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| Down Under |
| Tariq Ali attacks Australian government over Iraq war |
| 2005-05-20 |
| Author and political activist Tariq Ali says Alexander Downer is an embarrassment, and he's urging Australia to quit the war against terror in Iraq. Mr Ali, who will appear as a special guest at the Sydney Writers Festival starting this weekend, said the war was spinning out of control. "The war is a total mess, it is a disaster," Mr Ali said. "All attempts by the spin doctors of the war, whether it is your foreign minister Alexander Downer or America's Condoleezza Rice, isn't working." Mr Ali has been an anti-war campaigner since the 1960s and said fighting a war to stop terrorism defied logic. He was born in Lahore, in the then British-controlled India. An atheist since the age of 12, he was educated in Pakistan and then at Britain's Oxford University. Mr Ali has often spoken out against the Australian government's policy on Iraq, and before that, Afghanistan. Asked what Ali would say if given a meeting with John Howard, the author said he would tell the Australian Prime Minister that he had made a "big mistake". "You (John Howard) are quite a hard headed realist guy, understand the mistake you have made and quit while there is time, don't get immersed in it more and more," Ali said. "The other thing I would say to him is, stop your foreign minister from making a fool of himself in his public statements." Ali said Mr Downer was an embarrassment. "He basically, when you read an interview with him, is embarrassing," Ali said. "The level of ignorance is embarrassing." The Sydney Writers Festival begins on Monday and runs through until May 29. More than 200 writers will engage an estimated 50,000 Festival visitors in some 210 events. International guests have come from all around the world, including countries such as Algeria, China, Palestine, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom. They will join the likes of Australian authors including Robert Dessaix, Helen Garner, David Malouf, Louis Nowra and Thomas Keneally. "You are very lucky that the people organising the festival are actually people who like and read books," Ali said. "There are too many festivals I go to that are just run by people who do it for the money." Ali has four books he will discuss during the festival - an update of his memoir, Street Fighting Years, A Sultan in Palermo and Speaking of Empire and Resistance. "I will be talking about politics, about literature, culture and writing," the author, who attended the festival for the first time last year and has been a guest of the Melbourne Writers Festival, said. Most of the festival will take place at Wharf 4 in Sydney city but some events will be held in and around the city including Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains. Other festival highlights are the NSW Premiers Literary Awards, Patrick White Playwrights Award and the inaugural Gough Whitlam Lecture. |
| Posted by:Spavirt Pheng6042 |
| #2 Tariq Ali is an American-hating, terrorist-loving marxist dog. On 9-11 he empathised with those who were rejoicing. Don't even mention his name without spitting on the floor. Evidence of his sordid beliefs is linked below. http://markhumphrys.com/modern.leftists.html#tariq.ali |
| Posted by: Homer from London 2005-05-20 12:51 |
| #1 Mr Ali has been an anti-war campaigner since the 1960s There's the Rantburg - No Need To Read FurtherTM marker of the day. |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-05-20 08:27 |