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Edward Said's widow on the 'Clash of Civilizations'

From FAIR [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]:

"It was great to see this letter in the New York Times from Edward Said's widow (3/11/11):

"To the Editor:

I smiled when I read "Huntington's Clash Revisited," by David Brooks (column, March 4).

Eighteen years after Samuel Huntington wrote his Foreign Affairs essay "The Clash of Civilizations," Mr. Brooks has arrived at a conclusion that so many Arabs and Arab-Americans arrived at very soon after its publication.

Mr. Huntington's essay and subsequent book, in which he asserted that the peoples of the Islamic world were incapable of developing societies rooted in freedom and democracy, which he perceived to be essentially "Western values," sparked an extensive debate in the Arab world and among Arab communities worldwide. The Arab media covered it extensively, and what they said and wrote was totally ignored or dismissed by their Western counterparts.

My late husband, Edward W. Said, was among the prominent voices in strong opposition to Mr. Huntington's thesis. He wrote and published in English for the Western world. Very few listened to him. It took revolutions to finally hear our voices.

Mariam C. Said
New York, March 4, 2011"

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