Poetry of the Taliban: “a brave and useful project”? Bollocks!
There’s a first time for everything: the Graun publishes a letter from yours truly (though they did edit out my use of the term “clerical fascist” and the print version omits the final paragraph):
Dear Guardian,
It is not necessary to be either a supporter of the war in Afghanistan or an opponent of free speech to find the publication of Poetry of the Taliban, and Robin Yassin-Kassab’s puff-piece for it (The gentle, flowery side of the Taliban, G2, 14 May), sickening. Lest we forget, this is an ultra-reactionary movement [edited out: I would argue, clerical fascist] whose agenda involves the denial of elementary human rights to 50% of the Afghan population. UN Women and Amnesty International have for some time been expressing concern at the evident willingness of western governments, in the name of peace, to sacrifice the already fragile women’s rights established following the overthrow of the Taliban.
Reaching a workable peace settlement may well involve some horrible concessions to these implacable mysogynists and enemies of human rights, but let’s not prettify them in the name of some relativist glorification of “the Other”.
Jim Denham
Birmingham
______________________________________________________________________
Guardianists and other relativists must always be reminded of this;
T. Marshal-Nichols said,
May 15, 2012 at 6:11 am
Did you see a prepublication copy of the book before you condemned it? After all it is to be published on May 17.
Monsuer Jelly est Formidable said,
May 15, 2012 at 7:51 am
thick tosser.
Jim Denham said,
May 15, 2012 at 7:17 am
No I didn’t. But I do know the record of the Taliban.
I haven’t read Mein Kampf either, but – and maybe this is presumptious – somehow feel able to condemn it, even so.
Geoff Collier said,
May 15, 2012 at 8:44 am
Clearly, it’s not a matter of poetic quality that determines a poem’s quality. That’s what people seemed to be saying about Sean Matgamna anyway
Geoff Collier said,
May 15, 2012 at 8:59 am
This is what poetry should be like
There was an old lefty called Jim
Who thought the rest of us dim
But he’d seen the light
Following old Sean to the right
And outdid just every little whim
Clive said,
May 15, 2012 at 10:21 am
There once was a bloke name of Geoff
Who thought he was perfectly left
But his lines didn’t scan
And they had no elan
Less left, then, but rather tone deaf
lostbutnotreturning said,
May 15, 2012 at 11:19 am
i agree….
as a revolutionary socialist i think we need to sharpen and clarify who”we”have ANY truck with in some detail-this is not some abstraction.Defending particular peoples human rights is one thing,but it does not require concessions to their disgusting views about women,or “the decadence of young people”(“girls in skimpy clothes,behaving immorally in night clubs)or to their views about believers in other”religions”or none.im thinking across the board here-i do NOT have one particular group in mind in particular.
on the other hand i think we need to overcome our own sectarian history-of stalinism and beyond.these are NOT times when we should fight each other over wrangles which appear to others like the equivalent of “angels on pin-heads”.we should forge and clarify our ideas in practice and struggle,and have our arguments looking outwards.i make no particular accussation here but i do include myself in the picture.
should we not take the risk sometimes of”thinking aloud”or asking questions more rather than imperiously appearing to know the answers already?
in the spirit of”thinking aloud/allowed”…
fraternally
lost
ban poetry said,
May 15, 2012 at 11:30 am
I agree. I’ve never read Ezra Pound, TS Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, or Balzac but I’m sure their bitterly reactionary and frequently anti-semitic politics make this irrelevant to a judgment of their work. It’s obviously awful stuff that should never have been published. I might write a letter calling for The Cantos and The Wasteland to be withdrawn forthwith from The Guardian Online bookshop. Jim Denham you are a legend, up there with my older hero, Zhdanov.
Rosie said,
May 15, 2012 at 12:05 pm
I’m a fan of the commenter Clive,
I hope he’ll continue to thrive,
But it’s not very deft,
To rhyme “deaf” with “left”,
I don’t think his verse will survive.
clive said,
May 15, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Touche!
holy joe said,
May 15, 2012 at 12:19 pm
You are old Father Denham
and too fond of booze,
your politics veer to the right
you ceaselessly prattle of Arabs and Jews,
it really is such dreadful shite.
Jim M. said,
May 15, 2012 at 1:46 pm
I hold Rosie in such high regard
For me, she’s up there with the Bard.
But such praise seems so glib
I am tempted to fib
Aaaargh… hoist by my own damned petard!
Monsuer Jelly est Formidable said,
May 15, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Anybody looking for a job?
http://www.oscar.org.uk/vacancies/Magazine_Sub-editor_or_Chief_Sub-editor_id_2127
There’s a sub-editor position here that needs to be filled, the only
catch is “This position is non-salaried as all WEC personnel look to
God to provide their personal needs.”
Monsuer Jelly est Formidable said,
May 15, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Four students in Canada are being charged with terrorism-related offences
after setting off smoke bombs in the metro last week and making
morning commuters late to work.
Reaction has been predictable: plenty of people being outraged that the government has showed such a soft
hand to the students (because beating them and gassing them doesn’t
send a strong enough message–we should instead take lessons from
Syria because they know how to deal with domestic discontent); plenty
of others pointing out that in actual terrorist attacks on public
transit systems, such as the London bombings, the worst consequences
weren’t that people were mildly inconvenienced.
A friend of a friend’s brother works in an office building downtown that houses government offices. He came to work one day last week to find police beating demonstrators outside the building–and many of his coworkers spitting on the demonstrators. Absolute fucking scum.
do a post on Canadian shit that is happening cos the fuckking british ‘newspapares’ certainly aren’t covering it. the lazy fuckking journo cuernts.
modernity's ghost said,
May 15, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Good letter.
Chris said,
May 15, 2012 at 4:47 pm
good letter, shame the Guardian censored you. Any articles on subject of clerical fascism? and Islamo fascism come to think of it?
Monsuer Jelly est Formidable said,
May 16, 2012 at 2:16 pm
‘censored’
you thick dozy fuckking cuernt
sackcloth and ashes said,
May 16, 2012 at 1:07 pm
A very good letter, Jim. I’m just surprised the Guardian printed it.
blerergg ococmementrarayrer said,
May 16, 2012 at 1:49 pm
cunt.
Andrew Coates said,
May 16, 2012 at 4:32 pm
There was a young Parson called Joe,
Whose politics nobody know,
Was it the Almighty
that crept up his nighty?
Or Taliban stones in a row?
Pinkie said,
May 16, 2012 at 9:30 pm
There once was a poetaster called Sean
Whose verses were fucking forlorn
Nobody liked them
Nobody spiked them
They couldn’t cos he’s the main man
Faster Pussycat Miaow! Miaow! Miaow! said,
May 16, 2012 at 11:26 pm
The was once was a fellow named Pinkie
Whose arse was incredibly stinky
In his boots he would shit
Then roll over in it
And that is why Pinkie was stinky
Pinkie said,
May 17, 2012 at 7:10 pm
There’s no need to be rude. Hang on, there is. It’s what makes the ‘blogsphere’ so charming.
As it is, I’ve cleaned up a lot, but why do you keep prying around my footwear?
Kind of creepy, don’t you think? Leave my boots out of it, you bastard.
Faster Pussycat Miaow! Miaow! Miaow! said,
May 17, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Methinks sir you do howl and moan
When it was only a bit of a loan
Not much rhymes with Pinkie
Except ‘blinky’ and ‘stinky’
So no need to get down off your throne