Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 13:32:43 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102: a response to Jaclyn - Son of Genet


--0-18184979-1039037563=:43688


I Verlaine, le fou, and son of Jean Genet agree wholeheartedly with you. I Eldorra. Mitchell.
 Jaclyn Rosebrook-Collignon <jaclynr-AT-free.fr> wrote:I agree with everyone's previous comments. However, what I find most
troubling is that Rushdie regularly chooses to republicize (and rehash) the
events that the Western media exploits to further disseminate the views and
absurdities/atrocities carried out by the radical fringe of Islam. There
are indeed many centralist (and pacifist) Muslims out there even in
Palestine, demonstrating, writing, organizing. Their voices are continually
muffled or ignored; they get little if any publicity or attention and
subsequently no support. I don't think that Rushdie is correct in saying
that very few of these "types" of Muslims are speaking up. Perhaps there
are not enough but we often have news to the contrary right here on this
list. Does Rushdie only read the NYT? Why doesn't he utilize the
mainstream media attention he has (ie. regular editorials in the NYT &
Guardian) to talk about & disseminate these voices. Edward Sad often uses
his "power" to do this, doesn't he? I'm not suggesting that Rushdie has to
be the "spokesperson" for Muslims, but he chooses to talk about Islam in his
editorials. Why do they simply seem to echo what is already out there in
mainstream press?

Wait a minute, I just got an idea. I, as an American living in France, am
often ashamed of the vision the rest of the world has of American foreign
policy and other sorts of American arrogance; and rightly so. However, I
think one of my errors is in choosing to focus on the backward,
archconservative, capital driven opinions and behavior that comes out of the
USA. If I wanted to be more effective in changing opinions at home and
abroad, I would do better to share alternative opinions and voices of "good"
Americans and "positive" foreign policy (if it exists ;)).... Wouldn't I?

So, maybe the link between myself and Rushdie is shame (and not fury -elbow,
elbow). Shame gets in the way of showing others who you really are.
Shamefilled expats end up sounding like patriots of their adopted motherland
or hemisphere (to oversimplify), in order to not sound like the "crazier"
voices of their origins. For example, when I read Rushdie's editorials (as
opposed to his literature) I only hear his "Western" voice. Would you agree
with me? I mean, how many times do I have to hear my husband tell me I'm
more French than the French in order to understand where I'm going wrong?!
(I used to take this as a compliment but I'm not so sure anymore)

Is this the new cosmopolitan challenge? Is this how we move from poco to
cosmo? Stop killing (or rusing with) the "father" or "mother" (land) and
start making "hybrid" babies of your own!?

Jaclyn

PS - good to hear from you again Lou!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lou Caton" 
To: 

Sent: Friday, November 29, 2002 5:56 PM
Subject: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102: a response to Jaclyn


