Comments on: farewell

By: Leila Abu-Saba

Leila Abu-Saba — Sun, 28 Sep 2003 16:41:14 +0000

Thanks for your links to other obits. I really appreciated Adhaf Soueif’s words. Somebody else linked to Alex Cockburn’s and that’s a good mirror of the Hitchens obit.

I had the good fortune to see Said speak in Berkeley a few years ago, got to say hello to him in the impossibly crowded book signing line. I had no idea he was personally so beloved by his friends. Certainly the crowd in Berkeley received him like a cross between a pop star and a savior. He looked bewildered at the applause. People were just beside themselves. Arabs were not in the majority in this audience, either. (Heck, when I was coming up in the 80s, the Arabs I know thought he was a sellout to the West…). It seems from the obits that he has been getting this response in the last few years. Good.

I hope that his grief over the fate of Palestine didn’t hasten his death.

May his children live to see peace in the Middle East…

By: Jonathan Edelstein

Jonathan Edelstein — Sun, 28 Sep 2003 14:37:43 +0000

The professor who made the “million Mogadishus” remark was Nicholas DeGenova.

By: manchegoboy

manchegoboy — Sat, 27 Sep 2003 19:42:12 +0000

He was a frequent visitor to Spain, a place he Knew very well( he adored bullfighting ). We will miss him.

By: Alex Phallus

Alex Phallus — Fri, 26 Sep 2003 18:38:27 +0000

Was he the man who said he hoped America suffered “a hundred Mogidishu’s”? during the then upcoming war with Iraq? Cause that’s not very nice at all.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 20:21:16 +0000

But I think earlier in his career he advocated a two-state solution. Certainly I can’t think of any other American who could speak with such integrity and compassion on the issue of Palestine.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 20:09:35 +0000

Actually, Aaron, Said advocated a single-state solution governed by Palestinians and Israelis.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 18:33:28 +0000

Do you think his death will create a leadership vacuum in the U.S. amongst credible advocates for an independent Palestinian state?

By: language hat

language hat — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:48:38 +0000

Wow. I hadn’t heard about this. He’ll be missed.

By: idols of the marketplace

idols of the marketplace — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:15:50 +0000

Edward Said 1935-2003

Just Learned through Moorish Girl that Edward Said died this morning. A great mind and a great loss. More here. Sadly, I am sure we’ll be plenty of attacks on his memory by the lunatic right. Akila al-Hashemi, the Iraqi…