quarta-feira, 30 de agosto de 2006

Salman Rushdie: «Terror is glamour»

«(...)

Rushdie: There are many reasons, and many different reasons, for the worldwide phenomenon of terrorism. In Kashmir, some people are joining the so-called resistance movements because they give them warm clothes and a meal. In London, last year's attacks were still carried out by young Muslim men whose integration into society appeared to have failed. But now we are dealing with would-be terrorists from the middle of society. Young Muslims who have even enjoyed many aspects of the freedom that Western society offers them. It seems as though social discrimination no longer plays any role -- it's as though anyone could turn into a terrorist.


###

SPIEGEL: Leading British Muslims have written a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair claiming that the growing willingness to engage in terrorism is due to Bush's and Blair's policies in Iraq and in Lebanon. Are they completely wrong? Don't the atrocities of Abu Ghraib and the cynicism of Guantanamo contribute to extremism?

Rushdie: I'm no friend of Tony Blair's and I consider the Middle East policies of the United States and the UK fatal. There are always reasons for criticism, also for outrage. But there's one thing we must all be clear about: terrorism is not the pursuit of legitimate goals by some sort of illegitimate means. Whatever the murderers may be trying to achieve, creating a better world certainly isn't one of their goals. Instead they are out to murder innocent people. If the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, for example, were to be miraculously solved from one day to the next, I believe we wouldn't see any fewer attacks.

SPIEGEL: And yet there must be reasons, or at least triggers, for this terrible willingness to wipe out the lives of others -- and of oneself.

Rushdie: Lenin once described terrorism as bourgeois adventurism. I think there, for once, he got things right: That's exactly it. One must not negate the basic tenet of all morality -- that individuals are themselves responsible for their actions. And the triggers seem to be individual too. Upbringing certainly plays a major role there, imparting a misconceived sense of mission which pushes people towards "actions." Added to that there is a herd mentality once you have become integrated in a group and everyone continues to drive everyone else on and on into a forced situation. There's the type of person who believes his action will make mankind listen to him and turn him into a historic figure. Then there's the type who simply feels attracted to violence. And yes, I think glamour plays a role too.

SPIEGEL: Do you seriously mean that terrorism is glamorous?

Rushdie: Yes. Terror is glamour -- not only, but also. I am firmly convinced that there's something like a fascination with death among suicide bombers. Many are influenced by the misdirected image of a kind of magic that is inherent in these insane acts. The suicide bomber's imagination leads him to believe in a brilliant act of heroism, when in fact he is simply blowing himself up pointlessly and taking other peoples lives. There's one thing you mustn't forget here: the victims terrorized by radical Muslims are mostly other Muslims.

(...)

Rushdie: Fundamentalists of all faiths are the fundamental evil of our time. Almost all my friends are atheists -- I don't feel as though I'm an exception. If you take a look at history, you will find that the understanding of what is good and evil has always existed before the individual religions. The religions were only invented by people afterwards, in order to express this idea. I for one don't need a supreme "sacred" arbiter in order to be a moral being.

SPIEGEL: Perhaps not, but many people seem to need a god. Religions worldwide are experiencing a comeback. Striving for spirituality is more pronounced than ever. Is this a negative development in your opinion?

Rushdie: Yes.

SPIEGEL: That's a clear answer. But also offensive to many people.

Rushdie: In my opinion the word "spiritual" ought to be put on an index and banned from being used for say 50 years. The things that are put about as being "spiritual" -- it's unbelievable. It even goes as far as a spiritual lap dog and a spiritual shampoo.

SPIEGEL: You yourself once wrote: "We need answers to the unanswerable. Is this life all there is? The soul needs explanations, not rational ones but ones for the heart."

Rushdie: Of course there are things beyond material needs, we all sense that. For me the answers are simply not in the religious, heavenly realm. But I don't dictate to anyone what to believe and what not to. And I don't want that to be dictated to me either.

(...)»

(Salman Rushdie em entrevista à Der Spiegel.)

6 comentários :

João Moutinho disse...

Eu sou religioso mas o Salman Rushdie tem razão em algumas críticas que faz à Religião.

Ricardo Alves disse...

João,
nas detenções deste mês houve um rapaz de origem inglesa que se tinha convertido ao Islão seis meses antes. E no 7 de Julho, um dos quatro bombistas também era um convertido recente (2 anos?).

Anónimo disse...

João,

Olha um pouco para a História e verás que o catolicismo, se não estivesse minado pela secularização ocidental, amarraria bombas tal e qual - tal como no passado perseguiu judeus e infiéis.

Ricardo Alves disse...

João,
o facto mais relevante nesses casos (que permanecem raros mas estão a aumentar) não será o serem muçulmanos mas o terem-se convertido ao Islão. É que parece que já temos casos de europeus que aderem ao Islão directamente para grupos próximos do terrorismo...

Ricardo Alves disse...

João,
1. Há grupos políticos que usam o bombismo suicida e que não são religiosos. É o caso dos Tigres Tamil no Sri Lanka (que são hindus), de alguns grupos palestinianos e libaneses onde se incluem cristãos, e do PKK (que é marxista-leninista).

2. Eu estava a sublinhar que há conversões ao Islão que parecem já ser intencionalmente dirigidas para a militância terrorista. E aí, começa a ser difícil dizer se são «conversões» religiosas ou adesões «políticas». (Se é que há diferença no caso do islamismo...)

3. Eu penso que o Rushdie estava a chamar a atenção para a diversificação das origens dos terroristas. No RU, já não são apenas jovens de origem paquistanesa de cidades insalubres do norte. São pessoas que não tiveram qualquer experiência de discriminação, como é o caso de jovens conservadores de origem inglesa...

Ricardo Alves disse...

«Umar Islam, 28, (born Brian Young), of Chairborough Road, High Wycombe

Mr Islam is believed to have converted to Islam two or three years ago.

(...)

Mrs Dhanjal said the Young family were West Indians who are understood to be Christian by belief.

(...)

Abdul Waheed (born Don Stewart-Whyte), 21, of Hepplewhite Close, High Wycombe

One of two suspects known to have converted to Islam, which he is said to have done six months ago, when he also changed his name to Abdul Waheed.

He is the son of a Tory Party agent, Doug Stewart-Whyte, who died nine years ago. The art student went to the prestigious Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Chesham.»

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2308722,00.html

Cada vez mais assustador, han?