Sunny – you say protesting has been targetted at mostly women. Not so. The biggest protests world wide was against Mr Rushdie.

But on w ider point. Rushdie did alright – is alive and well, dating gorgeous Indian babes three times younger than himself- don’t see how an Asian sugar daddy can wade in and speak against the patricarchy in East London.

Yes, publishing is a tough one to crack for everyone in the game.

Sonya, plenty of younger Bangladeshis object to Brick Lane – perhaps more than the elders who haven’t read the book.

It is not necessary for writers to do write authentically, but the search for authenticy is compelling- most writers unless they are magic realists or fantasists (even Lord of the Rings draws on Christain mythology) draw on some sense of reality. It’s what makes writing refreshing, dynamic, and ORIGINAL. I think lots of readers & publishers of Brick Lane thought this to be the case and enjoyed for its authenticy wrapped up in fiction. If they were honest.. and now defending the book on other grounds completely. But it’s just fiction…

Why do people get so upset that the Bangladeshis in Brick Lane object to their lives depicted? The majority hate the book, and that’s the democratic verdict on the book, there are some that don’t, and that’s the minority verdict on the book. There is no mystery to it.

Personally I think people are allowed to protest in ways that are appropriate to them. Salman Rushdie and his English Pen friends don’t need to stand in Brick Lane and shout because they have the pen which is mighter than the.. whereas ordinary folks best speak with their feet – we shouldn’t rubbish people’s actions because they are not busy writing/emailing to Guardian Comments sections.
I think the people in Brick Lane, are demonstrating their Britishness – freedom of expression is a very British ideal, even if, unfortunately for English Pen, it cuts both ways.

Monica Ali can write what ever she wants (this is a free country after all!). The film makers also have the right to film wherever they want… the protesters have the right to protest peacefully… this includes in front of the camera!! However, one of the problems with this is that it adds to Monica’s PR and potential book sales (I think she’s a crap writer frankly and doesn’t really deserve the attention).

I would’ve protested at the filming of the book, too, as I keep saying it’s a democreatic right, as is Monical Ali’s right to write the book. It’s really no big deal.

Jav

But what’s the point Zafraz Manzoor is making? Why should writers need to be authentic, eh, that is the big question that Monical Ali has spawned?

And then he goes and makes his whole career out of milking ‘I am from Luton, and Pakistani, and am working class’ but then made it to Ladbroke with all the other media darlings, and no, doubt, he will soon be telling us, he is not in a mixed relationship. No coincidence that he is writing his book then. People who wear their heritage like an albatrose around their neck are just as cring-worthy as the wanna-bees.

But what’s the point Zafraz Manzoor is making? Why should writers need to be authentic, eh, that is the big question that Monical Ali has spawned?

And then he goes and makes his whole career out of milking ‘I am from Luton, and Pakistani, and am working class’ but then made it to Ladbroke with all the other media darlings, and no, doubt, he will soon be telling us, he is not in a mixed relationship. No coincidence that he is writing his book then. People who wear their heritage like an albatrose around are just as cring-worthy as the wanna-bees.

“It is astonishing how many of the writers credited with telling typically Asian stories are in fact atypical – either Oxbridge-educated, mixed race, in mixed-race relationships or all of the above. Whether it is Monica Ali, Hanif Kureishi and Hari Kunzru, or Gautam Malkani, Nirpal Dhaliwal and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, these are writers sufficiently of the culture to be able to exploit and extract from their heritage, and for their publishers to claim they are authentic, but also, in a strictly literal sense, exceptional.”

*ahem*

TFI

Arif ( as he usually does!) did have some good points in what he said in his post up above ( sorry cant be bothered to scroll up to get no.!)

yes it’s important to understand the situation of the folks who’re upset about this. and yep its important to be constructive and not just dis them. ( though that was fun and im sure we’d all be very polite if we met them all on the street burning books )

regardless of the specifics of who was actually out on the street shouting or whatever, its certainly understandable if you’re a bit old and you’ve worked really hard to get your family over here and things seem hostile and different and you’re not really sure what’s going on and you’re concerned for your kids ( and prob. your daughters more) etc. etc. and insecurity and these underlying worries can contribute to feeling vulnerable and threatened then getting more worked up. allied to the complexity re: group identity and representation in a more political sense then its not surprising that objection to a book has snowballed, or it’s become the focus, an outlet for the other frustrations. and its also clear from what stuff other people have said, Forzana for example made some good points about how young people are in any case negotiating their own space without having to ‘conflict’ with the older generation, and how the media has exacerbated the situation – the sort of thing which doesn’t tend to help with internal community dynamics which are complex anyway.

So i guess its certainly worth working out ways in which to address the concerns of the older generation /’elders’ – have – or for a start, working out what they are.

Maybe. But I just looked at Natasha Walter’s thread again and saw calls for a ‘Quran burning party’ and plenty of other obnoxious generalisations made by bigots. We can never ever win with this kind of thing. The bigots on both sides become emboldened, and we are assaulted from both sides.

Asif Baul: I agree with you completely but I think Ruby Films had no choice but to bow out of location filming because of the angry Bangladeshi morons who have taken to the streets in protest. In the absence of an equally loud and well-publicised voice to counterpoint the reactionary paan-frothing from the ‘Campaign Against Monica Ali’s Film Brick Lane’ group by moderate Bangladeshi voices, I don’t see what else they could have done.

QueenBee, I don’t know. Yes that is usually the case but I believe it depends on how you write and approach the issue too. I don’t get that much racist rubbish on my articles as others have done.

Most of the people I know who have read this book have been Bangladeshi women. Most think that it should burnt not because its a “deadly insult” to Bangladeshis but because its a deadly insult to the good writers, and as noted, many good Bangladeshi women writers who aren’t blessed Arts luvvies and the Sunday Times book reviewers.

But to be fair to Monica Apa, she has highlighted Bangladeshi patriarchialism fair and square.
But the anti-Sylhety bias of the book is simply a figment of the imagination of the Sylhety gentlemen who are being bussed into Brick Lane from Birmingham to compare how far along the Brick Lane pavements they can project their pann-spit. Many of these peopel will use the generic term ‘Bengali’ or ‘Dhakaiya’ to refer to non-Sylheties, or rather, the rest of the world.