"Sir" Salman Rushdie: An Intellectual Serving Anglo-American Imperialism

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"Sir" Salman Rushdie: An Intellectual Serving Anglo-American Imperialism

United Muslim Response to Rushdie Knighthood

Sir Salman's Long Journey

For Your Information:
Reports from IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency):

By Chris Coleman*

Imperialist states bent on pursuing a policy of wars of aggression in order to achieve world domination must first prepare the ground in the realm of ideas, in the field of culture. To do so they need intellectuals prepared to put their talents in the service of retrogression and against the people’s cause. Such a person has been the writer Salman Rushdie.

In the late 1980s, with even what had become pseudo-socialism collapsing in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, apart from the openly revolutionary and anti-imperialist states like Cuba and the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), it was becoming clear that one main force standing in the way of imperialist world domination was various Islamic countries. In these countries, which had suffered from colonial oppression and interference, there existed mass anti-imperialist forces and sentiment, even if their manifestation came under the banner of Islam. To prepare the ground for later military aggression, cultural aggression was first necessary. The publication of Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses in 1988 was part of this cultural aggression. Many commentators came to Rushdie’s defence on the grounds of "the right of free speech" when a religious fatwa was issued against him by Ayotollah Khomeini. Among them, it is true, there was some puzzlement that he should immediately be provided with 24-hour protection by the secret agencies of the state – agencies not hitherto known to rush to the defence of a progressive writer, as Rushdie claimed to be, but in fact more famous for the harassment, persecution and even, facts would suggest, the elimination of progressive people. But precious few commentators joined with the Islamic world in pointing out that the right of free speech did not extend to the insulting of whole peoples, the demonisation of whole religions, the provoking of conflicts and violence that could provide the pretext for the most terrible destruction. Tragically, as is now clear, these worst fears were to be borne out.

Now with Rushdie’s knighthood nearly twenty years on, the Blair/Brown government and the British state have felt emboldened to reward this servant of imperialism, and moreover in doing so to unleash yet another provocation against the Islamic world. Despite the debacle into which their policies have led them with their criminal wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite the wanton and terrible destruction they have visited on these countries, despite the vast and appalling loss of life they have caused, they stagger blindly on, threatening to drag millions more into their catastrophe. Salman Rushdie himself – despicable individual as he is – is not the issue. The issue is that once again Anglo-American imperialism is making its preparations for further wars of aggression against those who stand in their way. They must be stopped!

* Chris Coleman is National Spokesperson of RCPB(ML) and a writer whose 1976 play on Ireland United We Stand! suffered harassment by the Army in Belfast, and by Special Branch in England leading directly to the cutting off of state funding to the theatre company who produced it.

Islamic Human Rights Commission, 26 June, 2007

An unprecedented number of British Muslim umbrella organisations have come together to issue a joint statement deploring the conferring of a knighthood on Salman Rushdie.

The letter, published in today’s Guardian, describes the conferral as a "deliberate provocation" and designed to "sow seeds of division".

The full text of the letter and the names of signatories are printed below.

Dear Editor

We, the undersigned, strongly deplore the recent conferring of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie. We see this as a deliberate provocation and insult to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. The "honouring" of Rushdie at a time when the British government claims to be trying to build bridges with the Muslim community can only be seen as duplicitous. We regard this as a conscious effort not only to offend Muslim sensibilities but also to sow seeds of division. In honouring Rushdie, the Prime Minister has demonstrated how little regard he has for Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Signed:

Ali al-Hadithi (Federation Of Student Islamic Societies), Bashir Maan (Muslim Council of Scotland), Dr Abdul Wahid (Hizb ut-Tahrir), Dr Ahmad ar-Rawi (Muslim Association of Britain), Dr Mamoun Mobayad (Northern Ireland Muslim Family Association), Dr Muhammad Abdul-Bari (Muslim Council of Britain), Massoud Shadjareh (Islamic Human Rights Commission), Maulana Faiz Siddiqui (Muslim Action Committee), Muhammad Sawalha (British Muslim Initiative), Saleem Qidwai (Muslim Council of Wales), Sheikh Abdulhossein Moezi (Islamic Centre of England), Sheikh Shafiq-ur-Rahman (United Kingdom Islamic Mission)

