When Mahmoud Darwish Works Get Banned

"Saudi book fair bans 'blasphemous' Mahmoud Darwish works after protest" stated "The Guardian", but I couldn't believe my eyes! What was exactly blasphemous in his works? Couldn't tell, and it wasn't mentioned in the article either. But I definitely know one thing for sure, and that is that the banning is as far as can be from the fair's theme of the year: “Books: An Arch-Bridge Connecting Civilizations”. What a way to ruin a fair's aim, and what a shame to go global for such an achievement! Meanwhile, a reader donated 6 million dollars to New York's public library. Ironic isn't it?

I believe the main reason why I and many book lovers all around the world are outraged by this news has nothing to do with Darwish per se. Even if I am more or less a fan of Darwish, what personally bothers me is that we don't realize that there is nothing more blasphemous than our lack of reading, and oppression of freedom of choice and expression. We, arabs, are among the civilizations that read the least in the world and we still don't get that "The fall of nations and empires begins with the fall of libraries" (Rawi Hage). We still don't get either that literary censorship has always been one of the worst and most dangerous forms of tyranny that societies had to face throughout history.


How is literary censorship dangerous and why should we oppose it one may ask. A detailed answer to this question can be found here. But if you're not in the mood of reading another long text, keep in mind that Socrates was sentenced to death for "his corruption of youth and his acknowledgement of unorthodox divinities" and that the Nazis and the Apartheid regimes among others censored books, I mean burned them in Nazi Germany including works of Einstein (or so I was told during my tour in Berlin). Still not dangerous enough for you to oppose it? Well, many authors have been also imprisoned, tortured or killed by these two regimes (and others), in addition to mass extermination of people proving German author Heinrich Heine to be right when he warned that "Burning books would end in burning humans". Stop the first, and you'll stop the second, it's as simple as that.
  

Of course, the internet nowadays makes it impossible to ban almost anything in the world. But just because we are comfortable knowing that nothing can be truly banned, does not mean that it's ok to sit and do nothing. There is one thing that should always be done and that is refusing to give up our most basic human right: "the freedom of choice". We can also let the people in charge know how we feel about it, and hold them accountable for their actions.


Yours truly,

 

"Beware beware of my hunger And of my anger"
Mahmoud Darwish