Dear Editor,
In his introduction to Darius Guppy's article
(7/8/09), Chris Green attempts to delegitimise Guppy's stance by
inferring his disloyalty to the UK state. In a conjunction of multiple
ironies, Guppy appears now to be assuming an anti-colonial stance and
berating the destructive 'bread and circus' culture through which
capitalist imperialism continues to be instrumentalised globally -
though of course Western European systematic 'rape and pillage' long
pre-dated the dominance of secular liberalism. While one may take issue
with Guppy's naive view of the current Iranian regime and his (still)
exaggerated comparison of the UK with a police state, as well as with
his blanket condemnation of the 'Godless Enlightenment', it is
important that one does not allow such necessary 'rhetoric of
opposites' to obscure his very precise depiction of the modus operandi
and rank hypocrisies of neocolonial power. Far from being emblematic of
disloyalty, in the lucid muscularity of his dissent and his
empathetic identification with the 'Other', paradoxically Guppy
demonstrates - and, seemingly in tune with the policies of the current
Home Secretary, Green disparages - what hitherto had been paradigmatic
of British 'secular liberalism', namely, that is not disloyal to
express dissent against the state - even if one is a Muslim.
Yours sincerely,
Suhayl Saadi
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