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Rosanna Shamshudin

300730692

Prof. Barry Waite

Haroon Siddiqui

The Toronto Star

Haroon Siddiqui, Indo-Canadian migrant and Toronto Star columnist, is a liberal

journalist who writes about global affairs. He also focuses on Canadian and American

government foreign policy. Siddiquis writing is concise and informative. He gives his opinions

but rather than just saying them, he offers evidence and background information that leads to his

conclusions.

Siddiquis articles focus on two themes: global affairs and foreign policies. He

specifically directs his opinion at Western policy and ideology and and how that informs

government decisions in other parts of the world. The articles I chose evidence this: one is on

Stephen Harper in Israel, another on Barack Obamas foreign policies, and the third on rape

culture in India: each one with the theme of global social impact and a liberal perspective.

Siddiqui thinks of himself as a moderate but his arguments lean to the left. For instance,

when writing about the Palestine-Israel conflict, Siddiqui favours a two-state solution and often

criticizes conservative leader Stephen Harper and his pro-Israeli sentiment. In his column,

Stephen Harper is not doing Israel any favours, Siddiqui takes a definite pro-Palestinian stance

by labelling Harpers UN Vote against Palestinian statehood Canadas shame and then calls

him a bully.

Despite being a columnist, Siddiqui generally uses statistics and historical information to

back up his opinions. In his article, Old foreign policy problems haunt Obamas new term,

Siddiqui mentions the recent Algerian hostage crisis. Instead of simply criticizing the Malian

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terrorists involved and how the US and France handled the crisis, he lays out a three line history

of the Algerian civil war and French involvement. In Ending Indias culture of silence on rape,

Siddiqui also uses statistics and quotes from Indian journalists and activists in order to back up

his claims about the existence of a rape culture in India.

I chose Siddiqui because I find his writing interesting and his views in line with my own

as well as complex and well-thought out. For example, Siddiqui does not simply demonize

Indian culture in his article about rape culture in India. Instead, he breaks down and displays the

foundations which create rape culture and their context with in India. He relates female feticide

statistics and UN reports to evidence his point. In contrast, Gurmukh Singh attributes the new

anti-rape front to westernization in India and the prevalent rape culture to poorer... rural...

feudal India in his column, A short history of Indian misogyny, written for the National Post.

Singh does not attribute any of his information to actual sources. Instead he simply says many

historians argue to provide some basis.

Siddiquis critics have accused him of being anti-Western, advocating islamists and in

Toronto Lifewriter Robert Fulfords words, [bathing] third world countries in a soft light. I

disagree. Siddiqui is often accused of making extremist Muslims around the world appear

innocent. He does not even attempt to do thiswhat he does is underscore the fact that Islam is a

religion of one billion people and therefore cannot be defined by one term or ideology. Similarly,

Siddiqui does not make excuses for third world countries, he refuses to generalize an entire state.

For instance, instead of adopting Gurmukh Singhs description of non-Western Indians as

misogynists reinforced by past Muslim and English colonists, Siddiqui addresses issues relevant

to the subject of rape culture specific to India without attributing them to the entire nation.

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Siddiquis desire to bring new perspectives and foreign news to the foreground could be

useful when pitching a story. If that story had an aspect of it grounded in another country,

particularly in the East, I could highlight that aspect to peak his interest. Sddiqui might also be

more interested if I could relate it to conservative or liberal government or government policy.

The journalist seems to enjoy writing about world affairs and Western foreign policy, so as long

as I could somehow relate that to my story and draw an opinion out of Siddiqui, I could get a

story written.

You can follow Haroon Siddiqui on twitter under @HaroonSiddiqui. Unfortunately he

hasnt tweeted in 4 years and even then he only tweeted 5 times. To get in contact with him, I

would have to email, call or go through The Toronto Star.

Article List

Siddiqui, Haroon. "Ending Indias Culture of Silence on Rape." The Toronto Star. N.p., 16 Jan.

2013. Web.

Siddiqui, Haroon. "Old Foreign Policy Problems Haunt Obamas New Term." The Toronto Star.

N.p., 19 Jan. 2013. Web.

Siddiqui, Haroon. "Stephen Harper Is Not Doing Israel Any Favours." The Toronto Star

[Toronto] 1 Dec. 2012: n. pag. Web.

Singh, Gurmukh. "A Short History of Indian Misogyny." National Post. N.p., 3 Jan. 2013. Web.