Roger Garaudy

Compiled by: Our Staff Writer -Mahjubah Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy (17 July 1913 – 13 June 2012) was a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he converted to Islam and wrote several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust. Born into a Catholic family, Garaudy initially converted to Protestantism before rejoining the Catholic Church and eventually embraced Islam. Widely acclaimed as the most important international Muslim cultural personality of the 20th century, Garaudy was the winner of several prestigious awards. In 1996, Garaudy published his most controversial work, “Les Mythes fondateurs de la politique israelienne”, later translated into English as “The Founding Myths of Modern Israel”. Because the book contained Holocaust denial, French courts banned any further publication and on 27 February 1998 fined him 240,000 French francs. He was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of several years. Following his trial and conviction in France, Garaudy was hailed in the Muslim world and received substantial public support. In Iran, 160 members of the parliament signed a petition in Garaudy’s support. Senior Iranian officials invited him to Tehran and received him warmly. Iranian officials condemned Israel and the West for bringing Garaudy to trial. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei cited Garaudy for his work in exposing the Zionists’ “Nazi-like behavior.” Garaudy has been hailed throughout the Islamic World as “the most important international cultural personality of the 20th century,” “Europe’s greater philosopher since Plato and Aristotle.” Even in recent interviews, Garaudy repeated his claim that the Holocaust is a myth, stating that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War was “invented as a myth by Churchill, Eisenhower and De Gaulle to justify the destruction and occupation of Germany. In December 2006 Garaudy was unable to attend the international conference to review the global vision of the Holocaust due to health reasons.  Myth of Holocaust Having deeply studied different religions, this great thinker found his missing in Islam and embraced this religion. Garaudy chose the name Raja’- meaning hope- for himself. He was in quest of a great fact to make his mind and that of humanity familiar with. In his ample studies, Roger Garaudy realized that holocaust was a myth fabricated by Zionists; therefore, he attempted to divulge this sheer historical lie. He also disclosed the arrogant and oppressive image of the Zionist regime in his articles and writings. Roger Garaudy was born in the French city of Marseille. His family was Christian. His father was an accountant and a disabled of World War II. Garaudy finished his studies successfully and became interested in political activities; so at the age of 20 he became inclined to Marxism due to having a spirit of combat. He studied philosophy and obtained the highest degrees in this field. At that time, Roger Garaudy saw Marxism as the emblem of justice; so he became a member of the French Communist Party and then a member of the French Communist Party’s central committee. This thinker joined the French Constituent Assembly in 1945-1951 and he found way to the French National Assembly in 1956. Due to his wide political activities and fame he also found way to the Senate. Besides being a political activist, Garaudy was also engaged in acquiring knowledge and by presenting his dissertation titled “Materialist Hypothesis of Cognizance” in 1963 he received his PhD in Philosophy. He also received a PhD in literature and became a professor of philosophy and literature in the most credible French universities. Roger Garaudy’s book “The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics” was translated in 29 languages after his conviction by the court. Garaudy himself believed that the translation of the book in different languages shows people’s eagerness to combat Israel. Since then many associations, organs and parties all over the world condemned France’s evil behavior against Garaudy. 160 members of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly by signing a scroll condemned the court’s verdict against Garaudy. Leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in Friday prayer of May 12, 2000, referring to the French government’s misconduct against Garaudy because of his denying the killing of the Jews by Nazis, said, “Have you ever seen anyone in the West who dares to speak against Zionism?” And thus the leader praised his bravery. In our next program we will make you familiar with Garaudy’s books and thoughts. History shows that many thinkers after becoming acquainted with Islam have stepped in the path of combating domineering powers. Having embraced Islam, Garaudy embarked on research about facts and realities. One of the deep impacts of Islam on Garaudy is his effort and bravery to disclose the Zionists’ claims about the myth of holocaust and their creating a halo of sanctity around it; so that nobody dare to touch upon the matter. With his documentary disclosures Garaudy sent shiver down the spine of the Zionists and their supporters. Holocaust is a Greek word meaning mass burning. Holocaust is applied for the Zionists’ claim that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis in gas rooms or human burning ovens. But in spite of the massive world propaganda to insinuate this allegation, so far tens of prominent European historians and hundreds of historians from other countries have presented valid and concrete documents proving that man burning ovens, gas rooms and massacre of 6 million Jews is a story fabricated by the Zionists.  