> I'd agree with Jaclyn in suggesting that Rushdie's disappointment in the
> centralist Muslim community is not without some merit. I read him not so
much as
> "lopsided" but rather consistent in wanting Muslims of "peace" to speak
more
> forcefully. These aren't necessarily "Westernized" Muslims but Muslims of
> reconciliation. After all, Mohammed hated war, and the Koran is filled
with
> admonitions to "guide" the non-believer rather than fight him or her. Of
> course, there are the, by now, fairly well-known references to violence
and
> "jihad" in the Koran, as well. But Rushdie seems to ask the centralist
Muslim
> to read these troubling passages historically, not prescriptively. I
would
> think most list-members would endorse that effort (?).
>
> lc
>
>
> Jaclyn Rosebrook-Collignon wrote:
>
> > Hello Fellow Pocos,
> > Here is the latest op-ed by Salman Rushdie in the NYT, FYI.
> > Although I do not particularly disagree with his criticisms in this
essay, I
> > have found since 911 a certain "lopsidedness" in his political discourse
> > that is simplistic and populist. It seems to merely feed the numerous
(free
> > floating) stereotypes about Islam and "Other" Muslims. Are the only
good
> > Muslims Western enlightened ones? This reminds me of the overlapping
> > discourses (and animated animosity) in gay studies and feminism, where
the
> > "best" kind of woman is a man (albeit a transsexual one); as illustrated
in
> > the 90's film, "The Crying Game".
> > Perhaps Rushdie has always expressed these kinds of opinions, but I am
> > regularly troubled by his editorial views as of late.
> > I'm curious to hear what you think.
> > Best,
> > Jaclyn
> >
> > November 27, 2002
> > No More Fanaticism as Usual
> > By SALMAN RUSHDIE
> >
> > t's been quite a week in the wonderful world of Islam.
> > Nigerian Islam's encounter with that powerhouse of subversion, the Miss
> > World contest, has been unedifying, to put it mildly. First some of the
> > contestants had the nerve to object to a Shariah court's sentence that a
> > Nigerian woman convicted of adultery be stoned to death and threatened
to
> > boycott the contest - which forced the Nigerian authorities to promise
that
> > the woman in question would not be subjected to the lethal hail of
rocks.
> > And then Isioma Daniel, a Christian Nigerian journalist, had the
effrontery
> > to suggest that if the prophet Muhammad were around today, he might have
> > wanted to marry one of these swimsuit hussies himself.
> > Well, obviously, that was going too far. True-believing Nigerian Muslims
> > then set about the holy task of killing, looting and burning while
calling
> > for Ms. Daniel to be beheaded, and who could blame them? Not the
president
> > of Nigeria, who put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the hapless
> > journalist. (Germaine Greer and other British-based feminists, unhappy
about
> > Miss World's decision to move the event to London, preferred to grouse
about
> > the beauty contest. The notion that the killers, looters and burners
should
> > be held accountable seems to have escaped notice.)
> > Meanwhile, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hashem Aghajari, a person
with
> > impeccable Islamist credentials - a leg lost in battle and a rsum that
> > includes being part of the occupying force that seized the Great Satan's
> > Tehran embassy back in the revolution's salad days - languishes under a
> > sentence of death imposed because he criticized the mullahs who run the
> > country. In Iran, you don't even have to have cheeky thoughts about the
> > prophet to be worthy of being killed. The hearts of true believers are
> > maddened a lot more easily than that. Thousands of young people across
the
> > country were immature enough to protest against Mr. Aghajari's sentence,
for
> > which the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, duly rebuked them.
(More
> > than 10,000 true believers marched through Tehran in support of
hard-line
> > Islam.)
> > Meanwhile, in Egypt, a hit television series, "Horseman Without a
Horse,"
> > has been offering up antiSemitic programming to a huge, eager audience.
That
> > old forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - a document
purporting
> > to prove that there really is a secret Jewish plot to take over the
world,
> > and which was proved long ago to have been faked by Czar Nicholas II's
> > secret police - is treated in this drama series as historical fact.
> > Yes, this is the same Egypt in which the media are rigorously censored
to
> > prevent anything that offends the authorities from seeing the light of
day.
> > But hold on just a moment. Here's the series' star and co-writer,
Mohammed
> > Sobhi, telling us that what is at stake is nothing less than free speech
> > itself, and if his lying show "terrified Zionists," well, tough. He'll
make
> > more programs in the same vein. Now there's a gutsy guy.
> > Finally, let's not forget the horrifying story of the Dutch Muslim
woman,
> > Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has had to flee the Netherlands because she said
that
> > Muslim men oppressed Muslim women, a vile idea that so outraged Muslim
men
> > that they issued death threats against her.
> > Is it unfair to bunch all these different uglinesses together? Perhaps.
But
> > they do have something in common. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was accused of being
"the
> > Dutch Salman Rushdie," Mr. Aghajari of being the Iranian version, Isioma
> > Daniel of being the Nigerian incarnation of the same demon.
> > A couple of months ago I said that I detested the sloganization of my
name
> > by Islamists around the world. I'm beginning to rethink that position.
Maybe
> > it's not so bad to be a Rushdie among other "Rushdies." For the most
part
> > I'm comfortable with, and often even proud of, the company I'm in.
> > Where, after all, is the Muslim outrage at these events? As their
ancient,
> > deeply civilized culture of love, art and philosophical reflection is
> > hijacked by paranoiacs, racists, liars, male supremacists, tyrants,
fanatics
> > and violence junkies, why are they not screaming?
> > At least in Iran the students are demonstrating. But where else in the
> > Muslim world can one hear the voices of the fair-minded, tolerant Muslim
> > majority deploring what Nigerian, Egyptian, Arab and Dutch Muslims are
> > doing? Muslims in the West, too, seem unnaturally silent on these
topics. If
> > you're yelling, we can't hear you.
> > If the moderate voices of Islam cannot or will not insist on the
> > modernization of their culture - and of their faith as well - then it
may be
> > these so-called "Rushdies" who have to do it for them. For every such
> > individual who is vilified and oppressed, two more, ten more, a thousand
> > more will spring up. They will spring up because you can't keep people's
> > minds, feelings and needs in jail forever, no matter how brutal your
> > inquisitions. The Islamic world today is being held prisoner, not by
Western
> > but by Islamic captors, who are fighting to keep closed a world that a
badly
> > outnumbered few are trying to open. As long as the majority remains
silent,
> > this will be a tough war to win. But in the end, or so we must hope,
someone
> > will kick down that prison door.
> >
> > Salman Rushdie is author, most recently, of "Step Across This Line."
> >
> > Copyright The New York Times Company | Permissions | Privacy Policy
> >
> > --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>
>
>
> --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>




--- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

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I Verlaine, le fou, and son of Jean Genet agree wholeheartedly with you. I Eldorra. Mitchell.

