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Mr. Selbourne, welcome to my world. From the Telegraph, with thanks to Twostellas:
A distinguished writer and academic has accused leading publishers of turning down his latest book because it is too critical of Islam.David Selbourne, who has written more than a dozen books, and his literary agent suspect that publishers are shunning The Losing Battle With Islam because it could provoke anger from Islamic extremists and other critics.
Among the subjects covered in the book is the "negative impact" of actions by Muslims in recent decades. It suggests that Islam is not a religion of peace, balance and compassion, as many of its adherents claim.The book also discusses the fatwa that was issued against Salman Rushdie, the novelist, by the Ayatollah Khomeini, after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Mr Selbourne writes of the "cruel bounty repeatedly offered for his [Mr Rushie's] head".
Six publishers, including Penguin, HarperCollins and Heinemann, have turned down the book in the past five months.
Mr Selbourne, who is British but lives in Italy, said that he believed that the reason for the repeated rejection was clear.
"The reaction of the publishers is unprecedented. The subject is very contentious. I think there are some people who have fixed views which don't permit them to look at the matter dispassionately.
"It is controversial because it is a record - written without fear or favour - of what has actually happened during the Islamic revival. My book has been turned down because there is hesitation about looking at these matters squarely in the face, especially in Britain."
In the past, Mr Selbourne, whose previous publishers have included MacMillan, Cape, Penguin and Little, Brown, has had little difficulty getting his work into print.
Posted by Robert at July 25, 2004 7:09 AM
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There needs to be a publishing house set up, just to be able to publish books like these.
Hopefully plenty more like them will be written.
Posted by: Voltaire![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 25, 2004 7:55 AM
Well, once things get rolling, then this would be a perfect vehicle for writers to get their works into print, as demand will likely increase. Also, it would help our own efforts, just reinforcing the case we're making.
Posted by: Anduril at July 25, 2004 8:20 AM
Do hope Mr Selbourne gets his book published soon.The more Islam is exposed for what it is : a
brainwashing Death Cult, the better.
at July 25, 2004 8:45 AM
This reaction is the bad smell left over from the Rushdie affair 15 years ago. A tougher line against the book burning community, when it mattered, would have helped. Too late now.
But, looking on the bright side, who needs books and book publishers anyway? They're sidelined by the web and broadband. Sell the work as PDF, from a site the bastards can't trace. Leave the dimwits fingering their Koran's.
Posted by: Sam Roony at July 25, 2004 9:49 AM
I do think outlets like Prometheus Books have been the only ones to allow Ibn Warraq's books to be published, for instance. Any others? Didn't the French edition of your book "Islam Unveiled" get stopped because of death threats to the translator, Mr. Spencer?
Posted by: Ali Dashti at July 25, 2004 10:20 AM
All anyone has to do is pick up the Satanic Koran and read it, the verses areall in there.
Posted by: DCWatson at July 25, 2004 10:49 AM
Oh.......and when they're finished reading the incriminating evidence in the Koran, fire should be set to it.
Posted by: DCWatson at July 25, 2004 10:50 AM
Don't expect British publisher Little, Brown to take on Mr. Selbourne's book. They already refused to publish Paul Fregosi's "Jihad in the West" 8 years ago, for fear of upsetting the delicate sensibilities of you-know-who. (Jihad in the West tells the truth about Islam's attack on Western Civ for the past 1400 years.) Only Prometheus Books would publish it.
Posted by: Suzan at July 25, 2004 10:53 AM
What total sell outs the left is. I hate to wish harm on anyone, but it might be good for them to be affected by the militant islamic fanatics. Then maybe they can re-evaluate their priorities in life.
Posted by: Truth at July 25, 2004 4:49 PM
Well there's always Paladin Press who publish all kinds of controversial books.Though I suppose "respectable" authors don't want to be associated with Paladin.
On a side note. On Fox News Live yesterday Cal Thomas mentioned the danger of Islamic extremists who have "set up shop" in the US. He mentioned the attempts at intimidation by these groups via email and letter writing campaigns if journalists say anything deemed the least bit critical of Islam.The good news is these attempts at intimidation are recognize, that they are being talked about openly and that none of the libs on the panel disagreed with anything Cal said nor did the libs attempt to defend the Islamists.