Thinkers like Roger Garaudy and the Hungarian Louis Marschalko have proved on the basis of ample credible statistics that the total number of the European Jews during world war two was 560 thousand and the total number of the German Jews did not exceed half a million. In his book “The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics”, Professor Roger Garaudy writes, “The remnants of ovens indicate that such places were used for those who died of typhus. The German Nazis placed the dead in such places and they burned their bodies to prevent the spread of the disease. Indeed what remains from Hitler’s man burning ovens and gas rooms in the minds of the world people is the product of the film-making companies of the Zionists. Under the pretext of holocaust and boosting psychological security of the Jews, over half a century the Zionists have been killing Palestinian children, men and women, destroying their houses and inviting the Jews from all over the world to Palestine to deploy them in this usurped land. Garaudy, in a speech in Iran said, “The Zionists have committed this heinous crime and occupied the sacred land of Palestine for dominating the rich resources and reserves of Palestine. Although the Zionists’ move was condemned by the UN and even the US itself, the American officials have always opposed to punishment of Israel.” Garaudy was a campaigner who expressed his serious opposition to the arrogant powers’ hegemony over the oppressed through his writings and speeches. He was one of the staunch critics of the US hegemonic policies, believing that the US and Zionism have always sought their vested interests and they enter action wherever their interests require.  Garaudy wrote a book criticizing the destructive US policies. In this book, he explicitly says that the western capitalist system does not guarantee human survival and prosperity and mankind needs other principles for moving in the right direction. The great French thinker introduces the movement of Imam Khomeini (God’s mercy upon his soul) and the Islamic revolution of Iran as the best way for countering the destructive western policies. Regarding the founder of the Islamic Republic, Garaudy said, “Imam Khomeini by taking help from spiritual power on the one hand and military forces on the other struggled against arrogant powers’ violence and formed a united world.” Garaudy has even written a book titled “Imam Khomeini’s Revolution” in which he has researched Imam Khomeini’s philosophical viewpoints and described the goals of the Islamic revolution.  Professor Garaudy considers the Islamic revolution as the symbol of confrontation between the Islamic culture and the western (American) culture and civilization. Elaborating on the Islamic revolution, Garaudy says, “I believe the Iranian revolution is one of the most important movements in the human history because it is not just economic; and economic incentives and opposition to the rich people have not been the final goal of the revolution. In fact, this revolution is a type of opposition and confrontation with a civilization which we term the western or American civilization.” Garaudy believes that the Iranian culture and civilization is one of the oldest and richest civilizations and it is intermingled with Islam and now it shows the best way of life to humanity. Garaudy says Islam is the most universal religions. “I was Christian and Marxist but I converted to Islam since I found it universal; therefore, we Muslims should campaign together against the monopolist rulers of the world.” In an interview with one of Iran’s dailies in the 1990s, Garaudy said, “AFP, AP and other networks do not give us the real news but they release biased news to analyze the incidents as they wish and make the specific western worldview rule over the social relations of mankind. Fortunately the Islamic revolution of Iran presented the most advanced and beautiful culture to the world to counter the material worldview in a way that not only it destroyed the political and social hegemony of colonialism in Iran but the more importantly it shook the foundations of materialist culture and civilization. The new culture is the culture of Islam which places humbleness before the One and Only God as the basis of faith and presents an enlightened path for human prosperity and salvation.” French anti-Zionist Philosopher and ex-member of the Communist Party Roger Garaudy passed away on Wednesday, June, 13 2012  in the Paris suburb of Chennevieres , and it was announced on Friday, June 15.  May God bless his soul. Amen