 Jaclyn Rosebrook-Collignon <jaclynr-AT-free.fr> wrote:

I agree with everyone's previous comments. However, what I find most
troubling is that Rushdie regularly chooses to republicize (and rehash) the
events that the Western media exploits to further disseminate the views and
absurdities/atrocities carried out by the radical fringe of Islam. There
are indeed many centralist (and pacifist) Muslims out there even in
Palestine, demonstrating, writing, organizing. Their voices are continually
muffled or ignored; they get little if any publicity or attention and
subsequently no support. I don't think that Rushdie is correct in saying
that very few of these "types" of Muslims are speaking up. Perhaps there
are not enough but we often have news to the contrary right here on this
list. Does Rushdie only read the NYT? Why doesn't he utilize the
mainstream media attention he has (ie. regular editorials in the NYT &
Guardian) to talk about & disseminate these voices. Edward Sad often uses
his "power" to do this, doesn't he? I'm not suggesting that Rushdie has to
be the "spokesperson" for Muslims, but he chooses to talk about Islam in his
editorials. Why do they simply seem to echo what is already out there in
mainstream press?

Wait a minute, I just got an idea. I, as an American living in France, am
often ashamed of the vision the rest of the world has of American foreign
policy and other sorts of American arrogance; and rightly so. However, I
think one of my errors is in choosing to focus on the backward,
archconservative, capital driven opinions and behavior that comes out of the
USA. If I wanted to be more effective in changing opinions at home and
abroad, I would do better to share alternative opinions and voices of "good"
Americans and "positive" foreign policy (if it exists ;)).... Wouldn't I?

So, maybe the link between myself and Rushdie is shame (and not fury -elbow,
elbow). Shame gets in the way of showing others who you really are.
Shamefilled expats end up sounding like patriots of their adopted motherland
or hemisphere (to oversimplify), in order to not sound like the "crazier"
voices of their origins. For example, when I read Rushdie's editorials (as
opposed to his literature) I only hear his "Western" voice. Would you agree
with me? I mean, how many times do I have to hear my husband tell me I'm
more French than the French in order to understand where I'm going wrong?!
(I used to take this as a compliment but I'm not so sure anymore)

Is this the new cosmopolitan challenge? Is this how we move from poco to
cosmo? Stop killing (or rusing with) the "father" or "mother" (land) and
start making "hybrid" babies of your own!?

Jaclyn

PS - good to hear from you again Lou!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lou Caton"
To:
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2002 5:56 PM
Subject: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102: a response to Jaclyn


