UK: KNIGHTHOOD
published in B&E 28/06/07
To ‘Sir’ with hate!
Provoking Iran, British style
“How fragile civilisation is… How easily and merrily a book burns!” wrote Salman Rushdie way back in 1988, in response to the burning of Satanic Verses by British Muslims. Fatwa & fame have been following him like a shadow, confining his existence either as an ‘apostate’ for Islamists or a loyal servant of Britain. It is uncommon for authors to be used & misused in a broader international political game. But Rushdie has willy-nilly allowed himself to be a tool in the long-standing dispute between the West and Iran. When the world was on the verge of forgetting Rushdie and Iran was ready to forgive his alleged misdemeanours, the British establishment has rekindled the dormant indignation in Iran, Pakistan and other Muslim nations against the author, by blatantly conferring on him the much coveted knighthood. “Any more violence related to Rushdie affair from any section is certainly unpardonable & unacceptable,” Nadeem Ahmed, a Dubai based journalist, told B&E. What was the urgency to confer on the controversial author the prefix ‘Sir’? With the Iran-UK relations in doldrums over the nuclear issue and the recent capture & subsequent release of British marines by the Iranian navy, one would have expected the outgoing Prime Minster Tony Blair to avoid pin-pricking the Iranians. Moreover, with sectarian tempers hitting an all time high in Britain and almost routine aspersions being cast on the loyalty of the British Muslims to their adopted country, resurrecting Rushdie is certainly an ill-timed move. The only path left for the English establishment is to rectify the mistake and re-establish its secular credentials by honouring Dan Brown, the author of Da Vinci Code, with the title of Sir.. If only Rushdie had realized how petty and vindictive the coloniser is and how easily human existence is smoked out by Western bombing. Perhaps he would have then refused to accept knighthood.
“How fragile civilisation is… How easily and merrily a book burns!” wrote Salman Rushdie way back in 1988, in response to the burning of Satanic Verses by British Muslims. Fatwa & fame have been following him like a shadow, confining his existence either as an ‘apostate’ for Islamists or a loyal servant of Britain. It is uncommon for authors to be used & misused in a broader international political game. But Rushdie has willy-nilly allowed himself to be a tool in the long-standing dispute between the West and Iran. When the world was on the verge of forgetting Rushdie and Iran was ready to forgive his alleged misdemeanours, the British establishment has rekindled the dormant indignation in Iran, Pakistan and other Muslim nations against the author, by blatantly conferring on him the much coveted knighthood. “Any more violence related to Rushdie affair from any section is certainly unpardonable & unacceptable,” Nadeem Ahmed, a Dubai based journalist, told B&E. What was the urgency to confer on the controversial author the prefix ‘Sir’? With the Iran-UK relations in doldrums over the nuclear issue and the recent capture & subsequent release of British marines by the Iranian navy, one would have expected the outgoing Prime Minster Tony Blair to avoid pin-pricking the Iranians. Moreover, with sectarian tempers hitting an all time high in Britain and almost routine aspersions being cast on the loyalty of the British Muslims to their adopted country, resurrecting Rushdie is certainly an ill-timed move. The only path left for the English establishment is to rectify the mistake and re-establish its secular credentials by honouring Dan Brown, the author of Da Vinci Code, with the title of Sir.. If only Rushdie had realized how petty and vindictive the coloniser is and how easily human existence is smoked out by Western bombing. Perhaps he would have then refused to accept knighthood.
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