The Politics of Dispossesion
I recently came across this brilliant book by Edward Said thanks to my uncle who is a Professor of English Litetature here in Bangalore. Edward Said was one of the greatest thinkers of our generation, a Palestinian by birth, who grew up in Cairo & the US, and till recently, was a professor of literature at Columbia University, New York. He was an outspoken critic and an unfailing humanist of both Israel's aggressive Zionist movement and America's (and the world at large) uncaring attitude towards the millions of dispossesed Palestinians. Said is critical of the immaturity of the PLO, and its leader Yasser Arafat. The book itself is an eminently readable, almost riveting account of the history of the Palestinian state, or what remains of it, interspersed with some personal experiences and encounters, including an interesting conversation with Salman Rushdie on the occasion of the release of his book After the Last Sky. His other works include the classics The Question of Palestine and Orientalism (this would perhaps be my next read). Thomas Friedman's Beirut to Jerusalem is another classic on this subject; Friedman was a middle-east correspondent for over two decades.
I recently came across this brilliant book by Edward Said thanks to my uncle who is a Professor of English Litetature here in Bangalore. Edward Said was one of the greatest thinkers of our generation, a Palestinian by birth, who grew up in Cairo & the US, and till recently, was a professor of literature at Columbia University, New York. He was an outspoken critic and an unfailing humanist of both Israel's aggressive Zionist movement and America's (and the world at large) uncaring attitude towards the millions of dispossesed Palestinians. Said is critical of the immaturity of the PLO, and its leader Yasser Arafat. The book itself is an eminently readable, almost riveting account of the history of the Palestinian state, or what remains of it, interspersed with some personal experiences and encounters, including an interesting conversation with Salman Rushdie on the occasion of the release of his book After the Last Sky. His other works include the classics The Question of Palestine and Orientalism (this would perhaps be my next read). Thomas Friedman's Beirut to Jerusalem is another classic on this subject; Friedman was a middle-east correspondent for over two decades.
Here is an interesting, almost reflective, excerpt from Said on the identity crisis developing in Palestine in the post 1967 war (In May 1967, Egypt and Syria took a number of steps which led Israel to believe that an Arab attack was imminent. Gamal Abdul Nasser ordered a withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Forces (UNEF) stationed on the Egyptian-Israeli border, thus removing the international buffer between Egypt and Israel which had existed since 1957. Egypt announced a blockade of all goods bound to and from Israel through the Straits of Tiran. Israel had held since 1957 that another Egyptian blockade of the Tiran Straits would justify Israeli military action to maintain free access to the port of Eilat. Syria increased border clashes with Israel along the Golan Heights and mobilized its troops. Against this backdrop, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt on June 5, 1967 and captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Despite an Israeli appeal to Jordan to stay out of the conflict, Jordan attacked Israel and lost control of the West Bank and the eastern sector of Jerusalem. Israel went on to capture the Golan Heights from Syria.). Said spells out how Palestinian nationalist movement reached newer heights after this war, and although he is careful about analogies between individual and collective identities, this description was seemingly apt:
Only in ill-health does one realize the intricacies of the body; only in a crisis, individual or historical, does it become obvious what a sensitive combination of interrelated factors the human personality is - a combination of capacities created in the distant past and of opportunities divined in the present; a combination of totally unconcious preconditions developed in individual growth and of social conditions created and re-created in the precarious interplay of generations.
Along the same lines, Noam Chomsky has been one of America's best-known intellectuals and the world's most famous critic of American political culture, and the new face of American imperialism. According to Chomsky, "Americans have a tendency to gloss over their government's multitudenal historical mistakes and make "self-serving reconstructions" of the past. While denying their own government's history, Americans tend to "recall with great horror the misdeeds of political enemies."
Along the same lines, Noam Chomsky has been one of America's best-known intellectuals and the world's most famous critic of American political culture, and the new face of American imperialism. According to Chomsky, "Americans have a tendency to gloss over their government's multitudenal historical mistakes and make "self-serving reconstructions" of the past. While denying their own government's history, Americans tend to "recall with great horror the misdeeds of political enemies."
Every Second Counts
Due to a 3 hr flight delay at Bombay (I had gone to visit my very good friends S. & D.) last weekend, I ended up finishing Lance Armstrong's Every Second Counts. His first book It is not about the Bike: My Journey back to Life is an amazing book. And frankly, this book wasn't a let down at all, I thought. Although non-enthusiasts of cycling might find things a trifle boring, the details of his subsequent Tour De France victories kept me quite engrossed. His work with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is really impressive, although I felt sad with the recent turns his personal life (and his wife's) has taken.
No comments:
Post a Comment