> I'd agree with Jaclyn in suggesting that Rushdie's disappointment in the
> centralist Muslim community is not without some merit. I read him not so
much as
> "lopsided" but rather consistent in wanting Muslims of "peace" to speak
more
> forcefully. These aren't necessarily "Westernized" Muslims but Muslims of
> reconciliation. After all, Mohammed hated war, and the Koran is filled
with
> admonitions to "guide" the non-believer rather than fight him or her. Of
> course, there are the, by now, fairly well-known references to violence
and
> "jihad" in the Koran, as well. But Rushdie seems to ask the centralist
Muslim
> to read these troubling passages historically, not prescriptively. I
would
> think most list-members would endorse that effort (?).
>
> lc
>
>
> Jaclyn Rosebrook-Collignon wrote:
>
> > Hello Fellow Pocos,
> > Here is the latest op-ed by Salman Rushdie in the NYT, FYI.
> > Although I do not particularly disagree with his criticisms in this
essay, I
> > have found since 911 a certain "lopsidedness" in his political discourse
> > that is simplistic and populist. It seems to merely feed the numerous
(free
> > floating) stereotypes about Islam and "Other" Muslims. Are the only
good
> > Muslims Western enlightened ones? This reminds me of the overlapping
> > discourses (and animated animosity) in gay studies and feminism, where
the
> > "best" kind of woman is a man (albeit a transsexual one); as illustrated
in
> > the 90's film, "The Crying Game".
> > Perhaps Rushdie has always expressed these kinds of opinions, but I am
> > regularly troubled by his editorial views as of late.
> > I'm curious to hear what you think.
> > Best,
> > Jaclyn
> >
> > November 27, 2002
> > No More Fanaticism as Usual
> > By SALMAN RUSHDIE
> >
> > t's been quite a week in the wonderful world of Islam.
> > Nigerian Islam's encounter with that powerhouse of subversion, the Miss
> > World contest, has been unedifying, to put it mildly. First some of the
> > contestants had the nerve to object to a Shariah court's sentence that a
> > Nigerian woman convicted of adultery be stoned to death and threatened
to
> > boycott the contest - which forced the Nigerian authorities to promise
that
> > the woman in question would not be subjected to the lethal hail of
rocks.
> > And then Isioma Daniel, a Christian Nigerian journalist, had the
effrontery
> > to suggest that if the prophet Muhammad were around today, he might have
> > wanted to marry one of these swimsuit hussies himself.
> > Well, obviously, that was going too far. True-believing Nigerian Muslims
> > then set about the holy task of killing, looting and burning while
calling
> > for Ms. Daniel to be beheaded, and who could blame them? Not the
president
> > of Nigeria, who put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the hapless
> > journalist. (Germaine Greer and other British-based feminists, unhappy
about
> > Miss World's decision to move the event to London, preferred to grouse
about
> > the beauty contest. The notion that the killers, looters and burners
should
> > be held accountable seems to have escaped notice.)
> > Meanwhile, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hashem Aghajari, a person
with
> > impeccable Islamist credentials - a leg lost in battle and a rsum that
> > includes being part of the occupying force that seized the Great Satan's
> > Tehran embassy back in the revolution's salad days - languishes under a
> > sentence of death imposed because he criticized the mullahs who run the
> > country. In Iran, you don't even have to have cheeky thoughts about the
> > prophet to be worthy of being killed. The hearts of true believers are
> > maddened a lot more easily than that. Thousands of young people across
the
> > country were immature enough to protest against Mr. Aghajari's sentence,
for
> > which the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, duly rebuked them.
(More
> > than 10,000 true believers marched through Tehran in support of
hard-line
> > Islam.)
> > Meanwhile, in Egypt, a hit television series, "Horseman Without a
Horse,"
> > has been offering up antiSemitic programming to a huge, eager audience.
That
> > old forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - a document
purporting
> > to prove that there really is a secret Jewish plot to take over the
world,
> > and which was proved long ago to have been faked by Czar Nicholas II's
> > secret police - is treated in this drama series as historical fact.
> > Yes, this is the same Egypt in which the media are rigorously censored
to
> > prevent anything that offends the authorities from seeing the light of
day.
> > But hold on just a moment. Here's the series' star and co-writer,
Mohammed
> > Sobhi, telling us that what is at stake is nothing less than free speech
> > itself, and if his lying show "terrified Zionists," well, tough. He'll
make
> > more programs in the same vein. Now there's a gutsy guy.
> > Finally, let's not forget the horrifying story of the Dutch Muslim
woman,
> > Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has had to flee the Netherlands because she said
that
> > Muslim men oppressed Muslim women, a vile idea that so outraged Muslim
men
> > that they issued death threats against her.
> > Is it unfair to bunch all these different uglinesses together? Perhaps.
But
> > they do have something in common. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was accused of being
"the
> > Dutch Salman Rushdie," Mr. Aghajari of being the Iranian version, Isioma
> > Daniel of being the Nigerian incarnation of the same demon.
> > A couple of months ago I said that I detested the sloganization of my
name
> > by Islamists around the world. I'm beginning to rethink that position.
Maybe
> > it's not so bad to be a Rushdie among other "Rushdies." For the most
part
> > I'm comfortable with, and often even proud of, the company I'm in.
> > Where, after all, is the Muslim outrage at these events? As their
ancient,
> > deeply civilized culture of love, art and philosophical reflection is
> > hijacked by paranoiacs, racists, liars, male supremacists, tyrants,
fanatics
> > and violence junkies, why are they not screaming?
> > At least in Iran the students are demonstrating. But where else in the
> > Muslim world can one hear the voices of the fair-minded, tolerant Muslim
> > majority deploring what Nigerian, Egyptian, Arab and Dutch Muslims are
> > doing? Muslims in the West, too, seem unnaturally silent on these
topics. If
> > you're yelling, we can't hear you.
> > If the moderate voices of Islam cannot or will not insist on the
> > modernization of their culture - and of their faith as well - then it
may be
> > these so-called "Rushdies" who have to do it for them. For every such
> > individual who is vilified and oppressed, two more, ten more, a thousand
> > more will spring up. They will spring up because you can't keep people's
> > minds, feelings and needs in jail forever, no matter how brutal your
> > inquisitions. The Islamic world today is being held prisoner, not by
Western
> > but by Islamic captors, who are fighting to keep closed a world that a
badly
> > outnumbered few are trying to open. As long as the majority remains
silent,
> > this will be a tough war to win. But in the end, or so we must hope,
someone
> > will kick down that prison door.
> >
> > Salman Rushdie is author, most recently, of "Step Across This Line."
> >
> > Copyright The New York Times Company | Permissions | Privacy Policy
> >
> > --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>
>
>
> --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>




--- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---