Edward Said & Salman Rushdie [1986]

In 1986, Edward Said and Salman Rushdie sat down to talk at the ICA. Professor Said launched his book After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives at the ICA and discussed his and the collective Palestinian identity, exile, return and the right to return. Much of what they discussed played out the following year, during the First Intifada.
Reshared on Monday 15 May 2023.
Time stamps:
00:00 - Intro by Salman Rushdie
03:13 - Rushdie reads 'The Earth is closing on us'
04:34 - The first part of Said's book
05:46 - The Palestinian experience
07:49 - Part two of Said's book; inside/outside
08:45 - Inside Palestinian-ness
09:28 - Cult of physical strength; a letter
11:02 - Invasions of the interior
12:15 - Zionism and historical context
12:50 - Part three: Exile
13:25 - What happens to landless people?
17:00 - Palestinians in New York
19:12 - Ability to publish work in US
20:21 - Treated like a diplomat of terrorism
22:25 - To be a NYC Palestinian in Palestine
24:28 -What is/is there a Palestinian nation
26:44 - Codes of being
34:30 - Tell the story from the beginning, again
37:14 - The unheard voices of Palestinian women
43:13 - Anti-zionism not antisemitism
48:55 - To be a non-muslim Palestinian
52:06 - After The Last Sky, turning inward
54:54 - Audience questions begin
55:37 - 'If you speak to Jewish audiences what do you tell them about the future of Jews in Palestine?'
1:01:23 - 'Have you developed a system to succinctly discuss this topic when asked?'
1:04:03 - 'Justice/morality/where/who is the court that hears it?'
1:08:28 - 'Less people are recognising this grievance, how can your idea of communication change this?'
1:11:07 - The fate of Arafat and Palestinians
1:12:49 - 'Self determination or, moreover, عودة (eawda, return)'

[@qgravy]

"They treat me as some sort of ambassador of terrorism" ... Edward Said on when he is invited for media debates. Since 1986 till 2023, it seems nothing has changed in the media discourse. Every Palestinian voice in the western media is treated exactly the same way ... "But do you condemn Hamas"

[@junkievideo]

Why dont you condemn hamas then? Thats why they ask you in the first place. Because you celebrate what hamas does. All the Muslim world

[@W.Khairi]

Really loved the phrase also and many of his other eloquent utterances

[@JohnGeometresMaximos]

It's because islam is inherently violent.

[@philmckay9973]

almost every interview has him having to condemn some action Israelis never have to condemn themselves and when they do...they blame the victims for teaching them to be violent.

[@myad09]

Amazing interview, still amazingly relevant today.

[@rational-public-discourse]

Thank you ICA for bringing up this very informative interview from the past. It is important to have us Americans view the kind of information that our corporate run society has kept from us. If we were not fed programs like professional(fake) wrestling or cartoons or dim-witted sit-coms or all of the other garbage that most Americans have consumed which helps to explain our ignorance of the world, it would be a different world -- a more humane, peaceful, and civil world.

[@TomBerishaj]

Edward Said was American. How could he have been a humane, peaceful, civil person with all the WWF on TV? You pompous poseur.

[@eshaibraheem4218]

Bravo.

[@Inmyowndamnwords]

How is it possible that there isn't one comment on such an interesting conversation?

[@eshaibraheem4218]

Perhaps everyone gave up after 15 minutes of waiting for Rushdie to let Professor Said speak.

[@walterpay341]

They hid this video well....

[@ivok9846]

1-not very famous people 2-yt search can be bad. very bad. searching literal, precise terms can produce irrelevant results...

[@ivok9846]

but here's one possible path of conversation: 15:00 boy, oh boy how the tables have turned if in 1986 palestinians were threatened by jews!

[@MikaelJean]

@@ivok9846 Yes, now they are no longer threatened by Jews; they are back under the daily occupation and threat of having their entire existence and culture annihilated by Zionists.

[@W.Khairi]

Really love the intellectuality and soothing sensation of Dr saeed's voice

[@heinzbraunschweig9130]

What a Blessing to have this Talk reminded to us These days or even hours, thank you! - Justice is Not to be found, maybe forgiving but that requires admitting all Injustice, Not to Name sin

[@jacksonfolly]

Thank you ICA for publishing this on KZbin.

[@mahnazqaiser3371]

A perpetually tragic situation,so well articulated by these fine gentlemen.

