Sanford S. Elberg Lecture in International Studies: Institute of International Studies; UC Berkeley
Tariq Ali is a writer, broadcaster and filmmaker, and a major figure in European New Left. His life has been, above all, that of a radical dissenter. Ali has remained at the forefront of the anti-war movement for almost forty years and is an important voice in the current debate over the Iraq war.
Born in Lahore in 1943, then under British imperial rule, Ali's landlording family originated in the northern extremities of the Punjab. He was, as he has put it, "born a Muslim," yet received a Catholic school education, and like his parents remained a life-long non-believer. His early education included a period of Koranic Studies at the hands of a somewhat unorthodox radical nationalist tutor. Islam lay dormant in his life, however, until the Gulf War of 1990 at which point the anti-Arab propaganda prompted him to explore why Islam had not undergone a Reformation, and why the Ottomans had been relatively untouched by the Enlightenment. In his new book, The Clash of Fundamentalisms, Ali sees the clash of religious symbols and practice on both sides of the post-September 11th world as central to an understanding of the "war on terror."
In the early 1960s Ali fled Pakistan to study at Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Exeter College, Oxfor, and his continued opposition to the military dictatorship in Pakistan led to permanent exile in Britain. Throughout the sixties, Ali was a central figure in the anti-war movement, transversing Europe constantly and leading the infamous march on the American Embassy in London in 1968. Debating the likes of Henry Kissinger and Michael Stewart, the British Foreign Secretary, Ali's presence in British politics was ubiquitous, and he became, among others, an iconic figures in what was dubbed the "political underground."
A prolific author, Ali has written a dozen books covering everything from the Soviet Union, to South Asian politics to American Empire to the events of 1968. A noted broadcaster and regular figure on the highly successful program Bandung File on Channel Four TV, he has collaborated on plays with Howard Benton and on a film on Wittgenstein with the late Derek Jarman. His book Street Fighting Years is an autobiography of the 1960s. A tireless speaker and activist, Ali recently addressed the million strong anti-war March in London.
This lecture can be viewed in streaming video at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/details.html?event_id=83.
See also the interview with Tariq Ali: Islam, Empire, and the Left.
About the Sanford S. Elberg Lecture in International Studies
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