Rachid Benzine, author: “As a Muslim I admire the courage of Spain” | Culture | EUROtoday

There are stunning methods to maintain reminiscence alive and a really highly effective one is literature. Rachid Benzine, born in Kenitra (Morocco) 54 years in the past and residing in Paris since he was a baby, is a political scientist, professor and skilled in Islamic thought. Now signal the novel The Gaza Bookseller (Salamandra), a delicate and cultured method to the territory battered by Israel.

Ask. Do books save us, are they a refuge?

Answer. Literature isn’t a spot of evasion to flee from issues, but it surely does enable us to inhabit actuality in one other method, to create a fissure within the ruins to discover a house and an act of resistance. The danger of the disaster we’re going by means of is dehumanization. As a pupil I used to be capable of meet individuals deported to Auschwitz and after I requested them “What has allowed you to resist and maintain your humanity?”, one individual instructed me: “My mother’s words. I remembered them and that gave me hope.” Words and books are an act of resistance that’s not naive, that addresses actuality, doesn’t flee from it, and that permits humanity and dignity to be safeguarded.

P. Is Gaza a brand new Auschwitz?

R. Gaza in the present day is a drama, it’s the collapse of worldwide legislation, of our rules and values, and that’s what ought to problem us. Putin, Trump or Netanyahu are imposing the legislation of the strongest. Netanyahu prevents journalists from coming into and that causes part of our democracy to break down. Also in France, Palestinian speeches have been criminalized. I by no means thought that somebody might find yourself within the police station for demonstrating. I enormously admire Spain, the place there’s a precept of justice and legislation superior to everybody else. As a Moroccan and Muslim, I see the bravery and braveness of Spain within the face of dehumanization and genocide. I’ve buddies who haven’t been capable of exhibit in Paris and who’ve come to take action in Spain and so they have instructed me: “It has helped me a lot to find freedom there.” With all the pieces that may be reproached to the West, one can say: “Look at what is happening in Spain, I find it very interesting.”

P. How have you ever managed to write down about Gaza with out with the ability to go?

R. I needed to have gone to Gaza, however the Foreign Ministry prevented me from doing so and I’ve needed to work another way: with archives, testimonies, works by Palestinian and Israeli historians. To get by means of the materiality of Gaza, I’ve additionally spoken with journalists who let you know what occurs there. That is the ability of literature.

P. Do you assume Gaza will die as it’s or that we’ll see the resort the Trump?

R. I do not assume Gaza will die so long as we’re capable of inform all of the particularities of those lives. The Palestinian individuals in Gaza have survived 70 years of colonization and drama, and Netanyahu or Trump are individuals passing by means of who are usually not going to remain.

P. In his ebook, a photographer tries to take a portrait of the bookseller and he resists with out first talking. Can the photograph steal your soul?

R. The photograph steals quite a bit from you. We are within the civilization of the picture, inundated with photos that come to us in a continuing stream and our consideration is dispersed. We see many images of violence on networks and we find yourself anesthetized. The story repairs, and for it to exist the thickness of time should improve. My protagonist means that the photographer take heed to a narrative as a substitute of simply permitting him to take the photograph. Our massive drawback is that it’s more and more troublesome for us to pay attention. Constant photos are shortly forgotten, we go from one factor to a different and we want time to create a narrative. Literature mechanically generates this thickness of time.

P. You are Moroccan in France. Do you understand the rise in xenophobia in your flesh?

R. Yes, sure, all the pieces has been reworked. France doubts itself, it’s struggling its personal losses of employment, trade or homogeneity and these are troublesome issues to simply accept. In actuality, it has by no means been homogeneous, however as a substitute of addressing the loss, some rework it right into a discourse of theft, that Arab immigrants have taken away your identification, your sovereignty, and promise to revive it. The grief for the loss then turns into anger, into resentment. We all have irreversible losses, together with the youngsters of migration, and we should grieve. Although if we do not deal with it, the logic of energy and violence arises.

P. Why does Muslim immigration appear tougher to simply accept in Europe?

R. The visibility of Islam shatters our fantasies of a homogeneous society and exhibits what we have now misplaced. It has its personal calendar, its founding textual content, its imagery, its decorations, its 5 prayers a day, Ramadan… And the response is one in all rejection as a consequence of identification points.

P. The kids of Gaza don’t perceive, however they inherit the injuries.

R. If the trauma is handled and acknowledged, there could also be hope. If you refuse, if you wish to delete it and transfer on to the following factor, there can be penalties. When you might have suffered misfortune, it’s also a accountability to see the struggling of others. If we deny it, the cycle of violence perpetuates itself. I discuss in regards to the conception of Judaism and philosophy that’s collapsing in Gaza and worldwide legislation. If we don’t see that struggling, absolute denial comes. Today’s anger, resentment and humiliation put together tomorrow’s violence.