[@Altruismisreal27]

Wow, the time has passed! Thanks for this upload.

[@yabba234]

Beautiful conversation

[@tomasvlcek4476]

This is absolutely brilliant.

[@shamilkolkata8327]

Thank you.

[@laylaali5977]

Excellent program

[@srothbardt]

I like both of these gentlemen. I’ve read them both.

[@artemisqueen2]

Rushdie is a vile bigot who wrote an islamaphobic book

[@EsamBaaio]

One of the greatest intellectuals of the middle east and arab world in the last centery.

[@veramarquesalves7744]

The earth is closing on us

[@abhiramiramachandran1062]

Wow!

[@germeshkrimi7384]

It means that the excellence of the speaker left any follower speechless and lettetless🤔

[@drrukhsanafarooqi8901]

Beautiful

[@fawaziaali6814]

It's too bad that a wonderful man like Edward W Said has passed away but Salman Rushdie is still here!

[@brucekellett440]

13 minutes and still droning on. ahaaaaa

[@user-iq4kp6ls7m]

Thanks ICA

[@mermadiha]

edward said and salman rushdie listened

[@sabatino1977]

Enjoy this calm and sensible discussion because you will never see this again. Everyone has devolved into tik tok length sound bites and quick hits. No one even speaks this coherently anymore.

[@muddi900]

"It is impossible to overestimate American ignorance on world affairs."

[@vondas1480]

It is impossible to overestimate palestinian ignorance on world affairs”. There fixed it for you.

[@My-cat-is-staring-at-you]

I hate the accuracy of this statement.

[@realolivertwisted]

@@vondas1480 🤡

[@fawaziaali6814]

Edward W Said is admirable

[@lyes-ot6it]

it reminds us a time when people could discuss even if they didn't agree on everything, I was interested to watch this encounter between the great Edouard Said and Salman Rushdie who can have some good ideas, we must not forget he comes from the left and he wrote "Children of midnight" about immigrants in UK

[@eshaibraheem4218]

Òh, get on with it, Rushdie! We're here for Professor Said.

[@lyes-ot6it]

Don''t be negative, it reminds us a time when people could discuss even if they didn't agree on everything, I was interested to watch This encounter between the great Edouard Said and Salman Rushdie who can have some good ideas, we must not forget he comes from the left and he wrote "Children of midnight" about immigrants in UK

[@mazumdar2379]

And he is also the Western-paid to write against Muslims & Islam!

[@fan1985ful]

I watched it for Rushdie.

[@eshaibraheem4218]

@@fan1985ful you must have been disappointed.

[@Historelic]

He's one eyed now lol😂

[@martaaldama6419]

I’m interested in the history of the Middle East.

[@ludviglidstrom6924]

It’s pretty funny to see these two men together in a friendly conversation. I don’t think one would see Salman Rushdie in the same kind of company today!

[@stillamsyeu]

Edward Said was a Christian.

[@noamsalzstein7570]

Thanks for post it. Very interesting. A jew from Brasil.

[@hatfullofsky2470]

The experiences of the Jews and Palestinians is so similar when cause and perpetrator are set aside. They have more in common than not. What if Palestinians are, at least in part, the descendants of the original Israelites? Surely, there is a way to peaceful co-existence for these nations that have both experienced so much loss

[@alexrothwell2053]

Nothing similar at all. The Palestinians have been treated badly, but nothing compares to the Holocaust. I don't understand the fascination with using Holocaust analogies (on either side) because the only real similarity is that Jews are involved.

[@mrmustard1633]

@@alexrothwell2053 no one has a monopoly on suffering my friend, they are both injustices

[@alexrothwell2053]

@@mrmustard1633 I agree. The Jews have suffered more prior to 1948, and the Palestinians have suffered more since. I wish people could stop making comparisons and focus on what's happening now and how to resolve it

[@sillysod33]

Except the Jews don’t celebrate the torture, gang rape and murder of innocents and parade their rape victims around the streets. The Palos are beasts.

[@thehalalreviewer]

It’s not a “what if” it is a matter of fact. They do descend from ancient Israelites, Canaanites, Judeans, Phoenicians.

[@elachechino]

Long live Rushdie.

[@carnmarth334]

Fuck him. One of the world's greatest racists.

