Hamed Abdel-Samad is an Egyptian-German writer and an apostate from Islam. He lives under a death fatwa for his acerbic writings about his former religion.
In the following account from Die Achse des Guten, Mr. Abdel-Samad describes the cancellation of the French edition of his latest book, à la Salman Rushdie, out of fear of Islamic reprisals.
Many thanks to Egri Nök for the translation:
La France en trance! Hooray, they surrender!
by Hamed Abdel-Samad.
A French publisher halts the publication of a book critical of Islam out of fear of attacks
The French publisher Piranha Edition bought the rights to my book Islamic Fascism two years ago. The publication of the book was scheduled for September of this year. It had already being advertised on amazon.fr. First, the publisher changed the title from “Islamic Fascism” to “Is Islamism some sort of Fascism?” in order not to polarize unnecessarily. But after the attack in Nice, the publisher decided to not publish it at all, because, as he wrote to me in an email, the consequences for the publishing house could be deadly; the publishing house could not ensure safety. There could be another attack like the one on Charlie Hebdo.
If the publisher had ended his email at this point, I would have been able to sympathize, as it is about life and death indeed, and I cannot demand of others to take the same risks that I take with my books.
But then he brought forth his second argument, why a publication at this point of time was not possible. The book could be grist for the mills of the right in France. Two years ago when the publisher purchased the right to the book these rightists did not exist in France!! [I suspect he is being ironic here? — translator]. They could not prevent the Islamists in France from publishing books and making them available in the mosques!
This is how far we have come in Europe. A publisher bows to the intimidation tactics of the Islamists. It was not long ago that this publisher wrote “Je suis Charlie”. Today he writes: “I am scared of becoming Charlie.” What is worse is that he is trying to make a virtue out of necessity, and calls his decision “prudent”. I call it preemptive obedience and self-abandonment!
Those crocodiles which you are feeding now, hoping that they won’t eat you, will disassemble you, too, in the end. Voltaire would turn over in his grave, if he knew what understanding of tolerance and freedom of opinion creative artists in his country have, 230 years after his death!
Previous posts about Hamed Abdel-Samad:
I commend Hamed for his forthrightness and bravery. Both he and this blog are contributing a necessary defence of Western thought and intellectual freedom.
Now there’s a neat trick. Purchase the rights, then deep six it. “Nothing to see here, now move along.”..
If paper editions of books are so easily shut down, aside from being too costly and being buried on shelves hidden from readers’ reach, isn’t it better to publish an online edition and cut the middle man (the publisher) here? I now this means a writer will be forced into poverty, but if the writer gets the money upfront at the expense of the written work, this is the easiest censorship achievable through contracts and publisher’s rights. There is no such thing as a free speech or free media (publishing houses included). Censorship doesn’t need a reason, but when the reason is so outrageously weak, we are two steps short of self-destruction.
Well, altough Mr. Hamed has sold the Monetary rights of the Book, he still has the moral rights over it… I would say he is perfectly allowed to distribute it virtually as he sees fit, but I am no expert in French Law to tell certainly…
A leftist is always a leftist first.
This fool “publisher” will betray France, his contracts, his profession to make sure that he doesn’t accidentally assist Le Pen.
Exposes his real priorities, no?
What trash!
“A leftist is always a leftist first.”
Very similar to Islamists, actually.
When we look at the dangers of Islamists, we need not forget the equal or greater danger of home-grown leftists.
Has there been a breach of agreement here – get a lawyer and sue his pants off – yes ? Otherwise just dump the script on the internet AND sue the publisher. This is war – right? Ever think of using publishers outside France ?
yes, publishing outside of France was de rigueur in the prerevolutionary period.Many works of critics like Voltaire, Montesqieu and others were published in England or mostly the Netherlands.
Do authors regularly have a contract provision that says, “If you buy the rights to publish my book, you must publish it within X months or forfeit your right to publish it at all, letting the author shop his book around to other publishers.”?
FOR SALE: WWII French rifle. Never fired, dropped once, and French manuscripts, never published, dropped permanently.
My MAS 1936 isn’t a bad gun. Too bad the .308 bore is not for a standard NATO cartridge–though it could be easily converted. It is essentially the same power as the 7.62 NATO.
The sights are kind of crude.
Mine was dropped in Syria.
The French forces fought bravely in 1940; their tanks were forced to stay close to the infantry, rendering them ineffectual (unlike the Panzers), and the Armee de l’Air destroyed hundreds of enemy aircraft which would otherwise have been thrown at Britain shortly afterwards. The military was betrayed by the politicians.
In Germany it was published a few years ago, even my local library in Frankfurt does have it available.
I read it once and it is a good book as can be expected from Hamed.
Although he is maybe sometimes too ambitous.
However, as politics and media decided to ignore it and most People don’t read books it didn’t start anything here.
I guess the Pegida peaople haven’t read it, they do listen to their gut Feelings.
There are many other good author (Ayaan Hirsi Ali) and books, where you can read the truth. Problem is that our leftist ruling elites are in state of denial and will remain there. Normal People (like me) probably don’t dare to speak up because they are afraid of being stigmatized, losing their Jobs etc., especially if they have to Support a Family.
A state of denial or are the Leftists the Sinn Fein to the Islamists’ IRA? It’s hard to tell most of the time, and considering what stories leak out about the dissolute behavior of rich Leftists (e.g. Jeffrey Epstein’s Pedophile Island and BJ Clinton), there isn’t much difference between rich westerners and rich Saudi princes.
…… and yet another machete-wielding “Allahu Akbar” today in Charleroi, Belgium.
Never a dull day on these hot, summer days in Europe.
I am very suspicious of the fire at a nightclub in Rouen in France.A loud explosion was heard and 13 people killed, the fire was apparently started by someone dropping a lighted birthday cake.Is it just me?but i think this story is absurd.It is only minutes from were the terrorist attack took place on the priest,perhaps the main priority is to maintain order at the expense of the truth.
I agree with you.The authorities are lying to preserve the illusion that France has not been completely overwhelmed by the deadly combination of uncontrolled mass Muslim immigration and the Schengen agreement which allows for free movement within Europe .
Germany is also covering up Muslim terrorist attacks to try to prevent criticism of Merkel’s madly destructive policies.
The first casualty of war is the truth Mr Hollande.
According to the authorities, the “explosions” were windows blowing out. They may be lying, but they may not.
Salman Rushdie. That was the first nail in the coffin. That is when the submission began in the West.
What else can one expect in a country programmed by French elites. A French ruling class, a political class of dhimmis that is subject to American power who have been building Europe’s new societal model.