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Several newspapers and television shows rang my agent to ask for my response. Unfortunately, I was in hospital at the time and so not available for comment, but I wrote a letter to the national daily newspaper THE GUARDIAN and below is what I wrote....
Dear Editor,
My name is Nabil Shaban
I am a disabled actor, film-maker and broadcaster. Recently I was starring in Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" at the Royal National Theatre.
Is it surprising that Hoddle who is incapable of managing the England football team, is unable to manage his own mouth....as a soccer enthusiast he should keep his foot on the ground, not in his mouth.
His belief that disabled people are in their condition as a consequence of sins committed in past lives is - to use Soccer terminology - UTTER BALLS.
But unfortunately it is a superstition commonly held by many people (though rarely admitted in public), particularly disabled people. We, disabled people, have been conditioned by society, parents, religion - to believe we are inferior, incomplete, useless. The Old Testament describes us as an "abomination in the sight of God" - we are made to suffer from low self-esteem. Many disabled friends have admitted to me that they think they are disabled as a punishment...
My own mother told me that I was born disabled because I was very bad in my past life...and that if I continue to be an atheist, I will be in an even worse condition in my next life...I might even come back as Glenn Hoddle...which would be the worst possible punishment.
The point is we, disabled people, already have negative views of ourselves because of the prejudices and ignorance of society...and we do not want to have them reinforced by publicly powerful and influential spokespeople...It is easy to believe in Hoddle's opinion because it is secretly believed by most of the world and that's why it is so dangerous...it's that kind of bigotry that led Hitler to establish the Nazi Euthanasia Program for the extermination of disabled people - "Useless Eaters" as he called us...it's those kind of negative ideas that led to disabled people being the first to be gassed - the Gas Chamber was created originally for killing disabled people.
Hoddle is entitled to his own religious beliefs - and I believe in freedom of expression - thats why I welcomed the opportunity to support Salman Rushdie - but when an opinion which can justify the persecution, oppression and killing of disabled people - is presented without qualification, without rebuttal, without criticism, then there is cause for alarm. I blame the journalist, editors of The Times as much as I blame Hoddle because they knew the harm, the upset, the offense, the grief they would be causing by publishing his misguided opinions on karma, reincarnation etc.
Even a believer in reincarnation does not have to believe a person is disabled in this life because of a gross misdeed in a previous one....When I was working in Calcutta, India, on the Patrick Swayze movie "City of Joy", an old Hindu hotel porter every time he saw me would bow down to me...eventually it was asked why he treated me with such veneration...he stunned me by replying that I was a God...however, what he meant was that my being born disabled was not a curse but a divine blessing as I would end this life a spiritually stronger person than someone who didn't have to suffer as I did, and consequently I would come closer to God and end my cycle of lives and achieve Nirvana. Reincarnation belief can view disability as a short cut to Enlightenment. So, unfortunately for Hoddle, his beliefs are pretty crude and so has as much chance of achieving a glorious afterlife as a camel passing through the eye of a needle or England team winning the next World Cup whilest he is manager.
This letter was published on the 2nd of February and with disabled activists, media and politicians, including the Prime Minister, Tony Blair and the Minister for Sports, Tony Banks, screaming for Hoddle's resignation, he was sacked on the 3rd.
Personally, I don't think he should have been sacked for his religious beief's, no matter how crack-pot they were - let's face it, all religion is pretty well nuts -
The problem with sacking Hoddle is that he becomes a martyr, the roles are dramatically reversed and he is suddenly seen as the underdog and those against him are accused of conducting a witch-hunt and lambasted as enemies of freedom of expression and religious tolerance.. Then we find that people are persuaded to be more sympathetic to him and consequently his views.
What was needed was a proper national debate and reasoned arguements opposing his view, with disabled people in the forefront, pointing out his confused philosophies....but instead, he was hounded out of his job very speedily - which makes me suspicious. Basically, it seems the establishment wanted to get rid of him for being a crap football manager, but they seemed incapable of doing it through orthodox means, so they exploited his negative and offensive views on disabled people as a football and coaxed him into scoring an own goal. The Times newspaper, i.e. Murdoch, was using us, disabled people, as means of dethroning someone, I suspect, they were already hostile to. We, as usual, were just on the sidelines, painted in place so someone could cry "Foul" and Hoddle was "nobbled" and will probably "hobble" for the rest of his life.
© 1997 [email protected]
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