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Scared off
19.05.09 | Sherry Jones
Below is an extract from a blog posted on the Index on Censorship website, and Sherry Jones' website.
"Aren’t you scared?" I get asked this question all the time, most recently in the wake of the conviction of the three radical extremist Muslim men who conspired to set fire to the home office of Gibson Square, the London publisher that had been due to publish The Jewel of Medina last October.
The full story of this attack is unnerving, to say the least. But the book isn’t insulting to Muslims. I had hoped it would be a bridge-builder. Whether or not my book is respectful, however, has little to do with the real issue here. For, although the extremists lost in court, they have apparently won where it really counts — in the UK’s bookshops.
After Gibson Square announced, a couple of weeks after the arson attempt, that it was indefinitely postponing publication of The Jewel of Medina — following in the footsteps of Random House in the US — I awarded world English publication rights to Beaufort Books, my US publishing house whose publisher and small staff have supported my book unwaveringly.
Beaufort publisher Eric Kampmann and associate publisher Margot Atwell headed to the London Book Fair in April with a full display of The Jewel of Medina and confidence that they would find the right distributor to supply stores in the UK with the book. But — no. Everyone, it seems, is too afraid.
Forget the fact that The Jewel of Medina has been published in seven countries, with no threats or repercussions of any kind. Well — OK. In Serbia a conservative mufti protested the book two days after its release last August and issued threats grave enough to cause my publisher there to withdraw it from publication. But the people of Serbia spoke loudly and clearly against censorship. So did the press, and other groups including moderate Muslims. The book was re-released and sold-out.
Freedom of speech, the first freedom to go when fascism gets a foothold, has taken a blow in the western world. Unless the people of Great Britain, and the press, speak out against those who are limiting their right to read, think, speak, listen, debate, discuss, criticize and, yet, insult. After all, those who would stop free speech and expression for the rest of us certainly feel they have the right to make threats and to incite violence. I hope the people of the UK can find the power, and the courage, to raise an outcry against censorship.
"Use it, or lose it," the saying goes. Extremists are using — abusing, even — their right to free speech. Now it’s time for the rest of us, including moderate Muslims and the press, who cherish our culture and our freedom, to raise a cry louder than that of radicals, so we don’t lose that most precious, and crucial, of freedoms.
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Well I suppose anyone with any issue with anything, anywhere, ever, knows what to do - just threaten to firebomb any relevant companies/organisations/individuals who deal with it.
This used to be an honourable country with brave citizens who, even if they disagreed with an opinion, allowed it airtime. What a shadow of our former selves we are. I sincerely hope that this book gets whatever recognition it deserves. I don't tend to bother with political reads but I'm definitely going to get hold of it, if at all possible.
If any UK bookdealer wants to stock and try to sell this title then they can readily import copies from USA : the book's non-appearance on the shelves and in the window displays of UK 's independent bookshops has little to do unwillingness to fight for freedom of speech - this book, in my opinion, is not a worthy cause...and by all accounts poorly scripted. Copies are offered for sale by third party Marketplace sellers on Amazon : the title has a very modest sale ranking.
I think that Vera's point is that people who light the matches usually leave others to fight the fire.
As a piece of art, is the book worth defending? Or would it sensible for a American citizen, who belongs to a country that has militarily assualted the Arab world, both directly and by proxy, in recent decades, to let sleeping dogs lie for a while? If we're discussing 'freedom of speech', it's the wrong book, at the wrong time.
Also, bringing up Serbia as a bastion of free-speech is hardly going to win support, a country that spent much of the 90s persecuting Muslims.
Finally, what is a 'moderate' Muslim? Is it merely a Muslim that agrees with your point of view? 'Moderate Muslim' is one of those pat phrases trotted out by government PR machines and lazy writers.
.
The book could be good, could be rubbish, don't know. But the fact that it's been tanked because of the fear of violent reprisal means we've wimped-out yet again. Marku, the notion of 'letting sleeping dogs lie' is the thin end of saying 'freedom of speech is fine provided it meets certain criteria'. I'm afraid when I start hearing things like that, I know the struggle is probably already lost.
I'm a keen supporter of freedom of speech and would hate to see any victory by extremists in prevent a book from being published, but it might also be the case that the prose within this book - as correctly pointed out by Clive - is an important blocking factor to publication. Perhaps it isn't fear of being attacked in this case, rather fear of publishing a book that won't be a success?
The people of Serbia spoke up for it eh? Somebody, please stop this woman sounding off about things she doesn't understand for the sake of making a quick buck.
Perfect fit for a freely distributed ebook?
Imagine having to work in a regular day job, for example, in the post room at a publishing company, when you're not sure if, as a result of publishing your book, something may blow your head off while you are handling a package. Or, try working on the reception desk, when someone enters the building with the intention of doing harm to the first person they see. I'd like to see you going and preaching freedoms of speech to that person's family if any of the above happened.
The real reason is money. The monetary cost of publisher's protecting themselves isn't worth the trouble in the current economic climate, and it certainly isn't worth the potential human cost that results from you unthinkingly exercising your right to gob off.
Vera, you already live in fear, I don't want the rest of this country to join you. Sherry has a perfect right to have her book published without fear of reprisals. The problem is it looks like the extremists are winning, at least here in Britain. The book, I gather, has been available in America for a year or so(?)
Poignant or what? The words I have to enter to post are 'allow to.'
Being a 'wimp' is easy, for me, and you are one too. You hide behind the annonmity of the internet. Why not publish your full name & home address with every post? Why not publish your home address on the copyright page of any future UK edition of the book? As I said, it's easy to talk of freedom of speech tapping away on the computer, but'll be others who have to deal the consequences.