Priyamvada Gopal, Guardian, June 18, 2007

From Indianness to Englishness, speculates the narrator of The Satanic Verses, is an immeasurable distance. For Sir Salman Rushdie, "humbled to receive this great honour" from the monarch of a nation he once compared to "a peculiar-tasting smoked fish full of spikes and bones", that journey has culminated in a knighthood. There'll be carping and predictably impassioned defences. It will be recalled that Benjamin Zephaniah turned down the OBE, refusing to join "the oppressor's club", while Granta literati will rush to extol the humane virtues of English literature and empire.

This is not, ultimately, about one man's oddly bathetic "gratitude" or even the meaning of being knighted in this day and age. Recognition from on high is probably thrilling to even the most jaded among us. More interesting is the question of why this "honour" comes now and what Rushdie's alacrity in accepting it tell us about politics and letters in our times, the very stuff of his greatest fiction.

To see the knighthood as "belated" endorsement by the British establishment is to miss the point entirely. Until, and even after, the vicious death sentence pronounced by Ayatollah Khomeini, Rushdie could not possibly have been endorsed by an establishment he had committed himself to undermining in merciless prose and brilliant satire. Rushdie wrote powerful essays about institutional racism, cultural condescension, Thatcherism, anti-immigrant legislation, Raj nostalgia and a sham multiculturalism where a "black man could only become integrated when he started behaving like a white man".

With equal ferocity, he criticised those in postcolonial nations and ethnic minority communities who asserted themselves through chauvinism, fundamentalism, censorship and literalism. It was necessary to critique tyrannical forces in both west and non-west, to recognise them as twinned and to pronounce a plague on both their houses. From the magnificent Midnight's Children to the brilliantly flawed The Moor's Last Sigh, this uncompromising ethical vision underlies plain Mr Rushdie's best fiction.

Sir Salman, on the other hand, is partly the creation of the fatwa that played its role in strengthening the self-fulfilling "clash of civilisations" that both Bush and Osama bin Laden find so handy. Driven underground and into despair by zealotry, Rushdie finally emerged blinking into New York sunshine shortly before the towers came tumbling down. Those formidable literary powers would now be deployed not against, but in the service of, an American regime that had declared its own fundamentalist monopoly on the meanings of "freedom" and "liberation". The Sir Salman recognised for his services to literature is certainly no neocon but is iconic of a more pernicious 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.

Vociferously supporting the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq on "humane" grounds, condemning criticism of the war on terror as "petulant anti-Americanism" and above all, aligning tyranny and violence solely with Islam, Rushdie has abdicated his own understanding of the novelist's task as "giving the lie to official facts". Now he recalls his own creation Baal, the talented poet who becomes a giggling hack corralled into attacking his ruler's enemies. Denuded of texture and complexity, it is no accident that this fiction since the early 90s has disappeared into a critical wasteland. The mutation of this relevant and stentorian writer into a pallid chorister is a tragic allegory of our benighted times, of the kind he once narrated so vividly.

· Priyamvada Gopal teaches in the English faculty at Cambridge University and is the author of Literary Radicalism in India.

Pakistani Senate Condemns Knighthood to Salman Rushdie

Islamabad, June 19 – Pakistani Senate on Tuesday adopted a resolution, condemning the British government's decision to award a knighthood to blasphemer Salman Rushdie.

"The Senate of Pakistan expresses its strong condemnation on blatant disregard for the sensitivity of the Muslims of the world shown by the British government by awarding a Knighthood to Salman Rushdie, who committed blasphemy against a pillar of Islam, the persona of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him)," the resolution said. "This is time to create better understanding between people of different faiths and promote inter faith harmony."

