[R-G] Ali: Thinking of Edward Said

[Anthony Fenton]

Weekend Edition
December 24, 2007
A Fierce Independent Against Despotisms of Every Sort
Thinking of Edward Said
http://counterpunch.org/tariq12242007.html
By TARIQ ALI

I think of Edward Said often, especially, but not only, when I read  
of the sordid deals in which the PLO is engaged with Israel and its  
US backers. I miss Edward's impetuosity and righteous indignation. He  
would have had no truck with the shrivelled little Bantustans that  
the PLO wants to accept and would have morally destroyed the  
apologists for such a scheme or those intellectual fellow-travellers  
who think that defending the idea of a secular Palestine means  
remaining silent on the US-EU embargo on Hamas and who, exhausted by  
years of struggle and the receipt of handsome cheques from some  
corrupt NGO, are yearning for an accommodation with the enemy on  
almost any terms.

Already in his last writings Edward Said had supported the idea of a  
single state in Israel-Palestine and a break with the corruption and  
bankruptcy of the PLO. He may not have agreed with every dot and  
comma in Mearsheimer and Walt's magisterial work, 'The Israel Lobby',  
but he would have loudly applauded its publication for breaking a  
sacred taboo. His voice is greatly missed in these bad times.

That Said was an implacable opponent of the Zionist project and US  
imperial policies is not in doubt, but he was not a mindless opponent  
of all things American. He loved New York. It was his home and he  
knew it and it was no small matter. He would often talk about the  
city with great passion and humour.

Edward's colleagues at Columbia used to refer to his large office as  
the 'West Bank' and he appreciated the humour. Visiting Britain or  
France he was both enthusiastic on some levels (French intellectual  
history, for instance) and detached. He was an inquisitive tourist, a  
bon vivant fitting well Edward Gibbon's description of such a person  
who possesses a 'virtue which borders on a vice; the flexible temper  
which can assimilate itself to every tone of society from the court  
to the cottage; the happy flow of spirits which can amuse and be  
amused in every company and situation.'

Edward engaged with contemporary ideas happily but unlike some of his  
fans he did not try and compensate for the hollowness of a hole by  
constructing a hollow dome over it to both frame and enlarge the  
original. At the same time he was not one of those who feel that the  
20th century had erred in attaching too much importance to intellect  
and reason, conviction and character.

Horrible mistakes had been made by 'our side', crimes had been  
committed by Western civilization in the Congo and the judeocide of  
the Second World War which had made Western public opinion, belatedly  
regretting the genocide, now indifferent to Palestinian suffering.  
Sometimes in melancholic mood and feeling more insecure than usual he  
would need to be reassured that what he was doing was worthwhile.  
Posterity's tributes would have pleased him greatly.

The best way to honour his memory is to preserve a fierce  
independence against despotisms of every variety regardless of  
whether they clothe themselves in the uniform of democracy or  
bludgeon people into submission with a field-marshal's baton.

Tariq Ali's new book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, is  
published by Verso. He can be reached at: tariq.ali3 at btinternet.com