Tariq Ramadan just got purged from not only his position as “integration advisor” to the city of Rotterdam but also his visiting professorship at Erasmus University. — Ed.
An Open Letter to My Detractors in the Netherlands
Tuesday 18 August 2009
Once again I have come under attack in the Netherlands. Last May and June, I was accused of “doublespeak,” of “homophobia,” and of demeaning women. Upon investigation, Rotterdam Municipality declared the accusations unfounded. Today, the argument goes, I am linked to the Iranian regime; I support the repression that followed the recent elections. Should we be surprised that this latest accusation has surfaced only in the Netherlands? It is as if I in particular, and Islam in general, were being used to promote certain political agendas in the upcoming Dutch elections.1 Geert Wilders, who wins votes while comparing the Qur’an to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, casts a long shadow. I am cast as the cause of an outburst of political passions that is far from healthy. But the present controversy says far more about the alarming state of politics in the Netherlands than about my person.
The attacks on my involvement have been extremely violent; to them, I will respond with utmost clarity. When, in April 2008 I agreed to host a television program on PressTV,2 the Iranian worldwide 24-hour news network, the decision followed three months of careful evaluation, as well as discussions with Iranian friends and media experts. Over time I have closely followed political developments and growing internal tensions in Iran. I was among the first Muslim thinkers in the West to oppose the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. For the past twenty-five years, while observing that compared to the Arab countries Iran has made substantial headway in women’s rights and democratic norms, I have been critical of the lack of freedom of expression there, of the obligation for women to wear the headscarf, and, more recently, of the 2006 Holocaust conference (which dangerously blurred the lines between criticism of Israeli policy and anti-Semitism). It goes without saying that I have condemned the shooting of demonstrators and the repression that followed the June elections.
My position has always been one of constructive criticism. I have devoted much of my time to studying the internal dynamics of the Iranian political system. I refuse to be swayed by propaganda claims, either from the Iranian regime or from Israel (which asserts, all the while proclaiming its innocence, that Iran is the main obstacle to peace), from the United States or the European countries, all of whose strategic interests are involved. In Iran, the relationship between religion and politics is extremely complex. The simplistic view that posits two opposing camps — the fundamentalist conservatives versus the democratic reformists — displays a profound ignorance of Iranian reality. Moreover, no evolution toward democratic transparency can take place under pressure from the West: the process will be internal, lengthy and painful.
When I agreed to host a television program on Islam and contemporary life, I chose the path of critical debate. I accepted no obligations. My guests have included atheists, rabbis, priests, women with and without headscarves, all invited to debate issues like freedom, reason, interfaith dialogue, Sunni versus Shi’a Islam, violence, jihad, love, art, to name only a few. I challenge my critics to scrutinize these programs and in them to find the slightest evidence of support for the Iranian regime. My program proclaims its openness to the world; all guests are treated with equal respect.
Today, as Iran is torn by crisis, I intend to take all the time necessary to make the proper decision. All the facts must be carefully weighed in order to devise the optimum strategy for supporting the long march, in Iran, toward transparency and respect for human rights. Violent polemics and overheated debate of the kind we see today in the Netherlands lead nowhere. Before deciding on a course of action, I am determined to form a fully rounded picture.
When I accepted the offer from PressTV Ltd., in London (my sole contact was with the British producers who were proposing a concept to the network), I did so on the clear condition that I would be free to select my topics and that I would have full editorial freedom within the parameters of a weekly program dealing with religion, philosophy and contemporary issues. My method, from the start, has been to explore these issues without lending support to the Iranian regime, and without compromising myself. It has been a choice that many Iranian friends have not only understood, but also encouraged. Money is not a consideration. Another international news network has offered me three times more than what I receive from PressTV, an offer I refused on principle. Were I to change my political and religious beliefs I would be a wealthy man, as anyone who has followed my career well knows. But not for me the flattery of kings and princes, of regimes and of the rich. The price for my political stance has been high; I have never traded on principle. I cannot to travel to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Libya or Syria because of my criticism of these undemocratic regimes that deny the most basic human rights. The United States revoked my visa because of my outspoken condemnation of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its unilateral support of Israel. Needless to say, I am considered persona non grata in the state of Israel. Twenty years ago, a staff member from the Chinese embassy gave me to understand that the Beijing authorities were well aware of my commitment to the Tibetans.
I have always taken full responsibility for my views; I have never supported either dictatorship or injustice in any Muslim majority society, or anywhere else for that matter. As for those who condemn me “on principle” for hosting a television program on an Iranian network, I reply: to work for a country’s television network does not mean support of that country’s regime. Were things so straightforward my detractors, those paragons of political virtue, would have long ago insisted that the government of the Netherlands sever all political and economic ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel or China. Curiously, their voices are not to be heard, just as when Rotterdam Municipality publicly cleared me of the false accusations of “doublespeak” or “homophobia,” or, more recently, when an American Federal Court quashed the decision of a lower court revoking my visa. Why the silence? Why the accusations that seem to fit me alone?
The answer is simple: when they single out a “visible Muslim intellectual” for attack their real agenda is the politics of Muslim-baiting and fear. When it comes to seeking votes, all options are on the table, even the most dishonest and the most scurrilous. I respect my principles far too much to submit to this deceitful propaganda campaign. Not only as a question of personal honor, but in the name of human dignity, and faith in the future.
1 MRZine Editor’s Note: From Carool Kersten’s report, one gathers that a coalition of leftists and rightists in the opposition initiated the latest attack on Tariq Ramadan, pushing the center to the purge of Ramadan:
Last week, three opposition parties in the Rotterdam legislative body ([Pim Fortuyn-inspired] Leefbaar, VVD, and SP) called for his dismissal, while City Council coalition party PvdA (Labour Party) stated that Ramadan’s credibility had been compromised because of his involvement with Press TV.
The city council had been taken by surprise by Ramadan’s participation in a program of the Iranian TV station. In the national parliament, CDA (Christian Democrat Party) insisted Ramadan should leave, while, in Rotterdam (where the party was still supporting him in Spring), CDA representatives kept silent.
2 MRZine Editor’s Note: Press TV, as well as other Iranian state media, has interviewed numerous secular Western leftists, such as Doug Henwood, the publisher of Left Business Observer, and Richard Seymour, the author of The Liberal Defense of Murder and Lenin’s Tomb (see below). Iran’s state media have also featured works of many secular Western leftists (sometimes appropriating them without their knowledge, let alone consent or royalty payment). Will such leftists be also unwelcome in the Netherlands?
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An Interview with Doug Henwood, The Autograph, Press TV, 8 June 2009 |
An Interview with Richard Seymour, Live Debate with George Galloway, Press TV, February 2009 |
Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, the University of Oxford. He was also a visiting professor at Erasmus University until the Iranophobic and Islamophobic purge yesterday. This open letter was first published on his Web site on 18 August 2009. Read it in French: “Lettre ouverte à mes détracteurs aux Pays Bas.”