A
commitment to freedom of expression that is more
substantive than waffle is never easy. The 'free
speech' tradition is small in comparison to the
'free speech but' school. Because the struggle to
push back the boundaries of censorship is so difficult
it steels those who wage it and are prepared to
stick with it. It would need to. How otherwise could
we defend the right to a political opinion for those
who hold some of the views that Irshad Manji does?
In a
New York Times piece she wrote of how
she learned to love the Israeli apartheid wall.
(Ed's note: See clarification below.)
My
position is on the other side of the intellectual
globe from hers. Although my five year old daughter
is told she can use whatever language she wants
to describe her feelings or attitudes towards others
but the word 'hate', I have chosen to abandon the
good example and state clearly that I hate the apartheid
wall. I didn't learn to hate it. I have hated it
since I first learned it was being considered as
a means of further slamming Palestinians into the
dirt and dust of their already grossly violated
territory. It appalls me that Irshad Manji who demands
the right to be free from what she calls Islamic
totalitarianism can love such a human rights negating
fiendish construction as this diabolical wall. It
is impossible to reconcile her professed belief
in universal human rights with her love for the
wall.
Irshad
Manji was born in 1968. Her parents fled to Canada
when she was four to escape the brutal regime of
Idi Amin's Uganda. In 1990, she graduated from the
University of British Columbia, with a degree in
intellectual history. A lesbian, in 1998 she started
hosting Queer Television in Toronto. She is currently
based at Yale University as a Visiting Fellow with
the International Security Studies program. A fierce
defender of Women's freedoms and critic of what
she sees as a tendency within Islam towards misogyny
she vociferously draws attention to the findings
of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, which found
that in one year alone 1,200 women were murdered
in honour killings, claiming that it amounted to
twice as many detainees than are being held at Guantanamo
Bay. In one sense, the Danish cartoon asking the
Prophet Mohammed is he daft or dumb is a play on
Christ's appeal from the Cross at Calvary: 'Father,
why hast thou forsaken me?' It expresses anxiety
that the divine is not for intervening.
On
learning of Irshad Manji's passionate appeal on
behalf of her own sex, I could not prevent my mind
drifting to the eight year old Palestinian girl
butchered by Israeli troops as she engaged in nothing
more sinister than going on a journey to have eight
stitches removed from her chin. Who will sign manifestos
against totalitarianism on her behalf?
A
believing Muslim, Irshad Manji is deeply critical
of the culture of Islamic faith and not merely its
more fundamentalist dimensions. 'I am turning the
mirror on the mainstream and not just on the radical
fringe.' Author of the widely distributed book,
The
Trouble With Islam Today she claims that Muslims
must share the blame for the way Islam oppresses
women and promotes hatred of non-Muslims, in particular
Jews. She rejects the notion that Islam is an innocent
bystander when theocratic fascism inflicts its slaughter
on the innocent. Since the publication of the book
she has become a figure of international renown.
She demands that Muslims think about the problems
posed when faith becomes dogma, arguing that Islam
needs to accept that there are sins of scripture.
Civilizational
progress happens when individuals transgress, even
blaspheme. Galileo offended the Church. So did Darwin.
Spinoza royally offended many rabbis. The concept
of universal human rights offends most religions.
Without offence, there is only silence - and therefore
groupthink.
With
such ardent views it is not surprising to learn
that the New York Times has lauded her as
'Osama Bin Laden's worst nightmare.' She regularly
globetrots to lecture on the need to liberalise
Islam. Such exposure to publicity has ensured she
is the recipient of frequent death threats and is
often labelled an agent of the 'Zionist conspiracy.'
Much
of her time is given to Project Ijtihad, the aim
of which is to establish a network to encourage
young, reform-minded Muslims to embrace ijtihad,
a tradition within Islam of independent thinking,
lost to the culture after the 15th century collapse
of the Muslim empire. She asserts her passion for
promoting democratic values over theocratic ones,
and universal human rights over
cultural relativism.
In
response to the criticism that the Manifesto Against
Totalitarianism signed by her and eleven others
is too broad in that it targets Islam rather than
Islamism she urges:
Read
the Manifesto. We state forthrightly that critiquing
Islamism should not be confused with stigmatizing
Muslims. We also emphasize that Muslims are not
to be denied equality and freedom. All of this amounts
to a defence of those who practice Islam peacefully.
It's those who impose Islamism - on Muslims no less
than on non-Muslims - whom we are challenging.
She
believes that the context for the production of
the Danish cartoons was frustration rather than
malice, the outcome of failed attempts by an author
to find an illustrator for his book aimed at promoting
religious tolerance. Flagging up the hypocrisy surrounding
the affair, she recounts a tale of attending the
World Economic Forum in January at which she observed
something 'revealing.' A cartoonist caricatured
Christian fundamentalist bigot Pat Robertson. 'In
the audience, chuckling with the rest of us, was
a prominent British Muslim. But his smile disappeared
the moment we were shown a cartoon that ridiculed
Muslim clerics.'
It
is in drawing out such contradictions and inconsistencies
that Irshad Manji makes a valuable contribution
to a wider public understanding. Her views on the
apartheid wall, while abhorrent to me, are no reason
to contend that the baby of universal human rights
should be thrown out with the bathwater of reaction.
You
can find out more about Irshad Manji at her website:
Muslim
Refusenik
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Irshad Manji's representative clarifies
Irshad has never claimed to "love" the
wall; that sentiment was attributed to her article
by the headline from the New York Times, which she
had no control over.
The
writer of the profile misrepresents Irshad's views
on the Israeli wall. Irshad NEVER says that she
"loves" the wall. She states the opposite;
that she looks forward to the day when the wall
will no longer be in the West Bank. She also challenges
her fellow Muslims to stop the culture of suicide
bombing that led to the wall in the first place.
It
is the editors of the New York Times who gave her
article the unfortunate and misleading title of
"How
I Learned to Love The Wall." She had no
control over the title given. She is responsible
for the content of the article, and in it she makes
perfectly clear that she is at best ambivalent about
the wall.
Please
bring this to Mr. McIntyre's attention. He may still
disagree with her ambivalence or her analysis. Fair
enough; but to assert that she loves the wall is
patently untrue and only mimics the sloppiness of
the NY Times editors. - Adriana Salvia • 20
March 2006
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