All entries by this author

Oliver Kamm on Rushdie *

Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by

‘The last thing we should do is accept the terms in which religious obscurantists seek to frame this issue.’… Read the rest



Patronizing Clueless Dreck About Rushdie *

Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Bad on Whitehall for not spotting the trouble it might do to British-Muslim relations at this delicate time.’… Read the rest



More lefthand dreck

Jun 20th, 2007 11:19 am | By

Next round of sinister crap. (Who is this Michael White? Why have I never heard of him before? Why have none of you pointed him out to me before? He certainly seems obvious enough.)

So who is to blame for the latest blow to the fragile relations between Britain and two key Muslim states 19 years after The Satanic Verses earned its author that fatwa from Iran?

Isn’t that cute? Isn’t that just adorable? Someone is to blame for Rushdie’s gong; it is blow to the fragile relations between Britain and two key Muslim states; Rushdie’s novel earned its author that fatwa. That’s a lot of nasty stuff for one sentence.… Read the rest



Bunglawala

Jun 20th, 2007 11:05 am | By

Man, there’s a lot of sinister crap out there today. From Bunglawala for instance, on his way to disavowing book-burning.

The Thatcher government had banned Peter Wright’s Spycatcher and had gone to court to prevent its distribution. Surely, Rushdie’s novel, which had caused such offence to hundreds of millions of believers, deserved a similar fate?

The Thatcher government didn’t ban Spycatcher because it ’caused such offence’ to anyone. That’s not to say it had good reasons, it’s just to say it had different ones. Much more to the point, what on earth does he mean, ’caused such offence to hundreds of millions of believers’? ‘Such’ as what, exactly? What ‘such’ does he have in mind? He must know … Read the rest



Rushdie sparked calls for his own execution – right?

Jun 19th, 2007 4:51 pm | By

The flattering descriptions continue. The BBC says Rushdie’s book ‘sparked worldwide protests’. The Guardian says ‘The Satanic Verses provoked the ire of many Muslims and led to the issuing of a fatwa,’ and still talks of a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s ‘execution,’ still says the book was ‘immediately condemned by the Islamic world’ (it’s hard to know what that last phrase even means – it sounds quite surreal). On BBC World News last night a reporter said Rushdie ‘affronted Muslim values’ by writing the book. Horrible, toadying stuff.

Lisa Appignanesi gives Priyamvada Gopal one in the eye though.

During the dark years of the Fatwa, Rushdie lent his fame to help less well-known writers around the world who suffered

Read the rest


Haram or halal?

Jun 19th, 2007 4:28 pm | By

A terrible moment in Shiv Malik’s Prospect article on Siddique Khan. He’s talking to Khan’s brother, as he has several times before.

For some reason, I translated my usual question of whether he thought what his brother had done was “good” or “bad”—he had said that it was a terrible thing several times—and instead asked him whether he thought 7/7 was halal (permitted) or haram (forbidden) in Islam. Only when a look of stunned surprise come over Gultasab’s face did I realise that I must have been asking him an entirely different question. After a brief pause, he replied. “No comment.”

Here, it seemed, was the perfect example of the division between two worldviews—secular ethics and an embattled Islamic

Read the rest


Jesus and Mo on Rushdie’s Gong *

Jun 19th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Do they have effigy shops in Pakistan, or something?’… Read the rest



A C Grayling on the Council of Ex-Muslims *

Jun 19th, 2007 | Filed by

Led by the outstanding Maryam Namazie, champion of human rights, women, and refugees from religious persecution.… Read the rest



Rorty Remembered *

Jun 19th, 2007 | Filed by

Habermas, Blackburn, Dennett, Nussbaum, Bérubé, Fish, Bromwich, Dickstein, others.… Read the rest



Lisa Appignanesi on Rushdie *

Jun 19th, 2007 | Filed by

Rushdie helped writers around the world who found themselves persecuted by states or religious hierarchies.… Read the rest



The Guardian Continues to Blame Rushdie *

Jun 19th, 2007 | Filed by

‘The Satanic Verses provoked the ire of many Muslims and led to the issuing of a fatwa.’… Read the rest



UK Ambassador to Pakistan is Concerned *

Jun 19th, 2007 | Filed by

BBC says Rushdie’s book ‘sparked’ protests.… Read the rest



Launch of the Council of ex-Muslims of Britain

Jun 19th, 2007 | By Maryam Namazie

A British branch of a new Europe-wide phenomenon is to be launched on Thursday 21 June in London. The Council of ex-Muslims of Britain is building on the stunning success of other branches already operating in Germany, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The British Humanist Association and National Secular Society are sponsoring the launch and support the new organisation.

The Council will provide a voice for those labelled Muslim but who have renounced religion and do not want to be identified by religion.

Rights activist Maryam Namazie will be the voice of the organisation in this country. She said: “We are establishing the alternative to the likes of the Muslim Council of Britain because we don’t think people should be … Read the rest



How dare you knight the man we want killed?

Jun 18th, 2007 4:01 pm | By

I felt very close to losing my temper when reading this.

Also today, Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said many Muslims would regard the knighthood as the final insult from Tony Blair before he leaves office next week. “Salman Rushdie earned notoriety amongst Muslims for the highly insulting and blasphemous manner in which he portrayed early Islamic figures,” Dr Bari said. “The granting of a knighthood to him can only do harm to the image of our country in the eyes of hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world. Many will interpret the knighthood as a final contemptuous parting gift from Tony Blair to the Muslim world.”

Insult is it. Rushdie earned notoriety … Read the rest



What they’ve assented to

Jun 18th, 2007 3:20 pm | By

Wrong.

Sir Salman, on the other hand, is partly the creation of the fatwa…The Sir Salman recognised for his services to literature is certainly no neocon but is iconic of a more pernicous trend: liberal literati who have assented to the notion that humane values, tolerance and freedom are fundamentally western ideas that have to be defended as such.

No he isn’t, no he doesn’t, no they haven’t. That’s crap. What they’ve assented to (the liberal ones – if they haven’t they’re not liberal) is the opposite: that humane values, tolerance and freedom are universal ideas that have to be defended as such, and that claiming they are a monopoly of any one region or nation or ethnic group … Read the rest



Launch of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain *

Jun 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Maryam Namazie to lead; Mina Ahadi and Mahin Alipour will be there. June 21. Go!… Read the rest



MCB Calls Rushdie K a ‘Final Insult’ *

Jun 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Preliminary insult of fatwa not mentioned; ‘blasphemy’ apparently worse than murder.… Read the rest



Atheism is a Position of Intellectual Curiosity *

Jun 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Children should not be subjected to the bullying hostility of faith schools towards the atheist. … Read the rest



Nonsense From Priyamvada Gopal *

Jun 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Says Rushdie thinks humane values and freedom are western ideas that must be defended as such.… Read the rest



Another Round of Childish Raging on the Way *

Jun 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister pitches fit over Rushdie’s K, says suicide bombing is justified.… Read the rest