“A distinctive and insightful perspective on being Muslim in the post-9/11 world.” — Charles Taylor
Veteran Toronto Star editor Haroon Siddiqui, brown and Muslim, has spent a life on the media front lines, covering conflicts both global and local, and tracked rising xenophobia.
Canada has no official culture. It follows that there's no standard way of being Canadian, beyond obeying the law. Toronto Star editor Haroon Siddiqui shows how Canada let him succeed on his own terms.
Coming from India in 1967, he didn't do in Rome as some Romans expected him to. He refused to forget his past. He didn't change his name, didn't dilute his dignity, didn't compromise his conscience or his dissident views. Championed immigration and multiculturalism when that was not popular. Upbraided media colleagues for being white-centric, Orientalist. Pioneered cross-cultural journalism, bridging divided communities. Insisted it was un-Canadian to use free speech as a licence for hate speech. Opposed the limitless American war on terror, the invasion of Iraq, the long war on Afghanistan. Exposed how liberals could also be narrow-minded and nasty.
Here he shares such journalistic forays into the corridors of power, war zones, and cultural minefields. He also takes the reader along his personal journey from British colonial India to the evolution of Canada as the only Western nation where skin colour is no longer a fault line.
Veteran Toronto Star editor Haroon Siddiqui, brown and Muslim, has spent a life on the media front lines, covering conflicts both global and local, and tracked rising xenophobia.
Canada has no official culture. It follows that there's no standard way of being Canadian, beyond obeying the law. Toronto Star editor Haroon Siddiqui shows how Canada let him succeed on his own terms.
Coming from India in 1967, he didn't do in Rome as some Romans expected him to. He refused to forget his past. He didn't change his name, didn't dilute his dignity, didn't compromise his conscience or his dissident views. Championed immigration and multiculturalism when that was not popular. Upbraided media colleagues for being white-centric, Orientalist. Pioneered cross-cultural journalism, bridging divided communities. Insisted it was un-Canadian to use free speech as a licence for hate speech. Opposed the limitless American war on terror, the invasion of Iraq, the long war on Afghanistan. Exposed how liberals could also be narrow-minded and nasty.
Here he shares such journalistic forays into the corridors of power, war zones, and cultural minefields. He also takes the reader along his personal journey from British colonial India to the evolution of Canada as the only Western nation where skin colour is no longer a fault line.
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- Pages
- 472
- Published in
- Toronto, CA
- Rights
- Haroon Siddiqui
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Praise for the Author 7
- Praise for My Name Is Not Harry 3
- Half Title 9
- Title 11
- Copyright 12
- Dedication 13
- Contents 15
- 1 Expo 67 17
- 2 Ram and Rumi 29
- 3 The Milieu that Made Me 45
- 4 The End of Colonialism 59
- 5 The Fall of Hyderabad 69
- 6 Happy Childhood 83
- 7 The Making of a Journalist 105
- 8 End of the Good Life 129
- 9 An “Indian” on the Prairies 141
- 10 Good to Go at a Moment’s Notice 167
- 11 In the Trenches 187
- 12 The Browning of Canada 201
- 13 The Editorial Perch 215
- 14 Multicultiphobia 235
- 15 Becoming a Columnist 255
- 16 Post-9/11 Canada 273
- 17 Afghanistan and Iraq Wars 291
- 18 Cultural Warfare on Muslims 313
- 19 Harper and Muslims 333
- 20 Media and Muslims 351
- 21 Rushdie and Muslims 375
- 22 An Incurably Optimistic Canadian 397
- Acknowledgements 417
- Notes 419
- Image Credits 431
- Index 433
- About the Author 467
- Back Cover 470
