A Society under Suspicion

In his latest novel, John le Carré, former spy and grandmaster of the espionage novel, tells a tale of increasing surveillance, a paranoia focused on terrorism, and the power of the international secret services. It's a disenchanting novel says Eren Güvercin

John Le Carré (photo: dpa)
"Germany has more enshrined civil rights than any other country in Europe," stresses le Carré. "The question is how many of these it will be willing to put at risk"

​​ His name is David Cornwell. The 77-year-old, however, is recognized as a world-renowned author under his pseudonym – John le Carré.

In the early 1960s, after completing studies in German Language and Literature in Bern and Oxford, he was recruited by the British Secret Service. Even during his time as an agent, he began to write and make a considerable contribution to the genre of the espionage novel.

His latest novel, "A Most Wanted Man," has recently been published. It deals with the anxiety of society in the face of Islamic terrorism. One of the story's protagonists is the young Chechen Issa, who has joined up with Chechen rebels in an act of personal rebellion against his Russian father. The young man has found his way illegally to Hamburg via Turkey and Denmark, and begs a Turkish family for help.

Issa quickly falls under suspicion of involvement in terrorism and becomes the plaything of various rival secret services. The German human rights lawyer and idealist Annabel intercedes on behalf of the tortured and pursued Issa.

With "A Most Wanted Man," John le Carré delivers a masterly constructed novel about post-9/11 society and its obsession with suspicion. It is a disenchanting novel in which le Carré demonstrates that there are no fixed borders between good and evil in the "War against Terror."

"Germany stands at the crossroads"

Murat Kurnaz, left, ex-detainee from Guantanamo, addresses the 'Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European Countries by the CIA for the Transport and Illegal Detention of Prisoners' at the European Parliament in Brussels as his lawyer looks at him, 22 November 2006
Murat Kurnaz, left, was held in extrajudicial detention and claims to have been tortured at the U.S. military base in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

​​It is no coincidence that John le Carré has set his story in Germany and, in particular, Hamburg. In the early 1960s, the author worked at the British Embassy in Bonn and later as a political consul in Hamburg, where he eventually gave up a career in the secret service to dedicate his life to writing.

John le Carré also thinks that Germany is an excellent mirror image of the changes that his country has already undergone. "I used to believe that Germany would always continue in its opposition to following the American way of accepting a high level of surveillance." He since has the feeling that Germany stands at the crossroads.

"Germany has more enshrined civil rights than any other country in Europe," stresses le Carré. "The question is how many of these it will be willing to put at risk by joining what could easily be described as a colonial adventure, otherwise officially known as the 'War against Terror.'"

Historical madness

John le Carré, who met numerous times with Murat Kurnaz for his research on his book, has long been a stark critic of the so-called "War on Terror." He feels that under George W. Bush, America has entered the worst phase of historical madness.

​​He describes the election of Obama as a historic moment on the order of the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Now we want to know what Obama really wants to do. Who is he?" Le Carré demands that he closes all of the secret prisons.

John le Carré admits that he has grown more political in recent years and, above all, angrier. The deception imposed upon society by politics and the media has reached an extremely dangerous level. His last novel, "The Constant Gardener," dealt with the machinations of the pharmaceutical industry in the Third World.

The exploitation of the Third World results in poverty and repression, which in turn can lead to terrorism. "But whoever makes this claim is still treated like a heretic," says le Carré.

At the start of the 1980s, le Carré spent a few weeks in a Palestinian camp while he wrote his novel "The Little Drummer Girl." After the end of the Cold War, the American ideology was immediately switched to a new enemy – Islam. He refused, however, to take part. He had taken the time to learn about Islam and has many Muslim friends.

Anger over the lack of outrage

"When you've been in a crisis region and are able to imagine yourself in the situation of a Palestinian child, you understand things so much better," says le Carré.

He met people in the Palestinian refugee camps who would pull out old papers documenting how their properties were signed over to Israelis by British decree. "We deceived these people," claims le Carré.

In Iran, also, the American and British secret services fought a liberal Islamic movement under Mossadegh, eventually hoisting the Shaw to power, which indirectly led to the Shiite revolution. "We thereby put a stop to liberalism and, in the end, were the architects of the country's radicalization."

Despite his 77 years, John le Carré is driven by anger. It is an anger stemming from the lack of outrage in society over what is presently going on and what is happening to society itself.

Eren Güvercin

© Qantara.de 2008

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Qantara.de

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