The Iconoclast

Salman Rushdie discusses free speech, fundamentalism, America's place in the world, and his new essay collection

Shikha Dalmia from the August/September 2005 issue

(Page 2 of 4)

Rushdie: The idea of universal rights--the idea of rights that are universal to all people because they correspond to our natures as human beings, not to where we live or what our cultural background is--is an incredibly important one. This belief is being challenged by apostles of cultural relativism who refuse to accept that such rights exist. If you look at those who employ this idea, it turns out to be Robert Mugabe, the leaders of China, the leaders of Singapore, the Taliban, Ayatollah Khomeini. It is a dangerous belief that everything is relative and therefore these people should be allowed to kill because it's their culture to kill.

���� I think we live in a bad age for the free speech argument. Many of us have internalized the censorship argument, which is that it is better to shut people up than to let them say things that we don't like. This is a dangerous slippery slope, because people of good intentions and high principles can see censorship as a way of advancing their cause and not as a terrible mistake. Yet bad ideas don't cease to exist by not being expressed. They fester and become more powerful.

Reason: The fatwa was in some ways a precursor to September 11. It was the clearest indication of the threat Islamic fundamentalism posed to freedom, pluralism, secularism, and everything we love about the West. You called on Western leaders at that time to unite to defeat the forces of tyranny and terrorism, the "witch-burners" as you called them, pointing out that this was not about religion but about domination and control. Did the West respond?

Rushdie: Pretty slowly. I think eventually it did. One of the things that was interesting was that on both sides of that argument there were people who wanted to describe this as an exceptional event. People who were on my side wished to say that this was an exceptionally horrible attack on a writer and therefore required exceptional resources to defend it. People who were not on my side said that I had done something so exceptionally horrible that the rules of free speech didn't apply. But on both sides of the argument, there was a desire not to make it typical of anything. It didn't prove that Islam was against free speech. It was just against this horrible abuse of it. It didn't prove that there was a large problem of this sort. It just proved that a particularly insane dying religious leader had made a particularly insane fanatical threat.

���� And when I tried to say that this is not just me, that it is happening in a lot of places to a lot of writers and you need to look at that larger phenomenon, it was often seen as special pleading. This was seen as me trying to attach my case to others to justify myself. It was very difficult to get anyone to see that there was a growing phenomenon that needed to be taken seriously: the attempt to control thought.

���� This is at the front line of Islamic radicalism. There are all kinds of things that come behind it. You know what [Iranian sociologist] Ali Shariati called the "revolt against history." That's the project of tyranny and unreason which wishes to freeze a certain view of Islamic culture in time and silence the progressive voices in the Muslim world calling for a free and prosperous future.

���� People weren't interested in hearing about this at the time. And then along comes 9/11, and now many people say that, in hindsight, the fatwa was the prologue and this is the main event.

Reason: You wrote an essay criticizing President Bush and other Western leaders for claiming after 9/11 that "this is not about Islam." In what way is this about Islam?

Rushdie: Well, you know, that was said for good reasons. It was said to minimize the backlash against Muslims. But just in terms of actual fact, it is absurd. It is not about football.

���� The fact that it is about a particular idea of Islam that many Muslims would reject does not mean it is not about Islam. The Christian Coalition is still about Christianity, even if it's an idea of Christianity that many Christians might not go along with.

Reason: What they mean is that it is not about Islam properly understood. That it is about certain extreme followers of Islam who might not be interpreting the religion correctly.

Rushdie: Yes, but Wahhabi Islam is becoming very powerful these days. To say that it is not about Islam is to not take the world as it really is.

Reason: They are trying to make sure that Islam does not become synonymous with terrorism in the public mind.

Rushdie: Of course, there is nothing intrinsic linking any religion with any act of violence. The crusades don't prove that Christianity was violent. The Inquisition doesn't prove that Christianity tortures people. But that Christianity did torture people. This Islam did carry out this attack.

���� I think there is a desire, for virtuous reasons, to make this disassociation. You can respect those reasons, but there is a problem of truth. It reminds me a little bit of what Western socialists used to say during the worst excesses of the Soviet Union. They would say that that's not really socialism. There is a real socialism that is about liberty, social justice, and so on, but that tyrannical regime over there which was actually existing socialism is not really Marxism. The problem was that that's what there was. When that fell, in a way that whole intellectual construct of socialism fell with it. It became very difficult to ignore all these people coming out of the Soviet Union who detested the term socialism, because to them it meant tyranny. I think there is beginning to be that kind of disconnect in the discourse about Islam. There is an actually existing Islam which is not at all likeable.

Comments

levitra|10.11.10 @ 5:41PM|#

Looking forward to see thi stff

nfl jerseys|11.7.10 @ 11:39PM|#

myrhyr

CHEAPWOMEN UGG BOOTS|11.24.10 @ 4:42AM|#

the best added Cheap women Uggs defended effectively advance their anxiety really hot. The Ugg Sheepskin Boots global is used as a synonym for any architecture

CHEAPWOMEN UGG BOOTS|11.24.10 @ 4:51AM|#

used once again as respectful of surprise in the best contemporary boutique selling Ugg Sheepskin Boots us, boots admire. And might not be as plentiful Cheap women Uggs agreement

flowers delivery usa|12.5.10 @ 11:10AM|#

I wanted to say that flowers delivery usa is another good topic for this blog. Why not add a couple of posts?

pimples|1.27.11 @ 2:01AM|#

I have subscribed to your amazing feed, Expecting to get great updates!!

دردشة|1.27.11 @ 2:17AM|#

Thank you, my dear on this important topic You can also browse my site and I am honored to do this site for songs
http://www.a6rbna.com
This website is for travel to Malaysia
http://www.m-arabi.com

منتدى العرب|3.9.11 @ 6:31PM|#

Thank you

منتدى العرب|3.9.11 @ 7:23PM|#

Thank you

دردشة عراقنا |4.24.11 @ 4:28PM|#

thnx you

دردشه عراقيه|4.27.11 @ 10:50AM|#

Thank you, my dear on this important topic You can also browse my site and I am honored to do this site for songs
http://www.iraq3.com
This website is for travel to Malaysia
http://www.iraq3.com/vb

دردشة عراقية|4.27.11 @ 10:50AM|#

Thank you, my dear on this important topic You can also browse my site and I am honored to do this site for songs
http://www.iraq3.com
This website is for travel to Malaysia
http://www.iraq3.com/vb

Rent Car in Egypt|5.9.11 @ 6:48AM|#

thank you

ايجار سيارات مصر|5.16.11 @ 7:14AM|#

thanks

دردشة العراق|5.21.11 @ 4:00PM|#

thnx u man

قبلة الوداع|8.12.11 @ 10:57PM|#

thank u man

دردشة عراقنا|8.14.11 @ 7:04AM|#

thnx u

منتديات العراق|8.15.11 @ 8:25PM|#

thanks

http://www.iraqn.com/
http://www.v9f.net/chat

عراقنا|10.5.11 @ 8:37PM|#

Thanks

مهرجان|10.17.11 @ 2:39PM|#

Thanks

تركى|10.17.11 @ 2:41PM|#

Thanks