Remembrance: Edward W. Said, 1935-2003.

• Author: Maksoud, Clovis

Remarks made by Clovis Maksoud, Director of the Center for the Global South at American University at the Edward Said Memorial on 13 November 2003, Georgetown University.

WE SHARE TODAY WITH A multitude of others throughout the world the celebration of Edward Said's life. This is an opportunity to revisit his legacy, to be guided by his contributions, and to be further enriched by constantly examining the meaning of his commitment to human liberation. His commitment was the operative word that prompted Edward's multifaceted and extraordinary accomplishments. In many ways his brilliant narrative served the causes he espoused and rendered his advocacy convincing, compelling and singularly effective. This, however, had sustainable relevance and an enduring impact because the lucid text articulated and amplified the just causes which he identified with and indeed personified. In this respect Palestine encapsulated the serious threat to the quest for justice and dignity. He confronted the onslaught on the Palestinian people, not only because he was one of them but because justice denied in his patrimony undermines the prospect of justice everywhere. This belief led to the conviction that Edward Said, besides these contributions is a genuine humanist. From this perspective he undertook a mission that entailed seeking reconciliation and fiercely confronted propensities to compromise. This makes understandable his vehement critique of the Oslo and Camp David processes and, for example, his partnerships and friendships with Daniel Barenboim and others. Edward held firm that mitigating and eliminating the insufferable injustice Palestinians experience would empower Israelis and the Jewish community to recover their dynamic humanist values and traditions from the distortions that Israeli behavior and ruthlessness has caused. It is this breakthrough that made Edward a major force in the Palestinian straggle and a pole of attraction for those who believed that reconciliation is desirable and feasible.

While Palestinian justice was a prevailing theme of his political engagement it did not exclude his equally powerful involvement in the search for universal justice. This explains his close friendships with statesman like Nelson Mandela, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Amerita Sen. But seeking justice was a lifelong endeavor--it became obvious to those who knew, read and learned from him that justice was not an unachievable ideal but a realizable objective. It...