I saw that too in the Guardian, Jon. An unnamed publisher tells the newspaper that "There are tens of thousands of American books each year that don't find UK publishers or distributors". Let's be clear: it is not because it is crap that it is not being published over here. There are tens of thousands of books published in the UK every year with poor prose.
Huxtable- sounds like the market is already taking care of it!
If the original publisher won't publish it, but The Publishing Business on the whole agrees with the author that censorship by extremism is a Generally Bad Thing, then the answer, surely, is for all the big publishers to join together and publish this book together. That way everyone stands together to make it clear that bullying tactics will not succeed in preventing books being published in the UK; and there is no one target for the extremists to attack. It's worth a go, surely?
The multi-publisher approach worked for Salman Rushdie, but the Satanic Verses was an acclaimed novel from one of the country's most brilliant writers. Jewel of Medina is, according to many accounts, a not very good book from a not very good writer, with poor commercial prospects apart from the copies that will be sold to those determined to defend free speech, and those that will be sold to those that want to burn it.
There is, no doubt, a battle to be fought on this sort of subject, but I tink most people would prefer to be putting themselves on the line for a more artistically assured volume.
Imagine having to work in a regular day job, for example, in the post room at a publishing company, when you're not sure if, as a result of publishing your book, something may blow your head off while you are handling a package. Or, try working on the reception desk, when someone enters the building with the intention of doing harm to the first person they see. I'd like to see you going and preaching freedoms of speech to that person's family if any of the above happened.
The real reason is money. The monetary cost of publisher's protecting themselves isn't worth the trouble in the current economic climate, and it certainly isn't worth the potential human cost that results from you unthinkingly exercising your right to gob off.
Well I suppose anyone with any issue with anything, anywhere, ever, knows what to do - just threaten to firebomb any relevant companies/organisations/individuals who deal with it.
This used to be an honourable country with brave citizens who, even if they disagreed with an opinion, allowed it airtime. What a shadow of our former selves we are. I sincerely hope that this book gets whatever recognition it deserves. I don't tend to bother with political reads but I'm definitely going to get hold of it, if at all possible.
Vera, you already live in fear, I don't want the rest of this country to join you. Sherry has a perfect right to have her book published without fear of reprisals. The problem is it looks like the extremists are winning, at least here in Britain. The book, I gather, has been available in America for a year or so(?)
Poignant or what? The words I have to enter to post are 'allow to.'
If any UK bookdealer wants to stock and try to sell this title then they can readily import copies from USA : the book's non-appearance on the shelves and in the window displays of UK 's independent bookshops has little to do unwillingness to fight for freedom of speech - this book, in my opinion, is not a worthy cause...and by all accounts poorly scripted. Copies are offered for sale by third party Marketplace sellers on Amazon : the title has a very modest sale ranking.
I think that Vera's point is that people who light the matches usually leave others to fight the fire.
As a piece of art, is the book worth defending? Or would it sensible for a American citizen, who belongs to a country that has militarily assualted the Arab world, both directly and by proxy, in recent decades, to let sleeping dogs lie for a while? If we're discussing 'freedom of speech', it's the wrong book, at the wrong time.
Also, bringing up Serbia as a bastion of free-speech is hardly going to win support, a country that spent much of the 90s persecuting Muslims.
Finally, what is a 'moderate' Muslim? Is it merely a Muslim that agrees with your point of view? 'Moderate Muslim' is one of those pat phrases trotted out by government PR machines and lazy writers.
.
The book could be good, could be rubbish, don't know. But the fact that it's been tanked because of the fear of violent reprisal means we've wimped-out yet again. Marku, the notion of 'letting sleeping dogs lie' is the thin end of saying 'freedom of speech is fine provided it meets certain criteria'. I'm afraid when I start hearing things like that, I know the struggle is probably already lost.
Being a 'wimp' is easy, for me, and you are one too. You hide behind the annonmity of the internet. Why not publish your full name & home address with every post? Why not publish your home address on the copyright page of any future UK edition of the book? As I said, it's easy to talk of freedom of speech tapping away on the computer, but'll be others who have to deal the consequences.
I'm a keen supporter of freedom of speech and would hate to see any victory by extremists in prevent a book from being published, but it might also be the case that the prose within this book - as correctly pointed out by Clive - is an important blocking factor to publication. Perhaps it isn't fear of being attacked in this case, rather fear of publishing a book that won't be a success?
I saw that too in the Guardian, Jon. An unnamed publisher tells the newspaper that "There are tens of thousands of American books each year that don't find UK publishers or distributors". Let's be clear: it is not because it is crap that it is not being published over here. There are tens of thousands of books published in the UK every year with poor prose.
The people of Serbia spoke up for it eh? Somebody, please stop this woman sounding off about things she doesn't understand for the sake of making a quick buck.
Perfect fit for a freely distributed ebook?
Huxtable- sounds like the market is already taking care of it!
If the original publisher won't publish it, but The Publishing Business on the whole agrees with the author that censorship by extremism is a Generally Bad Thing, then the answer, surely, is for all the big publishers to join together and publish this book together. That way everyone stands together to make it clear that bullying tactics will not succeed in preventing books being published in the UK; and there is no one target for the extremists to attack. It's worth a go, surely?
The multi-publisher approach worked for Salman Rushdie, but the Satanic Verses was an acclaimed novel from one of the country's most brilliant writers. Jewel of Medina is, according to many accounts, a not very good book from a not very good writer, with poor commercial prospects apart from the copies that will be sold to those determined to defend free speech, and those that will be sold to those that want to burn it.
There is, no doubt, a battle to be fought on this sort of subject, but I tink most people would prefer to be putting themselves on the line for a more artistically assured volume.