Sir Salman Rushdie

[john eden]

See above!

Anyway, that's still missing the point - how many authors, or would-be authors, have been intimidated into silence by the mere threat of a fatwa?

Thank you for the example. Clearly we will never know how many authors etc have been intimidated into silence by the threat of religious extremism of any kind.

I'm not one to call for cultural relativism, but I think it's fair to say that Christianity's death-wish manifests itself in a different way from Islam. For example Christian leaders don't actively call for people's death, but they do issue edicts about contraception that lead to many deaths. They also inspire bombings of abortion clinics.

This isn't to make light of fatwah's being issued (which is obviously something I oppose!) but to put things in perspective.

 

[IdleRich]

"I don't think anybody should get a knighthood."

Well, I agree (and I think that I alluded to that in the original post) but that is a separate debate isn't it?

"I'm just wondering if it's such a bad thing that the fatwa might have influenced the government's decision to knight Rushdie."

I also asked about this in the original post didn't I? It's inconceivable that they didn't consider the effects of his being knighted so what message were they trying to send out? Are they just saying we're taking a stand on free speech (which is implicit if they simply like his novels and aren't backing down or could be more explicit if they are picking him purely for that reason) or is it a deliberate provocation? If the latter then why?

 

[vimothy]

Info on Kasravi:

http://www.ghandchi.com/153-Kasravi.htm

 

[vimothy]

I also asked about this in the original post didn't I? It's inconceivable that they didn't consider the effects of his being knighted so what message were they trying to send out? Are they just saying we're taking a stand on free speech (which is implicit if they simply like his novels and aren't backing down or could be more explicit if they are picking him purely for that reason) or is it a deliberate provocation? If the latter then why?

Deliberate provocation of who? And given the government's track record of appeasement and collaboration with Islamist figures in the UK, is that likely? And what possible puspose would provoking Islamist rage serve?

 

[john eden]

When did Kasravi die? It's not clear from that link...

 

[vimothy]

He was shot by Hezbollah. The fatwa was issued by Khomeini.

 

[john eden]

It seems he died in 1946, is that correct?

 

[vimothy]

I think so, yes.

 

[adruu]

im surprised rushdie would accept! to be in the league of paul macartney, who would want to be a knight anyway! =)

plus, i expect serious writers to have some disdain for royalist pageantry. maybe the breakup with padma has left him in a bad way.

 

[IdleRich]

"Deliberate provocation of who? And given the government's track record of appeasement and collaboration with Islamist figures in the UK, is that likely? And what possible puspose would provoking Islamist rage serve?"

I don't know - those who don't like Rushdie. In the sense that they knew that certain people would go batshit and they did it anyway you can say it was a deliberate provocation (although don't worry I'm not really paranoid enough to think that that was the motivation).

 

[vimothy]

For other fatwa killings, see also:

Zahra Kazemi
Haji-Ali Razmara
Farag Foda
Daryoosh and Parvaneh Forouhar
Hitoshi Igarashi
Ettore Capriolo (attempted murder)
William Nygaard (ditto)

The last three were involved in the publishing and translation of the Satanic Verses.

 

[Lichen]

smug novelist.

I wonder about Salman's smugness. Is it unfortunate facial configuration? Or was he thinking:

"I go to bed with a goddess every night and I wrote "Naughty but nice" for the milk marketing board. Fuck all of you"

 

[crackerjack]

Even if he does deserve it should the powers that be have been more culturally sensitive and avoided honouring him?

No. Quite the opposite - they should've awarded one ages ago as a mark of solidarity.

Maybe they were deliberately relying on a rection in Iran to build up more reasons for an invasion (well, if I didn't say it someone else would have done)?

This is conspiratorial in the extreme.

Is the honours system just an outdated imperial relic anyway?

Hell yeah.

Re, the fatwa bit. Since Islam has no centralised structure can't any old imam issue a fatwa? If so, couldn't you add Theo van Gogh to the list of the dead?

 

[IdleRich]

Crackerjack, I ought to point out that I was asking those questions purely to start a debate, if you read through the thread you will see that I actually fully agree with you on this bit:

"No. Quite the opposite - they should've awarded one ages ago as a mark of solidarity."

And also I merely suggested the conspiracy thing to anticipate the more silly posters on here - I thought that should be clear from the bit in brackets.

And on this bit:

Is the honours system just an outdated imperial relic anyway?

Hell yeah.

I also agree.

 

[crackerjack]

Crackerjack, I ought to point out that I was asking those questions purely to start a debate, if you read through the thread you will see that I actually fully agree with you on this bit:

I thought you might be (if only cause they didn't seem in tandem with your regularly expressed views), but for the purpose of debate I took them at face value

 

[IdleRich]

Fair enough, that's what I thought, just wanted to make myself clear, that's the problem with these message board things I guess.

 

[mistersloane]

The prosecutions of gay news and the near prosecution of Crass didn't result in any knighthoods or support.

...but we're working on it...

 

[MATT MAson]

you can't have people baying for blood over a book.

That's what the whole planet has been doing for centuries though right? You're right, it's bullshit, and that's exactly why he should get a knighthood.

 

[crackerjack]

The committee that recommended Salman Rushdie for a knighthood did not discuss any possible political ramifications and never imagined that the award would provoke the furious response that it has done in parts of the Muslim world, the Guardian has learnt.

It also emerged yesterday that the writers' organisation that led the lobbying for the author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses to be knighted had originally hoped that the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2106966,00.html

Man, who do they get on these things and have any of them been watching the news in the last 20 years?

 

[IdleRich]

"The committee that recommended Salman Rushdie for a knighthood did not discuss any possible political ramifications and never imagined that the award would provoke the furious response that it has done in parts of the Muslim world, the Guardian has learnt."

I find that extremely hard to believe.