[@josephzimmer4173]

Right Said Ed

[@sanja.4805]

almost all of today's happenings relate to everything that was said in this talk 40 years ago

[@denverlove]

21:45 is he talking about natanyaho who is the current prime minister? Wow LOL

[@denvorsden7903]

Wow! The author who looks like Stanley Kubrick is interviewing the "Other".

[@realolivertwisted]

He does. 😆 I gotta stick up for Kubrick a little - he died a few days after an argument with the producers of Eyes Wide Shut. They wanted to remove 18 min. (roughly) and he refused. Then he died. Despite his age, the timing is very suspicious given the plot and subject matter of the movie.

[@realolivertwisted]

And the final cut didn’t have the 18 min. he wanted removed so the producers got their way. How nice for them! 🤨 ALWAYS ask, “Who benefits?” from certain events.

[@leonardoiglesias2394]

Very refined dialog by two privileged intellectuals. The tragedy, the deaths, the injuries, the sufferings, the losses are not that refined.

[@yj9032]

What did Edward say?

[@DarshikShikshan]

What? What did Edward said?

[@nutauf7587]

Rushdie loves the sound of his own voice

[@rebeccaday8612]

There are people who would commit violence to take his voice away. I say, let him speak!

[@tomasvlcek4476]

He is not alone. 🙂

[@christopherhamilton3621]

So do you! 😂

[@realolivertwisted]

@@rebeccaday8612 ​​⁠ the 👁DF has killed 143 journalists reporting from Gaza since Oct. as of today, May 11, 2024 (source: PressTV) AJ headline Feb. 15, 2024: “Nearly 75% of journalists killed in 2023 died in Israel’s war on Gaza: CPJ “Committee to Protect Journalists says of the 99 journalists killed globally last year, 72 were Palestinians.” Did you know killing journalists is a w.a.r. c.r.i.m.e. and 🇮🇱 is committing them? This’ll probably be deleted…

[@realolivertwisted]

@@rebeccaday8612 my reply to you is 🫥 - look up how to see it.

[@brucekellett440]

8 minutes in and Rushdie is still talking....please when will you let Said talk?

[@asmaburney2028]

Excellent interview! Nothing has changed except for the worse. Don't think ES imagined the extent to which Israel would go. Or maybe he did!

[@ludviglidstrom6924]

Well, this interview was before The Satanic Verses!

[@zentrani]

01:09:00 us support for is

[@suhailski]

What we need is another Mandela moment. So much has changed, yet things are maddeningly the same. It’s very sad really.

[@raconteurhermit1533]

Definition of oppressor in the Qur'an: 'wa al kafiroon humu al zalimoon' - Kafir is the Oppressor (by denying belief) 2.254 'Asshirk lazulmu aazeem' - Idolatry is great oppression/injustice 31.13 next level: Jihad is obligatory to fight oppression Fundamentals in a nutshell.

[@thetruth8295]

And you are from the US ?

[@rakhimukerji7937]

​@@thetruth8295I am Hindu and from India.I discovered what quran was preaching only recently

[@hedicat01]

If you don't understand words then don't talk about them. The translation is wrong. Zalim comes from zulm and zulm meaning not keeping things where they ought to be. In other words, not doing justice to things or ideas by keeping them where they don't deserve. Thus, idolatry and saying that there is someone else equal to God is essentially zulm. Menaing either you decrease God to the position of that idol which He doesn't deserve OR you increase the idol to the position of God which the idol and God both don't deserve. AND a person who does so is ZALIM. You have commited a logical fallacy or you have done so by purpose

[@mrmustard1633]

Mistranslation, you clearly don't know arabic, and thus should not speak on this topic before educating yourself

[@andrewgora3672]

Neither of them would agree with you or even like you..The only people that like you are your own kind. If only you had been born a century ago ! With a little travelling you would have found yourself in your spiritual homeland - only the people that now you profess to love were treated the way Palestinians are being treated today !

[@brucekellett440]

17 minutes, finally he let Said have a word. After noticing that Said had been threatened by jews.

[@auteurdirector]

Bilgelik ve zeka bazen ters orantılıdır...

[@VANCOUVERHOUSEFINDER]

Palestinians and Arabs need more articulate voices like this. Not the radical views that are often shown on the Main Street media . I’m an Arab and I am ashamed of what I see everyday.

[@wg3951]

Arabs voices don’t get to be heard in the media, that’s why you have this opinion.

