Intervista (da leggere) a Georges Corm, che inizia bacchettando Samuel Huntington e il suo “clash of civilization”: “talk of “Muslim society” – as if it were one unified ethnic or national body – is out of touch with reality and I just wanted to show the diversity that has existed at geographical level since ancient times. Persians, Turks, and Arabs are not a homogonous group that is held together by religion. It is absurd to view Moroccan and Iranian society as one and the same. This presupposes that Islam is a living, unified being that exists in a precisely defined territory. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, authors like Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington have done their best to make the world believe in the existence of mega identity blocks such as “Islam” and “the West” – and unfortunately their efforts have been quite successful – but that is precisely the reason why reality must be quoted again and again”.

Corm, a dire il vero, è in ottimo compagnia. Per chi non l’avesse letto, c’è lo splendido j’accuse di Edward Said, pubblicato su The Nation il 4 ottobre 2001 e intitolato, non casualmente, The Clash of Ignorance.

Da domani sono in Italia per una settimana. L’aggiornamento del blog, quindi, non sarà continuo e costante com’è stato sinora. Ma qualcosa ci metterò, insh’allah.