Taslima Nasreen and Salman Rushdie have a new comrade-in-stirring a hornet's nest: German Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass. Grass has just published a poem that blasts (well, verbally of course) the nuclear program of Israel, calling it more dangerous to the world security than the nuclear program of Iran.
And with that- especially with that bit of comparing it to Iran - Grass, a German, has committed a political blasphemy.
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| Lines from the controversial poem |
The poem - titled "Was Gesagt Warden Muss" (meaning What must be said) was published on Wednesday in several European publications Sueddeutsche.de.(that's where I read it). I got to learn of it only while trying to browse some Israeli newspapers. That's when I found the fiery reaction of a fuming Benjamin Netanyahu - the prime minister of Israel, calling Grass's action (read words) 'ignorant' and 'shameful' which should be 'condemned by the whole world'.
Now, I must admit, I am not a huge fan of Grass, though I loved his The Tin Drum (which I read in English translation). I have never counted him among my most favorite authors. Also, my knowledge of German is quite limited - maybe the reason why I actually liked the poem! But well, my lingual expertise - or the lack of it - apart, if Gunter Grass thinks Israel's nuclear bombs are no less dangerous than the bombs of any other country in the world, then that's his opinion (technically, all nuclear bombs do have equal power to kill) and he should have all the freedom and respect in the world to stick to it. Also, as a citizen who votes, if he thinks his government should stop aiding (which he says in the poem) Israel's nuclear program, then its his prerogative to say so. And he should be entitled to these thoughts no matter whether he is a German or of any other nationality.