Posted by: Roxane at July 25, 2004 4:59 PM
The distinguishing characteristic of Western civilisation is the freedom to think and disseminate ideas that are uncomfortable, and to do so, without fear for ones life or danger to ones family. It is this freedom that was fought for through successive generations and it was the attainment of this that leads to the blossoming of civilisation, as we know it.
It is a fact that the presence of Muslims in the West has seriously compromised this most cherished of all Western values, or as V.S.Naipaul would put it, this most cherished of all Universal values. The consequence of this is that the progress of civilisation is itself threatened and may well bring about its demise. We see this in every aspect of our society, from authors of books critical of Islam, newspapers that are in fear in a similar manner, Muslims who are afraid to leave Islam, and right down to ordinary citizens. The signs were there for anyone to notice it at the time of the Rusdhie affair. I wrote to the Telegraph at the time, in the same vein as I write the above, pointing out the huge implications of appeasing Muslims and Khomeini's fatwa. We now are paying for such appeasement.
Fear has, and always has been the first symptom of a society that is being ravaged by Islam and is in decline. This fear is inculcated and encouraged by all Muslims, whether they be Jihadi terrorists or moderate Muslim leaders, who warn us that if we do not listen to the growing alienation of young Muslims, there will be an explosion of anger from the Muslim community in the West. In every case, Muslims try to paralyse the victim society with fear of the Muslim. The way forward of course is straightforward. We must not be frightened to take actions, even if they are not inimical with some of our cherished values. The stakes are too high.
It is a fact our internal tranquillity is destroyed and we are unlikely to gain it as long as we have the Enemy Within.
Posted by: DP111 at July 25, 2004 6:30 PM
Whole hearted agreement, DP111. This struggle is a social struggle as much as it is political struggle, if not more so. If people can not distinguish between the good that is Western Civilization and the evil that is Islam, why will they bother to fight it? I value freedom of thought, expression, speech, whatever, but I also value the only civilization which can ensure and will tolerate those freedoms, which is why I will fight for it. Thank you for what you do.
Posted by: Anduril at July 25, 2004 7:28 PM
During the Cold War the C.I.A. funded publishing houses which produced special editions of books in Russian that were given to visiting Soviet tourists for free. One of those publishing houses was Editions de la Seine. In Paris, Aleksndr Bachrach, and others connected to the Russian newspaper, La Pensee russe, helped support many efforts to help undermine Soviet self--confidence.
But now, the governments of the Infidel West are afraid -- afraid of offending Islam. Because it is regarded as a "religion" instead of as a belief-system, the C.I.A., the F.B.I., and virtually every organ of the American government which once did not hesitate to combat the ideology of Communism, simply refuses to come to grips with Islam. Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Europe, were staffed by those who hated Communism, who were defectors from Communism. Radio Sawa and other Arabic-language stations supported with American taxpayers' money, are not run by Ibn Warraq or Ali Sina or a host of other freethinkers and "defectors from Islam" -- no, they are run by Muslims who are far from defectors, and some of those in charge are, according to those who are native speakers of Arabic and are able to follow the broadcasts and know the cast of characters, including those wolves put in charge of various henhouses, are astounded at the naivete of American policymakers -- or perhaps it is worse than naivete, perhaps it is the fact that Muslims,a and their apologists, are too powerful -- or foolishly deemed too useful, for the government to fund, or have any direct invovlement in, attempts to do to Islam what was done to Communism: to constantly harp upon its failures, political, economic, intellectual, and moral.
For that in the end is what caused Communism not to disappear, but to lose its hold over hundreds of millions of people. It was the recognition, from within, that Communism had failed. It was the intelligent recognition of this, which one may associate with such names as that of Alexander Yakovlev (an adviser to Gorbachev), and the fact that so many of the children of Party leaders themselves "defected" to embrace, not capitalism, but freedom -- which is a different thing -- that helps explain how the miraculous happened.
