open Democracy News Analysis - John le Carré hits the nail on the head, Guy Aitchison - Comments

britologywatch on "John le Carré hits the nail on the head"

britologywatch — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:56:23 +0000

Yes, but without wanting to repeat le Carré's and Rushdie's spat, Rushdie was a bit of a conceited and self-righteous p*** in his reactions to le Carré's critique; albeit that this in no justifies the fatwah against him.

Le Carré's words, I think, stand as a useful corrective to some of the patronising and prejudiced attitudes towards Islam that still inform much of the Western-liberal debate about fundamentalism / Islamism / terrorism, and surfaced again in the defence of Rushdie against the indignation that his nomination for a knighthood caused last year: "My purpose was not to justify the persecution of Rushdie . . . but to sound a less arrogant, less colonialist, and less self-righteous note than we were hearing from the safety of his admirers' camp".

Toque on "John le Carré hits the nail on the head"

Toque — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:44:09 +0000

Agreed. But it's a shame that he didn't take such a principled stance on freedom in support of Salman Rushdie.

John le Carré hits the nail on the head, Guy Aitchison

Guy Aitchison — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:55:49 +0000

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): He's not happy about the Government's ongoing assault on rights and freedoms and explains why ahead of the Lords vote on the 42 days:

"Partly, I'm angry that there is so little anger around me at what is being done to our society, supposedly in order to protect it," said the 76-year-old in an interview in Waterstone's magazine.

"We have been taken to war under false pretences, and stripped of our civil rights in an atmosphere of panic. Our lawyers don't take to the streets as they have done in Pakistan.

"Our MPs allow themselves to be deluded by their own spin doctors, and end up believing their own propaganda."

He added: "We haul our Foreign Secretary back from a mission to the Middle East so he can vote for 42 days' detention.

"People call me an angry old man. Screw them. You don't have to be old to be angry about that. We've sacrificed our sovereignty to a so-called 'special relationship' which has nothing special about it except to ourselves."

Hat-tip Craig Murray.