speech and respect - College of Social Sciences and International ...

The Struggle for Respect
fires: "What Khomeini has just done with revolting cynicism is
exactly what 1 fear ... the invasion of Europe by a Muslim
immigration." 45
Muslim actions and threats seriously impeded distribution of the
book (while simultaneously increasing sales). The British Library put
it on "restricted" locked shelves. Arsonists firebombed Collets Penguin
bookshop on Charing Cross Road, persuading the chain to
remove the book, and damaged a Dillon's store. The fatwa scared
large American chains like Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks
and many independents into withdrawing the book, but most
resumed selling it. After the bombing of a small newspaper that had
defended Rushdie, Senator Daniel Moynihan denounced "intellectual
terrorism" and sponsored a resolution: "Let it be understood in
the parts of the world from whence such threats emanate: We are not
intimidated and the resources of civilization against its enemies are
not exhausted." Rushdie's French and German publishers dropped
the book, citing threats, but announced that consortia would bring
out translations. In Italy Muslims severely wounded his translator,
burned a bookshop, and threatened to blow up the Ravenna monument
to Dante, who had consigned Mohammed to the ninth pit of
hell 700 years earlier. The Japanese translator was stabbed to death.
A year after publication, when a paperback version normally would
have been in press, a memo from the board of directors of Viking
Penguin's parent corporation urged delay: "Some principles have to
be fought to the death, but I am quite clear this isn't one of them." Six
months later, however, Rushdie protested that failure to issue the
paperback would mean that he and the publisher "in some sense
have been defeated by the campaign against the book." 46
Britain was profoundly polarised. The Bradford Council of
Mosques, unscathed during the previous decade, was attacked four
times, while its president was threatened and his home vandalised.
Rushdie's name became a taunt, used by white children against
Blacks and white sports fans against Bradford City supporters.
Warders forced Muslim prisoners to listen to passages from The
Satanic Verses. Walls in Muslim areas were defaced with graffiti
reading: "Rushdie rules," "Kill a Muslim for Christmas," and even
"Gas the Muslims." 47 These attacks helped to unify the fragmented
Muslim community and inspire cultural pride, intensifying demands
for halal food in schools and single-sex education. 48 On May 27,
30,000 Muslims marched from Hyde Park to Parliament Square
carrying banners reading:
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