Category Archives: Kenan Malik

ON MORALITY AND ITS HISTORY

August 10, 2017 by Kenan Malik

This is a transcript of a talk I gave at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney. What can the history of morality tell us about the nature of morality? And about ourselves as human beings? These are the questions at the heart of The Quest for a Moral Compass. And these are the questions I want to explore tonight. For some, the questions themselves might seem absurd. It is striking that there are thousands of books about the […]

Categories: History, History of moral thought, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: anti-imperialism, christianity, enlightenment, europe, french revolution, greek philosophy, haitian revolution, history of moral thought, human agency, human nature, imperialism, modernity, monotheism, morality, nietzsche, plato, radical enlightenment, thrasymachus, viktor frankl

TALKING OZ

August 2, 2017 by Kenan Malik

This is an update on the talks I am giving in Australia over the next couple of weeks: . 4-6 August Byron Writers Festival Byron Bay New South Wales I am speaking in three sessions: Friday 4 August, 11am-12pm In conversation with Laura Kroetsch about the themes of my books From Fatwa to Jihad and The Quest for a Moral Compass. Friday, 4 August, 3-4pm ‘Living Ethically’ a discussion with Rebeccca Huntley, Emrys Westacott and Anthony Funnell Saturday 5 August, 2.45 […]

Categories: Kenan Malik • Tags: australia, talks

DOWN UNDER, AND TWICE OVER

June 29, 2017 by Kenan Malik

I will be giving a series of talks in Australia later this year – not once, but on two different trips, first in August, and then in October. In August, I am speaking at the Byron Writers Festival, before giving two talks in Sydney, and then at the Bendigo Writers Festival, In October I will be speaking at Integrity 20 in Brisbane. The details: . Byron Bay 4-6 August Byron Writers Festival Byron Bay New South Wales I am speaking […]

Categories: Kenan Malik • Tags: australia, talks

G’DAY AUSTRALIA

March 30, 2017 by Kenan Malik

This is a short shout-out to event organizers and others in Australia. I am coming in August to speak at the Bendigo Writers Festival. The exact details are still being sorted out, but I am very much looking forward to it. I am happy to speak at other events or venues, too. So, if you are interested in organising an event or talk, do get in touch.

Categories: Kenan Malik • Tags: australia, talks

WHY UPDATE FROM FATWA TO JIHAD?

February 9, 2017 by Kenan Malik

My book From Fatwa to Jihad was first published in 2009, on the twentieth anniversary of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Eight years on, I have just published an updated version with a new Afterword. Why? In 1989 the fatwa against Salman Rushdie had come as a great shock, both in Britain and globally, and its consequences reverberated through both domestic and international politics in the two decades that followed. Much was written about it. Yet, there had been little […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, Culture & Books, Kenan Malik • Tags: assimilationism, charlie hebdo, free speech, From Fatwa to Jihad, islamism, jihadism, kenan malik's books, radicalization, rushdie affair, the satanic verses

OUT NOW!

February 2, 2017 by Kenan Malik

. The new edition of From Fatwa to Jihad, with an Afterword (and a new subtitle) is published today. You can read an extract from the new Preface, and watch two Faculti videos I made about the original edition. You can buy the book from most bookshops, or from Amazon. Patrons of Pandaemonium who contribute more than $5 a month get a free copy. I will be in touch! . ‘Gripping… The Rushdie affair has shaped all our lives. This book […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Kenan Malik • Tags: british politics, charlie hebdo, free speech, From Fatwa to Jihad, islamism, kenan malik's books, rushdie affair, salman rushdie, the satanic verses

EDITORIAL INTELLIGENCE COMMENT AWARD 2016

November 24, 2016 by Kenan Malik

Yay, I won an award. The Editorial Intelligence 2016 ‘Society and diversity’ comment award. (No, I am not quite sure, either, what ‘Society and diversity comment’ amounts to, but I am immensely pleased to have won it.) The Editorial Intelligence awards have grown over the past decade to become perhaps the most important journalistic comment awards in the UK. Other winners this year included Jonathan Freedland as ‘Commentariat of the Year’, Gary Younge for ‘Comment Piece of the Year’, Sam […]

Categories: Kenan Malik • Tags: assimilationism, awards, editorial intelligence, evil, identity politics, immigration, islam, islamism, jihadism, multiculturalism, ukip

TALKING SATANIC VERSES

October 13, 2016 by Kenan Malik

The copyediting of the Afterword for the new edition of From Fatwa to Jihad is complete. It’s inching towards publication… In the meantime I am reposting here two videos about the original edition that I made for Faculti, a website that publishes videos of authors and academics talking about their work. The first film is a reading from the final section of From Fatwa to Jihad, the second an exploration of the themes and arguments of the book.