The resolution was moved by the Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad and supported by all the opposition groups. Such steps as the granting of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie will further sour relations between the West and Islam, it said. "The Senate of Pakistan representing the sentiments of the people of Pakistan demands that the knighthood conferred on Salman Rushdie be withdrawn," the resolution said.

The National Assembly adopted a similar resolution on Monday. The provincial assembly in North West Frontier Province also adopted a resolution on Tuesday, condemning the knighthood to Salman Rushdie. The resolution demanded withdrawal of the title, saying that the Britain decision has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims across the world.

Kashmiris Hold Protests against Rushdie's Knighthood

New Delhi, June 22 – Angry protesters took to the streets in Kashmir on Thursday to denounce the knighthood to Indian born British author Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses had outraged Muslims worldwide when it was published in 1988.

The Jammu and Kashmir People's Freedom League (JKPFL) described the knighthood to Rushdie as anti-Muslim. They also called for a protest strike in the region on Friday, ANI said. Mohammad Amin Mir, party secretary, said, "We are opposed to the knighthood given to Salman Rushdie, and we request our brothers to participate in the strike call tomorrow".

Activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Lok Janshakti (People's Power) Party also took to the streets in huge numbers, raising slogans of "Death to Rushdie". They also burnt his effigy. "We are protesting against the fact that the whole world has gone against Islam. We are protesting against America and Britain so that Muslims get their due rights," said Sanjay Saraf, national vice president of the party.

Iran Envoy Protests against Rushdie Award

London, June 19 – Iran on Tuesday issued a strong protest to the British government over its decision to give notorious author Salman Rushdie a knighthood. The protest was delivered by Iranian Ambassador to London, Rasoul Movahedian, at a meeting with Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office, Peter Ricketts, who is the head of Britain's Diplomatic Service.

The knighthood given to the apostate and forgotten author, which was decided at the high levels, was a pre-planned move to insult the beliefs of Muslims and Islam, Movahedian told Ricketts. "This will intensify the clash of cultures and civilisations," he warned, referring to the increased anger that has already been expressed in many Muslim countries by rekindling the controversy after 18 years. The ambassador said that reviving the issue was "also contrary to the interest of Britain and once again will lead to the fury of the Islamic world towards him and his blasphemous book".

He cautioned the British government about the impact of such policies. "The ill-judged policies of the current government in office will only result in the further isolation of Britain in the Islamic World and damage its credibility," he said, quoted by an embassy press release.

British Muslims have accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of being tactless in rekindling the dispute just before he steps down from power next week.

"Many will interpret the knighthood as a final contemptuous parting gift from Tony Blair to the Muslim world," said secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Abdul Bari.

"It's hypocrisy by Tony Blair who two weeks ago was talking about building bridges to mainstream Muslims, and then he's honouring a man who has insulted the British public and been divisive in community relations," Labour peer Lord Ahmed also warned.

Pakistan Summons British Envoy on Salman Rushdie Title

Islamabad, June 19 – Pakistan has summoned British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley to the Foreign Ministry to lodge [a protest] with him over the knighthood for Salman Rushdie, the Foreign Office spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The British High Commissioner was summoned today and was told that Salman Rushdie is a controversial person and a knighthood for him has hurt the sentiments of the people of Pakistan and Muslims across the world, Tasnim Aslam said. Aslam said the British High Commissioner was conveyed that Salman Rushdie's literary contributions are not so much than his offensive and insulting writings, which has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims.

The British ambassador was told that Pakistani and Muslims in the world resent the British knighthood for Salman Rushdie. She said the envoy was given the text of the resolution adopted by the Parliament, which condemns the decision and calls for its withdrawal. He was told that Pakistan is shocked at the decision and deplored it. She said the envoy was told that the knighthood will harm the efforts to fill bridges among the civilisations and religions.

On Tuesday, the Senate in a resolution demanded Britain retracts the award. The resolution came a day after the National Assembly also unanimously passed a similar resolution.