Serge Maheshe, a journalist for Radio Okapi, was ‘one of the best journalists on our team.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Rod Liddle Goes After the Blame Rushdie Crowd
Jun 22nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhile the rest of us were still worrying about the Cold War, Rushdie was warning us about the war yet to come.… Read the rest
More ‘Rushdie Should Have Refused’ Nonsense
Jun 22nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRepuation in the media, ingratitude, entitled to decline the honour, surprised he didn’t, eh, what?… Read the rest
New ex-Muslim Group Speaks Out
Jun 22nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInayat Bunglawala comments: ‘We’re not taking them seriously.’ Back atcha, dude.… Read the rest
Okinawa Protests Change to Textbooks
Jun 22nd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFurious reaction to government plans to revise textbook accounts of army activities during WW II. … Read the rest
Rod Liddle on Rushdiephobia
Jun 22nd, 2007 11:59 am | By Ophelia BensonGorgeous. Someone gets it.
… Read the restThe decision to knight the author Salman Rushdie has brought together, in angry concordat, almost the entire world…Rushdie is loathed — and not just by the mediaevally minded bigots of Islamabad, Tehran and the Finsbury Park mosque. He seems to be loathed by everyone else, too. No sooner had his knighthood been announced than the British Right waded into attack….We give him expensive police protection when the mad mullahs order his death and he repays us by continuing to speak his mind. Beneath all this is the usually unspoken intimation of racism: Salman — well, he’s a darkie, isn’t he? A chippy little wog. Comes from Bombay or Mumbai or somewhere ghastly like that…The British
Sympathy for the community
Jun 21st, 2007 5:37 pm | By Ophelia BensonMore sinister crap.
Jack Straw today sympathised with the hurt feelings of the Muslim community over the knighthood awarded to the author Salman Rushdie – and disclosed that he too is no fan of Sir Salman’s writing.
Ah – he too. He too like…? He too like Ijaz ul-Haq who thinks strapping on a bomb is the right response to novels one is not a fan of? He too like Khomeini who thought novelists who write novels unworthy of fandom should be murdered forthwith? Is that what Straw meant? If not, what did he mean? Well, maybe nothing, since maybe it was the reporter who put it that way. But why say it at all? An effort to throw … Read the rest
Starving Children Found in Baghdad Orphanage
Jun 21st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEmaciated children lying on the floor, some tied to cribs; food and clothing in storeroom.… Read the rest
Beckett ‘Sorry’ if Some Muslims are Offended
Jun 21st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSpoke hours after John Reid said Britain would not apologise to whiners from across ‘the Muslim world.’ … Read the rest
No Intention of Apologizing
Jun 21st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLife of Brian ‘offended’ people too; so what.… Read the rest
Johann Hari Notes: Rushdie is not the Criminal
Jun 21st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLeft and right, people have reacted by blaming Rushdie for being the victim of wannabe-murderers. … Read the rest
BBC on Council of ex-Muslims
Jun 21st, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAll scare-quotes and sneers.… Read the rest
Rushdie has time to reconsider, BBC points out
Jun 20th, 2007 1:55 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is the worst yet. Tendentious manipulative hostile language in every line. It defies belief. The damn BBC seems to be convinced that Rushdie committed a crime.
Salman Rushdie’s knighthood has provoked protests around the Islamic world and a diplomatic row. So how was the decision made, and why did no-one appear to consider the consequences?
See? There it is again – the knighthood ‘provoked’ protests. No it fucking didn’t – some mindless zealots and some political thugs keen to distract attention from their own real malfeasance decided to make a fuss; Salman Rushdie’s knighthood didn’t provoke anything. And what does ‘consider the consequences’ mean? Predict that mindless zealots would blow their tops again and that therefore an … Read the rest
Honours Committee Surprised by Fuss
Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHari Kunzru: ‘The real insult is to the intelligence and decency of “the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims”.’… Read the rest
Bunglawala Rejects Book Burning but not Fatwa
Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If we were not treated with respect then we were capable of forcing others to respect us’ – thanks to fatwa.… Read the rest
Michael White Talks Even Worse Nonsense
Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSinister mixture of sneering and crawling, both aimed at the wrong targets.… Read the rest
Oliver Kamm on the Tyranny of Moderation
Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe notion that free speech was an ethnocentric imposition on other cultures has developed mightily.… Read the rest
Oliver Kamm on Rushdie
Jun 20th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘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 Ophelia Benson‘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 Ophelia BensonNext 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