Saima Saeed
THE MOSLEMS ARE COMING: ENCOUNTERS WITH A DESKTOP TERRORIST by Azad Essa HarperCollins Publishers, India, 2012, 243 pp., 299
August 2012, volume 36, No 8

The Moslems are Coming: Encounters with a Desktop Terrorist published by Harper Collins India in 2012 is a revised and updated adaptation of Azad Essa’s first book—Zuma’s Bastard published two years ago in 2010. The genesis of much of this book can be traced to the globally renowned blog ‘Accidental Academic’ on its Thought Leader platform which is South Africa’s leading blogging space. The Moslems are Coming is an interesting collection of writings from this blog in addition to journalistic pieces from Essa’s assignments at Al Jazeera, his experiences during his multinational MA programme that required him to spend time studying in India, Germany and South Africa. The work literally stomps the globe as does the author commenting on every place and people that came his way. Azad Essa belongs to that rare breed of journalists who not only have the uncanny ability to question repressive sociopolitical regimes but inspire thousands of others to do so. This kind of writing that seeks to rattle every power structure that be, sets to expose western hegemony, racism and unexplained Islamophobia.

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