Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali (born 21 October 1943 in Lahore, Pakistan) is a Pakistani-British writer, journalist, filmmaker, historian, and political activist who has been one of the most prominent and articulate voices of the international left for over fifty years. His career spans revolutionary student politics, historical fiction, political commentary, and public intellectual engagement on a scale matched by few contemporary writers.

Early Life and Political Activism

Ali was born into a politically active family in Lahore — his father and uncle were both involved in the movement for Pakistani independence and in left-wing politics. He was educated at Punjab University and Exeter College, Oxford, where he became president of the Oxford Union in 1965 and threw himself into radical politics.

He became a leading figure in the British anti-Vietnam War movement, organising the massive 1968 demonstration in Grosvenor Square, London, that became one of the iconic moments of the European ‘68 generation. Mick Jagger reportedly wrote “Street Fighting Man” partly in response to Ali’s activism. He was also a close associate of various revolutionary movements and leaders, including Che Guevara and Malcolm X.

Street Fighting Years (1987)

Ali’s autobiography of the 1960s is one of the finest memoirs of that turbulent decade — a vivid, politically engaged account of student radicalism, anti-war protest, and the revolutionary hopes of a generation, written with the benefit of twenty years’ hindsight but without the disillusionment or recantation that characterised many 1960s memoirs.

The Islam Quintet

Ali’s most substantial literary achievement is a series of five historical novels set in the Islamic world at moments of crisis and transformation:

• Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1992) — the fall of Muslim Granada in 1492
• The Book of Saladin (1998) — Saladin’s reconquest of Jerusalem from the Crusaders
• The Stone Woman (2000) — the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century
• A Sultan in Palermo (2005) — the Norman conquest of Muslim Sicily in the twelfth century
• Night of the Golden Butterfly (2010) — contemporary Pakistan

The novels are historically grounded, politically engaged, and written in a style that combines realistic narrative with philosophical and political argument. They represent Ali’s attempt to reclaim Islamic history from both Western Orientalism and Islamic fundamentalism, presenting a diverse, intellectually sophisticated civilisation that deserves to be understood on its own terms.

Political Writing

Ali has published extensively on contemporary politics, international affairs, and the politics of the Middle East and South Asia. The Clash of Fundamentalisms (2002), written in the aftermath of 9/11, argues that Western imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism are mirror images of each other — both forms of fanaticism that feed on and justify each other. Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq (2003) is a polemical account of the Iraq War. Can Pakistan Survive? (1983) and The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (2008) analyse Pakistani politics with insider knowledge and outsider’s critical distance.

The Stalinist Legacy (1984) is an important collection of essays on the legacy of Stalinism in the international communist movement.

Filmmaker and Editor

Ali has written and directed several films and television documentaries. He has been a long-time editor of the New Left Review and a regular contributor to the London Review of Books, The Guardian, and CounterPunch.

Legacy

Ali occupies a distinctive position as a writer who bridges the worlds of literature, politics, and journalism. His historical novels are his most enduring literary contribution — they are ambitious, readable, and intellectually stimulating works that deserve wider recognition. His political writing is partisan but always informed and articulate.

Collecting Ali

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1992, Chatto & Windus) and Street Fighting Years (1987, Collins) in first editions are the primary collectibles. Ali’s political books are widely available. Signed copies from his frequent public appearances are obtainable.