Clerical Fascism & Totalitarianism

[Charles Jannuzi]

And there is this from our recent Nobel laureate in literature (I much
prefer his literary journalism to his fiction, except the early and most
recent fiction). Is VSN, who is so humane in his carefully crafted, edited
books but rather outspoken in public statements, getting at 'clerical
fascism' here? For one thing, this statement follows up on his fairly recent
book about Islam in the non-Arab countries ('Beyond Belief', 1998, lots of
good material on Iran and Pakistan here). Perhaps what he is really getting
at is the mortmain of religious Arab colonialism that goes back to the
middle ages but finds continuity with Saudi involvement in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.

Charles Jannuzi

Guardian article with outbursts from VS Naipaul follows:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4269970,00.html

VS Naipaul launches attack on Islam
Fiachra Gibbons, arts correspondent
Guardian

Thursday October 4, 2001

The novelist VS Naipaul has caused an outcry by comparing the "calamitous
effect" of Islam on the world with colonialism.

Sir Vidia, born in Trinidad of Indian parentage, who travelled extensively
in the Muslim world for his books Among the Believers and Beyond Belief,
launched his attack after a reading of his new book, Half a Life, at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Islam, he claimed, had both enslaved and attempted to wipe out other
cultures."It has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be
converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to
stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it
doesn't matter'."

Sir Vidia claimed what he called "this abolition of the self demanded by
Muslims was worse than the similar colonial abolition of identity. It is
much, much worse in fact... You cannot just say you came out of nothing."

He argued that Pakistan was the living proof of the damage Islam could
wreak.

"The story of Pakistan is a terror story actually. It started with a poet
who thought that Muslims were so highly evolved that they should have a
special place in India for themselves.

"This wish to sift countries of unnecessary and irrelevant populations is
terrible and this is exactly what happened in Pakistan."

Ahmed Versi, editor of the Muslim News, said Naipaul's outburst showed just
how deep his ignorance of Islam was.

"What he says may shock many people here, but it comes as no surprise to
those of us who have read his books. He is basically a Hindu nationalist,
who has a deep dislike of Muslims, and that is where he is coming from."

 Guardian Unlimited c Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001