Desert Strike is a reflection on your experiences during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War in 1990/1991…’
Yes, but it is even more about this disgusting video game with the same title that came out in 1992, which I hated but, at the same time, couldn’t stop playing because it was so evil. It was the first of its kind that was marketed for kids as a war game and specifically a contemporary war game – just one year after the liberation of Kuwait – as a way of profiting from the war. And it obviously served as a propaganda tool, too. The game itself had no soundtrack – there was only the sound of the helicopters and bombs – and this is what made it feel more like a training tool for the military than a video game for kids. My EP was an attempt to replace that silence in the game, but also to snuff out a game where war and invasion, death and destruction, were used as very cynical tools. It was in that sense the first really fucked up game I was exposed to.
— Fatima Al Qadiri in our new issue mono.kultur #43