If the American government, if the C.I.A., if the F.B.I., if Congress is going to continue with the farce of refusing to recognize that this is a war primarily against an ideology, that that ideology of Jihad is not tangential to Islam but central to it, that there is a need to wake up those Infidel populations whose corrupt or negligent or ill-informed elites (Chirac, Chris Patten, Javier Solana, Romano Prodi, and all those associated with the Euro-Arab Dialogue, and its subsidiary "Mediterranean inititiative" that puts the teaching of Islam and Islamic history firmly in the control of Muslims and their sympathizers -- i.e. indoctrination, and a reworking of history, to be paid for by EU taxpayers),m through the same kind of effort at collective sanity that proved necessary after World War II. ONe should recall that the Red Army marching into, and remaining in, Eastern Europe did not diminish the allure of Communism, and despite the American liberation of Paris, the largest political parties in Western Europe were the Communist parties of France (Maurice Thorez) and Italy (Palmiro Togliatti). But even cornpone Americans finally, with the help of extremely clever defectors from Communism, managed to defeat all the Marxists and marxisants, or at least to hold them at bay. Despite Togliatti, and Nilde Jotti, and all the other Italians for whom the word "Communism" had acquired a patina during the war so that it seemed that even the lyrics of "Bella, Ciao" referred not to anti-fascist partisans but to Communist partisans, De Gasperi -- the best post-war Italian leader -- was elected. In France, despite all those celebrated leftists who had remained contentedly in France during the Occupation (Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Picasso entertaining German officers who brought him steak and champagne at his studio on rue Grands-Augustins, and could not be bothered to lift a finger to save the life of his friend and "godchild" Max Jacob who died at Drancy), despite all those who found nothing wrong with the second defenestration of Prague (in which Masaryk was tossed out a fourth-floor window), and the takeover of all of Central and Eastern Europe, despite all this, the Americans, who were determined and unafraid, managed to keep Communism at bay so that a non-Communist left -- Guy Mollet, Pierre Mendes-France, and others -- could withstand those who wanted the Red Army in Paris, running quickly (skorym shagom) from bistrot to bistrot.
But if the government can do nothing, it may be necessary -- it is necessary -- for private citizens and foundations, that understand why the government continues to behave in such an uncomprehending and pusillanimous fashion (why do F.B.I. agents carefully refrain from mentioning Islam publicly? Why are police departments instructed not to talk of such matters, and to punish those who do?), to fund not only radio stations, not only conferences of ex-Muslims, but also publishing houses. Not vanity presses,but full-scale publishing houses, that can present books on Islam, scholarly and popular, that will have an effect. Not all foundations in this country are run by idiots. Not all rich people in this country are idiots who want their names on buildings or plaques on the wall. Some of them understand the problem; some of them, one hopes, will act.
Posted by: Hugh at July 25, 2004 8:40 PM
Yes Anduril, we now have to fight for this most precious of all civilisations. It is precious because by happenstance or otherwise, it is the only one that puts the individual at its centre, rather then a tribe or religious dogma or some other group.
I have now resolved to bring up this threat that we face at any opportunity, without fear of embarrassing anyone. The time for sensitivity to delicate feelings of our ever so 'civilised' citizenry is past.
Hugh:
It is a shame that the likes of Radio Liberty are not taking part in the defence of Freedom. Maybe Internet Radio could be the answer. Is there such a thing, where individuals could set up there own Internet Radio?
I'm so unclued about technology.
at July 25, 2004 9:15 PM
Anyone know Latin for "Salute and preserve the West?" Might make a good rallying cry.
DP111, I talk freely of Islam, too. But I'm amazed still at how many people are grossly ignorant of it and what is going on. We have to change that before the necessary actions can be taken.
Regarding technology, there is streaming radio which can be listened to with WinAmp. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but there is someone who does. 24 hours streaming audio, with the Europeans picking it up in the morning, Americans in the evening...I love the idea.
at July 25, 2004 10:06 PM
DP111
I agree with you. I think that we have to forget about things such as fair play in dealing with this threat.
We could fight Nazism because that was a political ideology espoused by a nation state. This is much tougher and far worse, since they already live within our borders. And they will take over by just breeding.
Posted by: Voltaire at July 25, 2004 10:13 PM
DP111
I agree with you. I think that we have to forget about things such as fair play in dealing with this threat.
We could fight Nazism because that was a political ideology espoused by a nation state. This is much tougher and far worse, since they already live within our borders. And they will take over by just breeding.
Posted by: Voltaire at July 25, 2004 10:14 PM
Please visit The Human Rights Party
The URL is http://forums.delphiforums.com/western1
Posted by: Voltaire at July 26, 2004 12:02 AM
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