Étiquette : fundamentalism

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Khomeini’s blood terror targets Salman Rushdie

Auteur de l’article Par SiNedjib
Date de l’article 21/12/2020
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Article paru dans Workers Hammer, No 105, March 1989, p. 12-9

CENSORSHIP BY ASSASSINATION

When Ayatollah Khomeini issued his decree of death against novelist Salman Rushdie and the Viking/Penguin publishers of his Satanic Verses, a shudder spread around the world. Here was the ultimate statement of theocratic totalitarianism: not only must the book be banned, but its author executed for the « crime » of having written it. It was a throwback to the days when heretics were burned at the stake and witches boiled in oil. Suddenly the dark past of the Inquisition was no further than the local shopping centre. There it was, the benighted superstition of the Middle Ages in the middle of the Computer Age.

Étiquettes 1989, Afghanistan, Britain, censorship, fundamentalism, Iran, islam, racism, religion, Rouhollah Moussavi Khomeini, Salman Rushdie, Soviet Union, Spartacist League, violence, Workers Hammer

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Correspondence: The Satanic Verses Affair (2)

Auteur de l’article Par SiNedjib
Date de l’article 03/12/2020
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Lettre d’A. El Noor parue dans Solidarity. A Journal of Libertarian Socialism, 24, Summer 1990, p. 15-16

Obsessed with God’s Will

From A EL NOOR, London:

In my article ‘Who is afraid of Satan?‘ (Solidarity #21), I put forward the following ideas:
1. Capitalist technology undermines all traditional cultures and belief systems; 2. A traditionalist culture or belief system under threat will often defend itself by regressing to fundamentalism; 3. Religious fundamentalism is reactionary – spiritually, culturally, socially and politically; 4. A historical (and psychological) interpretation of religion is an essential component of the struggle against religious fundamentalism; 5. In the absence of a historical interpretation of religion people will accept a religious interpretation of history; 6. Atheist socialists and nationalists in Islamic societies have failed to produce and promote a historical interpretation of Islam; 7. Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses is a contribution to the struggle against Islam, which forms the major obstacle to spiritual, cultural, social and political progress in Islamic societies.

Étiquettes 1990, A. El-Noor, Alison Weir, correspondence, fundamentalism, history, islam, Liz Willis, London, religion, Salman Rushdie, Solidarity, United Kingdom

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Correspondence: The Satanic Verses Affair

Auteur de l’article Par SiNedjib
Date de l’article 01/12/2020
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Correspondance parue dans Solidarity. Journal of Libertarian Socialism, 22/23, Winter 1989-90, p. 20-22

Less than a great historical service

From ALISON WEIR, London:

In an extremely diffuse and ill-thought-out article (‘Who is Afraid of Satan?‘, Solidarity, Autumn 1989), ‘A El-Noor’ purports to address the possibility that Salman Rushdie has « set off a chain reaction of cultural criticism of religion in Islamic countries ». In addition, Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses has apparently « rendered Islamic civilisation a great historical service ». A El-Noor clearly wishes the Islamic countries well, and by ‘well’ he means that they should accommodate their need for scientific knowledge and technological expertise within the framework of Islam, or else abandon Islam. Not a very helpful or illuminating suggestion, if I may say so.

Étiquettes 1989, fatwa, fundamentalism, Iran, islam, London, religion, Rouhollah Moussavi Khomeini, Salman Rushdie, Solidarity

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Trends in Arab Thought: An Interview with Sadek Jalal al-Azm

Auteur de l’article Par SiNedjib
Date de l’article 21/09/2018
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Entretien de Sadik Jalal al-‘Azm par Abu Fakhr, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Winter, 1998), p. 68-80.

Abu Fakhr: You have stated that one of the errors of the Left was that it neglected the importance of civil society, democracy, human rights, secularism, and so on. At present, many are giving up the mantle of Marxism and enlisting in the ranks of the secularists as though they believed secularism could serve as a shield against religious fundamentalism [salafiyya]. Where do you believe we are headed in the near future?