Categories: Culture & Books, Kenan Malik • Tags: censorship, free speech, islam, islamism, left, multiculturalism, rushdie affair, salman rushdie, the satanic verses

COMING SOON…

September 28, 2016 by Kenan Malik

My 2009 book From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy will be published in a new edition next February. It will have an extended (12,000 word) Afterword to bring it up to date. It will also have a new subtitle – How the World Changed From The Satanic Verses to Charlie Hebdo. I will provide more details closer to the time. In the meantime, here is an extract from the Preface to the new edition: From the […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Kenan Malik • Tags: assimilationism, charlie hebdo, france, free speech, From Fatwa to Jihad, islamic state, jihadism, kenan malik's books, multiculturalism, rushdie affair, the satanic verses

ON BREXIT, BORDERS, BEING OFFENSIVE (BUT NOT BEING IN A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE)

July 28, 2016 by Kenan Malik

I recently gave a long interview to Dutch journalist Marco Visscher about Brexit, migration, democracy, politics, being offensive, growing up in racist Britian, and not being in a Hollywood movie. It was published in the Belgian magazine Knack (and a shorter version in the Dutch paper Trouw). The interview has been translated from English to Dutch then (roughly) back to English, so may not read very coherently in places. I have edited it lightly. It was published in Knack under […]

Categories: Britain, Kenan Malik • Tags: anti-racism, brexit, british politics, cultural diversity, democracy, european union, free speech, immigration, left, populism, racism

TALKING MIGRATION, MUSLIMS AND MORALITY

March 17, 2016 by Kenan Malik

I recently gave an interview to Bread and Roses, the TV magazine hosted by Maryam Namazie and Fariborz Pooya, on Europe’s migration crisis, Muslim immigration, the open borders debate and the question of profiling. (The interview begins about 7 minutes in). There were a few errors in what I said, so before anyone else points them out, let me do so myself: The EU-Libya migration deal was concluded in 2010; the new EU-Turkey deal proposes that all irregular migrants crossing from Turkey […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, Kenan Malik, Race & Immigration • Tags: european union, immigration, islam, islamism, migrant crisis, muslims, open borders, populism, profiling, racism

MULTICULTURALISM: THE FINNISH EDITION

March 3, 2016 by Kenan Malik

My book, Multiculturalism and its Discontents, has just been published in Finland by the Eurooppalaisen filosofian seura (Society for European philosophy). I did a short interview with the Society’s journal Niin & Näin to introduce the themes of the book, which I am republishing here. Q: Multiculturalism and its Discontents is a very concise and to-the-point exposé of multiculturalism. What inspired you to publish a book of this kind? KM: Multiculturalism has become one of the most used and abused political terms […]

Categories: Kenan Malik, Multiculturalism, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: immigration, kenan malik's books, morality, multiculturalism, muslims, racism

OF ANGELS AND DEVILS, OF MONSTERS AND MYTHS

February 28, 2016 by Kenan Malik

A new edition of my book From Fatwa to Jihad will be published next year, for which I am writing an Afterword to bring the story up to date. So, it seemed a good time to repost two videos I made about the current book for Faculti, a website that publishes videos of authors and academics talking about their work. The first film is a reading from the final section of From Fatwa to Jihad, the second an exploration of the […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Kenan Malik • Tags: free speech, islam, islamism, kenan malik's books, rushdie affair, the satanic verses

COMING SOON (WELL, NEXT YEAR…)

February 26, 2016 by Kenan Malik

It is seven years since From Fatwa to Jihad was first published. The themes at the heart of the book – Islam, multiculturalism, free speech – are even more relevant now than they were in 2009. And in those seven years much has happened – from the emergence of IS to the ‘no platform’ debates, from the Charlie Hebdo killings to the migration crisis – that has pushed the debate on. So, next year there will be a new edition […]

Categories: Kenan Malik • Tags: free speech, islam, kenan malik's books, multiculturalism, racism, rushdie affair

ON THE QUEST FOR A MORAL COMPASS

January 25, 2016 by Kenan Malik

This is the text of my talk at the Galle Literary Festival Last week. What can the history of morality tell us about the nature of morality? And about ourselves as human beings? These are the questions at the heart of what I want to explore today. For some, the questions themselves might seem absurd. There is a widespread perception of morality as occupying a sphere of its own. We imagine that morality can, and should, be understood in its […]

Categories: History of moral thought, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: anti-imperialism, chinese philosophy, christianity, enlightenment, ethics, europe, greek philosophy, history of moral thought, human agency, human nature, imperialism, modernity, monotheism, nietzsche, plato, radical enlightenment, thrasymachus, viktor frankl