EXCELLENT--Writing Is Not Terrorism, Mr. President by Hisham Bustani
Writing Is Not Terrorism, Mr. President by Hisham Bustani
December 28th, 2015 reset - +
MANY HAVE SAID IT before me. I will say it again: I am not a terrorist. Why
I have to defend myself follows.
At the invitation of five distinguished US universities and one literary
review, I applied for a visa to the US on 12 January 2015. On February 2, my
interviewer told me that my application needed further processing for
several weeks. The embassys website says: visas are regularly issued
within 4 days. Today, 350 days have passed and I have yet to receive a
reply.
My name probably appears on some list. I assume this because within 24 hours
of submitting my application, a US embassy official called and asked me to
fax my travel-log for the past 15 years, which I did. The employee who
interviewed me later said that that was highly unusual.
The purposes of my visit are literary, scholarly, and educational: receiving
an award for my book of flash fictions, The Perception of Meaning;
discussing new Arabic writing; contributing to a translation master class;
and (inevitably?) discussing my regions disastrous situation. Arabic
literature is distinctly underrepresented in American publishing; only
0.0013 percent of US books produced annually are translations of Arabic
texts. I think this contributes to the lack of understanding and the great
divide that separates the Arab world from the American public.
I am a writer from the Arab world, an artist of words and imagination. I am
a negligible part of a 0.0013 percent minority, whose millennial and
diverse cultural heritage includes the invention of the alphabet and a
language spoken by 300 million people inhabiting the heartland of the globe
the Middle East that is today infested by war and intervention, which are
precipitating the exile of millions of its inhabitants to the four corners
of the world.
To ease your mind, Mr. President, let me relate some personal details. I
dont know how to shoot a gun and, unlike 43 percent of American households
(Gallup estimates), my house does not contain a firearm of any sort, and
never did. Moreover, I am repulsed by the act of killing not just humans,
but also animals. I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons related to the cruel
treatment of our fellow planet inhabitants, and you can find glimpses of
this stance throughout my fiction.
Other personal details to share: Ive never bombarded cities crowded with
innocent civilians with annihilating nuclear weapons (Hiroshima, 1945). Ive
never mobilized armies to invade other countries (Vietnam 1965), raising
havoc and leaving behind chaos and a civil war (Iraq, 2003). Ive never
operated prisons where massive violations of human rights would occur (Abu
Ghraib, 2003) or caused innocents to die under the label of collateral
damage (Amiriyah shelter, 1991) or supervised secret renditions and torture
and held people prisoners outside judicial custody (Guantanamo, 2002). Ive
never bombarded hospitals killing patients and medical professionals
(Kunduz, 2015). Ive never shot unarmed people because of their color and
race (Ferguson, 2014). Ive never supported coups against
democratically-elected governments (Chile, 1973) nor have supported and
maintained close economic and military ties with an oppressive regime (Saudi
Arabia), concluded nuclear deals with another (Iran), or sponsored
colonial-settler state terrorism (Israel).
From my position as an insignificant member of the world, I am unable to
influence events the way governments with their political, economic, and
military arsenals can. But I have protested such policies and practices with
my pen. The least anyone with a minimum sense of justice and a concrete
conviction about liberty and equality can do is to speak his mind about the
general good of humanity and the planet; to speak out against those who are
blinded by power and profit, but unmoved by tragedy; and to denounce bigotry
and the demonization of others others who should be harnessed, broken
in, or else annihilated.
Mr. President, I am not religious; in fact I am critical of religions, a
so-called progressive who still fights for political and social liberties,
and for an end to oppressive regimes, so let me share this with you:
Terrorism is not just the product of extremist individuals or groups; it is
also to the product of states and global powers. People that are bombarded,
invaded, and killed by regular armies are also terrorized. Terrorism is the
product of government policies and continued practices as the US rose to
global dominance. Terrorism is the product of Colonialism and Imperialism
big old-fashioned concepts that remain eminently relevant today. Via
colonialism, the global south was plundered, its peoples impoverished, their
societies malformed, before being bequeathed crippled states headed by
oppressive, corrupt, and subjugated regimes. Via Imperialism,
interventionism and dependence were maintained. As if this were not enough,
the bequest kept on giving, nurturing our fanatics: the Afghan freedom
fighters against the Soviet Evil that were supported, trained, and financed
by the US government were the precursors of the Taliban and al-Qaida, which
in turn found fertile ground in Iraq, following the US invasion of that
country and its sponsorship of the sectarian policies that eventually gave
birth to the Islamic State. Taking into account this track record, I am
surprised that the US and Europe are shocked by the cumulative problem of
refugees, terrorists, and seemingly unstoppable chaos.
Censoring the arts, suppressing critical analysis, and silencing secular
voices only fuel the war/terrorism machine. Demonizing entire populations
maintains the stereotypes and misinformation that then insure your peoples
silence, their ignorance, and most of all, US corporations profits. While I
get to be placed on some list, actual murderers (disguised as state leaders
and officials) get glorious receptions, diplomatic immunity, and VIP
treatment. Why should I, who decides to write about all this, be held in
contempt? Or be randomly selected in your airports for detailed inspection
and interrogation? Or possibly be stabbed or shot in a hate-crime on your
streets? I cannot start wars or bomb cities or deploy missile systems or
overthrow rulers, but I bear the image that your colonialist past and
imperialist present have imprinted on my back, and I am prevented from
showing American people my real self: the other side of the story.
Your government's policies induce hatred, Mr. President, and I will not fall
for that trap. I will maintain and cherish the dear friendships I have with
people in your country, and I shall continue to criticize and oppose the
policies that keep us apart. Next April, a special issue of Amherst
Colleges literary review, The Common, dedicated to contemporary Arabic
literature in translation, which I co-edited, will be released in the US,
with a lineup of 25 Arabic authors, five artists, and 19 translators,
representing the wide literary variety of countries, styles, generations,
and genders in my region. This is how we try to reach out to people in the
US. I know that deep down we the people share the same aspirations of
equality, liberty, and dignity.
Writing is the tool I use to communicate, Mr. President, not the gun. I am
throwing the gun youre trying to slip into my hand back to you.
¤
Hisham Bustani is a writer from Jordan. His fiction in translation has been
widely published in US literary reviews. His book, The Perception of Meaning
(Syracuse University Press, 2015) was awarded the prestigious Arabic
Translation Award from the University of Arkansas in 2014.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/writing-is-not-terrorism-mr-president
