Its been pretty much talking about before, Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ (My Struggle) which outlines in no uncertain terms his political ideology is a best seller in the Arab world. This is not the first time I’ve seen this highly controversial book on the shelves of mainstream bookshops in the Gulf, the first time I saw it I was so taken aback I ran home to tell a fellow expat who didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
It could be the ‘any enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine’ syndrome which fuels the sales of this book, there’s enough Jew-bashing rhetoric to give the most foamy at the mouth anti Semite a hard-on, but digging deeper into the history, Hitler was no friend of the Arab people and had he managed to get to the Arab lands he would’ve not stopped the slaughter especially to get his hands on all the oil.
While I don’t believe in banning the book, it has its place as a ‘warning from history’ for scholars and historians, it certainly should not be produced as cheap paperback racist porn to fuel hatred while lining pockets. To see it on the shelves of the Virgin Megastore in Bahrain’s City Centre as ‘ recommended reading’ is a shocker, I wonder what the politically correct global minded Richard Branson would have to say about it?
Jerry
November 2, 2010
Mein Kampf is an best seller in Arab countries and in Japan too. You cannot argue that antiSemitism is the drive in Japan though. There is something else here that is attracting people. In truth, only a small part of the book is antiSemitic. I know that because I READ IT! That seperates me from 99.99% of the people who comment on the book or have strong opinions on it. I know what it actually says and it is a great book.
Many people have characterized it as rambling or hard to read, but those claims are describing older translations like Manheim or Murphy which were simply bad translations. The new Ford translation has corrected errors of the past editions(including restoring censored passages) and it is much easier to read. I found this edition to be an excellent book with lots of information of historical relevance and it gave mea real political education too. I am now much more interested in politics and foreign affairs than I ever was before.
Many people in India also consider the book a business guide because in Volume 2 Hitler describes how he built the Nazi party which was pretty much as a business. There is a lot of great stuff in it and you can easily ignore the antiSemitic parts because they are only a small part of the book.
I recommend you read Mein Kampf, then you can comment on it from a position of knowledge.