Interpreter of the Middle East

The Dubliner passed away on 26 April. No student in east-west relations would have escaped the work of this internationally acclaimed scholar in international relations and friend of the Middle East. Tribute from an Iranian Londoner who met the Irish scholar in Spain

Fred Halliday (photo: Youtube.com)
Learning, humour and passion: Fred Halliday (22 February 1946 – 26 April 2010) was a demystifier of the Middle East

​​ Most kids have footballers, pop stars or Hollywood actors for heroes. Mine, aged thirteen, was Fred Halliday, an esteemed university professor and internationally-renowned Middle East expert. I loved history and politics as a child, especially of Iran and the Middle East, where my parents came from. I first came across Fred Halliday's name whilst reading about the 1979 Islamic revolution. I was hooked. Whilst my peers were reading R.L. Stein's Point Horror books – an adolescent literary phenomenon of the early 90s – my nose was stuck in Iran: Dictatorship and Development (1979).

I'm sure there are other students who, aged 17, also applied to the London School of Economics (LSE) with the prospect of being taught by Halliday, who had been a member of staff there since 1983. When I started my international studies degree elsewhere in September 2001, his Two Hours That Shook the World, about 9/11 and its consequences, was one of the first eagerly-anticipated books to be published on an event that had forced a shift in the study of international relations.

Reconciling Europe and Islam

Many obituaries have been written since Fred's death on 26 April by those much better-informed than me on his career, political views and personal life. It's easy to imitate them and make a sweeping comment like 'academics and journalists alike will feel the absence of Fred Halliday's captivating and commanding voice for generations to come.' The truth is that he did spend the majority of his 64 years in bringing Europe and the Middle East closer, be it via his literature or his lectures. Nor was he afraid to be outrageously controversial.

For every written word that made so much sense, like a thunderbolt of clarity, he always had something in there which you would passionately disagree with. His best known ideas were over intervention on Europe's edges: he agreed with Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, NATO intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo and also the first gulf war against Saddam Hussein.

Professor Halliday had time for anyone he met – a fan, a critic, a kindred spirit. This says more about him than a thousand descriptions of his essays. Before taking on a masters degree I worked for a project in Barcelona reconciling Europe and Islam, discussing European Muslims and garnering a mutual understanding. The project's very concept was something that Halliday had strived to do for decades.

When I first met him for the project in the lobby of the Palau Baró de Quadras in Barcelona in January 2006, it was raining and dark. I was struck by how his stature matched his massive spirit, intellect, and celebrity. Halliday spoke about Iran in perfect Persian. He went on to give his talk in perfect Spanish; the other guests spoke through translators.

Halliday spoke of how the West failed to understand the Middle East – a region he himself had invested so much into understanding, and relaying his understandings to his students. The next time we met, he was leading a delegation of liberal Iranian post-revolution exiles from Paris to a conference. I was in awe of how a group, that included European Iranian scholars renowned in their own right, only had ears for their old comrade.

A tragedy for the world of international politics

Besides a passion for Iranian affairs, Fred absolutely loved Barcelona. When he made his semi-permanent move to the Catalan capital, no-one was surprised when he so effortlessly added Catalan to his already fluent Arabic, Persian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, French, and German. Probably my fondest memory is celebrating his sixtieth birthday in his beloved Argentinean steak house. In the truest way to marry European and the Middle Eastern cultures, we ate in abundance, drank Rosado, danced to Alabina and debated politics.

We were in contact over the last few years but never managed to cross paths again. The last time I wrote to him, I learnt from an ominously worded auto-reply that something wasn't well. A few weeks later I was told of his passing in Barcelona; the city he loved. It's a tragedy for the world of international politics.

Friends and admirers alike will be wondering what he would say when Iran develops a nuclear weapon, when the Tories take power in the UK, when Yemen becomes a failed state or when eurosceptics start calling Spain the new Greece. No doubt, Fred would have a perfectly-phrased, articulate and engaging comment on it all, that would always rouse a response, be it in awe or outrage.

As cliché as it sounds, it has to be said: Fred was and will remain an inspiration. As captivating an orator as they come, as charming as a true Irishman should be, and as determined as you'd expect from a preeminent expert in his field.

Metsa Rahimi

© Cafebabel 2010

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

Qantara.de

Analysis Fred Halliday
The Left and the Jihad
United in their rejection of capitalism and Western imperialism, Islamists and the political Left have – in a more recent development – begun to forge alliances. Taking a closer look at their historical enmity, however, shows that the two do not at all make a good match, says Fred Halliday

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Mirages and Realities
The latest Arab Human Development Report, by richly documenting the deep social problems of the Arab world, reinforces awareness among Arab citizens of how far they must go to achieve democratic freedoms, says Fred Halliday

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In Khartoum, Middle East expert Fred Halliday of the London School of Economics assesses the future of an Islamic regime relieved by peace in southern Sudan, pressed by the International Criminal Court over Darfur, and seeking a political road beyond revolution.