years, including the killing of eight-year-old Zahra, and no one listened or was prosecuted. He wanted the world to stop and ask who Zahra was and what happened to Iraqis, and the shoe throw made people ask why it was thrown.

Answered around 25:50

Why did he choose a shoe rather than something else?

The ultimate gift in Arab culture is roses, and Iraqis were said to be welcoming American soldiers with roses. He wanted the complete opposite: the shoe, which is unclean and the most degrading thing to throw at someone. He rejected violence because killing the president would make him a hero and a martyr.

Answered around 22:46

What happened to him after the shoe throw?

Bodyguards beat him, breaking his teeth. An Iraqi court sentenced him to three years in prison, he says he was tortured and held in solitary confinement for three months, and he was released after nine months. Afterwards he could not find a TV station to hire him.

Answered around 47:06

Did the shoe throw have any real impact?

It sparked protests with people waving shoes in Iraq, Latin America, Europe and the United States, and a rash of copycat throwings at world leaders. Khari concludes it did not change the war much, but it undermined the narrative that Iraqis were welcoming U.S. forces as liberators.

Answered around 50:18

Key Quote

“And I threw my shoes at George W. Bush.”

— Muntadhar Zaydi, Shoe Thrower's Story, at 2:19▶ listen at 2:19

Key Quote

“You cannot put yourself in my shoe to know what happened in my mind in this moment.”

— Muntadhar Zaydi, Shoe Thrower's Story, at 24:35▶ listen at 24:35

Key Quote

“If I have killed the president of the United States,”

— Muntadhar Zaydi, Shoe Thrower's Story, at 30:10▶ listen at 30:10

Key Quote

“I was feeling like being a journalist was like having handcuffs on.”

— Sara Khari, Shoe Thrower's Story, at 27:24▶ listen at 27:24

Key Quote

“But to me, they're not numbers. They are people.”

— Mays Al-Bayat, Shoe Thrower's Story, at 1:01:06▶ listen at 1:01:06

Key Quote

“But it did precisely what it set out to do, which is undermine the narrative that Iraqis were welcoming U.S. forces as liberators.”

— Sara Khari, Shoe Thrower's Story, at 1:03:28▶ listen at 1:03:28

Cite this

“Shoe Thrower's Story.” https://waaa.wnyc.org/758af4c0-a2c3-47ec-a2d8-05f41bfbde51/episodes/4e8d47c7-d565-49ea-9ec2-dae68c3b9656/audio/128/default.mp3/default.mp3_ywr3ahjkcgo_ce5776272207483d95d064f12ba964ab_74385611.mp3. Transcript summary by WhipScribe, https://whipscribe.com/transcript-pages/shoe-thrower-s-story.html.