The Zenga Zenga Parody

Me was watching a documentary on Al-Jazeera regarding the recent uprising in Libya against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi entitled “The Long Road To Tripoli”, when me came across the catch phrase “zenga zenga” being made into the popular “war song” of the young Libyan revolutionaries on their way to liberate Tripoli from the clutches of the Gaddafi’s regime.

The words were first uttered by Gaddafi himself during one of his speeches in the early days of the uprising back in February when he pompously dubbed the people who revolted against him as “rats” which he vowed to crush and hunt down the protesters “inch by inch, room by room, house by house, street by street“ or "zenga zenga” in the local dialect.

“Zenga Zenga” quickly became the “battle cry” and parodied by the media savvy young revolutionaries who cleverly turned it into a hip hop You Tube sensation which went “viral”- to mock and turn the table to fight Gaddafi “zenga zenga” until they achieve their objective of deposing the tyrant.

Me still remember, during the Iranian revolution, 32 years earlier, the battle cry of “La Syarkiyya La Gharbiyyah” that reverberated among the masses at that time had also proved potent for the revolution, enabling the support of the ordinary populace to rise up and put an end to the brutal Shah Pahlavi’s regime.

It was just amazing to watch the raw fighting spirit shown by these young fighters who were mostly made up of ordinary Libyans from various “non-combatant” background. On hindsight, it was truly remarkable to watch these disorganize band of fighters overcome a seemingly insurmountable situation with only the spirit of adventurism in them and no other agenda except a blazing desire to see Muammar Gaddafi go!

These were the true and unselfish fighters of the Libyan revolution. Together with their “foreign Libyans” counterpart, who had been living in exiled for the most parts of their lives while the regime was in power the past 42 years, they were at the forefront of the battlefield while hip hopping the “Zenga Zenga” song all the way to Tripoli, the capital of Libya and the seat of power for the Gaddafi’s regime.

What impressed me most watching these young fighters, especially those second generation Libyans raised in Europe, was their apparent resolve to totally forsake the comfort of their homes and their loved ones in pursuit of the single objective of liberating their motherland from the clutches of the Gaddafi regime and the freedom to choose their own destiny.

Let us resolve to make the “Zenga Zenga” parody as a plain reminder to us all, especially as Muslims, we should not be arrogant if we are in the citadel of power and if we are the downtrodden,we should fight for our rights by emulating the carefree fighting spirit and selfless sacrifices shown by the young Libyan fighters and not to easily surrender our precious freedom to despots who are bent to snatch it from us.

AllahuAkbar! Allah is Great!