[@muddi900]

What radical arab views have you seen on mainstream media?

[@wg3951]

@@muddi900 He's also a product of the Western media bias.

[@ludviglidstrom6924]

Edward Said was a radical; he supported armed struggle against Israel. Being articulate does not in any way exclude radicalism.

[@wg3951]

What happened to Palestinians who protested peacefully? Killed! I suppose you only support Israel’s right to defend itself by slaughtering babies?

[@azads.t8633]

Salman, why don't you say anything about the Palestinian people? where are you ? Are you scared? Or do you not care anymore?

[@mustafasadeq5791]

Because he has been owned by the Zionists.

[@ludviglidstrom6924]

I don’t know, he seems to be a quite centrist liberal nowadays.

[@ludviglidstrom6924]

I think the whole reaction to his The Satanic Verses, including the fatwa from ayatollah Khomeini, severed him from the left. It seems like large parts of the left had a hard time condemning the fatwa and supporting Rushdie (this was before I was born, so I’m not totally sure), so my guess is that the whole affair around The Satanic Verses basically made it impossible for him to remain a part of the left.

[@christopherhamilton3621]

Why would he? He’s speaking with Prof. Said & getting him to talk. Are you trying to goad? Why? 😢Do you realize the age of this interview?

[@dustthatsings6406]

And look what the nutty Islamists of Iran did to Rushdie.

[@lovescent46]

The guy who stabbed him is from new jersy

[@realolivertwisted]

@@lovescent46 😆🤣

[@margaretmiros1672]

37.14 and yet not one woman in attendance spoke...

[@1feloniouspunk]

Oh, so it's Edward Said's show, according to Salman, but Salman will be the one who talks the most. Cool. Thanks for the barf bag necessity head's up.

[@1feloniouspunk]

Effin just let Edward speak!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@1feloniouspunk]

Oh Em Gee, I am screaming at the voice of this idiot. How in love are you with yourself?

[@1feloniouspunk]

Archie Bunker used to simulate a suicidal act while his wife, Edith, waxxed on indefinitely. I understand him now. Take me, Elahi, leave me not to the grating sounds of Rushdie.

[@edwardspence-fo8vt]

My name is Edward and I said know such thing

[@coimbralaw]

Nobody asked scvmbag

[@abdlhakabdlhakar4846]

!!!!????JAI NA RIEN COMPRIS 🕎☦️☪️MOHAMED MAHDI IMAM DE JURSALEM C'EST LA FIN DU MONDE 🌏🏴🐎🕋👤12:06🕔🕘🕟🧭

[@theodorearaujo971]

To answer Said's questions, there is no such thing as a "Palestinian" that excludes Jews. BTW Said is Egyptian, not a Palestinian, even though he'd like to identify as one. (So much for only American ignorance).

[@PlayNiceFolks]

You know what they say about needing to be able to acknowledge the problem before anything can be done about.

[@PlayNiceFolks]

"there is NO such thing". There's been ethnic and religious tensions between Jews and Muslims ever since Abraham decided to get gnarly with a slave girl instead of his wife.

[@PlayNiceFolks]

You're so right! ENOUGH with people having multiple identities based on multiple influences... EVERYONE must choose just ONE nation or region to identify with...and that's it! Brilliant!

[@PlayNiceFolks]

I need to go to the optometrist because my eyes rolled so far back into my skull

[@PlayNiceFolks]

BTW

[@ayadissa9685]

Both sick in mind

[@christopherhamilton3621]

😂

[@PCH12r]

There don't exist any Palestinians just Arabs . 😔

[@knowledgeispower6726]

That's ridiculous - it's the equivalent of saying there are no Spanish, French, Germans, English etc ... there's just Caucasians!

[@pneron2032]

Why can't you people just say "we're strong so we can steal whatever land we want". Why pretend that the people you dispise "dont exist"?

[@Akkedas]

@@pneron2032excellent point, very inline with analysis as James Baldwin regarding the black experience in USA: one thing is to subjugate a people, steal their dignity and oppress them for generations, it a completely different matter to say this never happened or these people never existed. It’s a far bigger crime than the original crime According to him.

[@bibikhan1257]

???

[@marwamourad]

The Palestinians like the Egyptians are not Arabs to begin with.. they are just Arabs by culture not by ethnicity