Samstag, 26. August 2006
Edward Said, nochmal
Edward Said war für mich immer eine Stimme der Vernunft, des Sachverstandes und viele, auch ich, vermissen ihn schmerzlich.
Besonders solche Stimmen, die sich zu kontroversen Themen notwendiger Weise kontrovers äussern müssen, weil es die Redlichkeit verlangt, werden nach ihrem Tod gelegentlich von extremen Stimmen aus allen Lagern missbraucht. Was würde X sagen, wenn er heute noch leben würde? Darauf folgt dann oft ein aus dem Kontext gerissenes Zitat oder eine gedankliche Vereinfachung mit dem Ziel, den Verstorbenen für die eigene Sache in den Zeugenstand zu rufen. Besonders gern wird das gemacht, wenn den eigenen Ausführungen zu viel Pathos und zu wenig Logos inne wohnt. So kann man den eigenen Gedankenbrei wenigstens noch mit einer Prise Ethos würzen.
Edward Said lebte aber noch lange genug, um sich über den Krieg der Neocons gegen den Irak selbst zu äussern. Und für das, was da vor sich ging und bis zum heutigen Tag anhält, fand er klare Worte:
"I have been criticised recently for my anti-war position by illiterates who claim that what I say is an implied defence of Saddam Hussein and his appalling regime. To my Kuwaiti critics, do I need to remind them that I publicly opposed Ba'athi Iraq during the only visit I made to Kuwait in 1985, when in an open conversation with the then Minister of Education Hassan Al-Ibrahim I accused him and his regime of aiding and abetting Arab fascism in their financial support of Saddam Hussein? I was told then that Kuwait was proud to have committed billions of dollars to Saddam's war against "the Persians", as they were then contemptuously called, and that it was a more important struggle than someone like me could comprehend. I remember clearly warning those Kuwaiti acolytes of Saddam Hussein about him and his ill will against Kuwait, but to no avail. I have been a public opponent of the Iraqi regime since it came to power in the 70s: I never visited the place, never was fooled by its claims to secularism and modernisation (even when many of my contemporaries either worked for or celebrated Iraq as the main gun in the Arab arsenal against Zionism, a stupid idea, I thought), never concealed my contempt for its methods of rule and fascist behaviour. And now when I speak my mind about the ridiculous posturing of certain members of the Iraqi opposition as hapless strutting tools of US imperialism, I am told that I know nothing about life without democracy (about which more later), and am therefore unable to appreciate their nobility of soul.
Der vollständige Arikel ist hier zu finden
Lesenswert, wie alles von Edward Said, ist auch The Appalling Consequences are Now Clear - What is Happening in the United States?
Besonders solche Stimmen, die sich zu kontroversen Themen notwendiger Weise kontrovers äussern müssen, weil es die Redlichkeit verlangt, werden nach ihrem Tod gelegentlich von extremen Stimmen aus allen Lagern missbraucht. Was würde X sagen, wenn er heute noch leben würde? Darauf folgt dann oft ein aus dem Kontext gerissenes Zitat oder eine gedankliche Vereinfachung mit dem Ziel, den Verstorbenen für die eigene Sache in den Zeugenstand zu rufen. Besonders gern wird das gemacht, wenn den eigenen Ausführungen zu viel Pathos und zu wenig Logos inne wohnt. So kann man den eigenen Gedankenbrei wenigstens noch mit einer Prise Ethos würzen.
Edward Said lebte aber noch lange genug, um sich über den Krieg der Neocons gegen den Irak selbst zu äussern. Und für das, was da vor sich ging und bis zum heutigen Tag anhält, fand er klare Worte:
"I have been criticised recently for my anti-war position by illiterates who claim that what I say is an implied defence of Saddam Hussein and his appalling regime. To my Kuwaiti critics, do I need to remind them that I publicly opposed Ba'athi Iraq during the only visit I made to Kuwait in 1985, when in an open conversation with the then Minister of Education Hassan Al-Ibrahim I accused him and his regime of aiding and abetting Arab fascism in their financial support of Saddam Hussein? I was told then that Kuwait was proud to have committed billions of dollars to Saddam's war against "the Persians", as they were then contemptuously called, and that it was a more important struggle than someone like me could comprehend. I remember clearly warning those Kuwaiti acolytes of Saddam Hussein about him and his ill will against Kuwait, but to no avail. I have been a public opponent of the Iraqi regime since it came to power in the 70s: I never visited the place, never was fooled by its claims to secularism and modernisation (even when many of my contemporaries either worked for or celebrated Iraq as the main gun in the Arab arsenal against Zionism, a stupid idea, I thought), never concealed my contempt for its methods of rule and fascist behaviour. And now when I speak my mind about the ridiculous posturing of certain members of the Iraqi opposition as hapless strutting tools of US imperialism, I am told that I know nothing about life without democracy (about which more later), and am therefore unable to appreciate their nobility of soul.
Der vollständige Arikel ist hier zu finden
Lesenswert, wie alles von Edward Said, ist auch The Appalling Consequences are Now Clear - What is Happening in the United States?
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