Two Lists that Deserve Some Scrutiny

There are many lists: bestselling books, corruption around the world, the world's most influential women, the richest cities. The magazine Arabian Business alone publishes a number of annual lists of the world's richest Arabs and the most successful Arab CEOs, as well as lists covering real estate, transport and technology, as well as the most successful Arab businesswomen. I am writing today with two new lists in front of me, which deserve some scrutiny. The first is Book Power 100, or the 100 most influential people in the world of books, in Britain in particular, while the second is the New Statesman's 50 People Who Matter in 2010. It might seem that the two lists have nothing in common, but what made me re-read them and compare some of the names is that there are people who appear on both lists. The list of books published by The Guardian contains many owners of publishing houses and tech companies, with the head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, in first place, and Larry Page, the CEO of Google, in third place, followed by the owners of Waterston Library and publisher Hachette UK, and W H Smith, Random House and Apple. All of the above are in the top 10, which also included JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, in second place. I was happy to find Zadie Smith, the author of "White Teeth," in 27th place, and even happier to see Ahdaf Soueid, the Egyptian-born author of "Map of Love" on the list, in 73th place. She is a very patriotic and successful writer who in 2008 established the annual Palestine Literature Festival, which prompted supporters of Israel to criticize her, without being able to deny her talent as a novelist. On this note, the British minister of education, Michael Gove, banned British students from attending a Palestinian cultural festival organized by the Solidarity with Palestine campaign. It seems that the Conservatives are behaving like Labor in terms of being hostile to Arabs and Muslims, and especially Palestinians. Among the names that would be recognized by Arabs are Salman Rushdie (45th place), although I don't see that he has written anything readable since "Midnight's Children," and Tariq Ali (66th place), and the Libyan Hisham Matar (94th place). Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds the top spot on the list of the world's 50 most important statesmen, while Lionel Messi, the football player, is in 50th place, and you and I are nowhere in between. The annual choices are published in the last issue of the year of New Statesman, the liberal British publication. It contains politicians, tech leaders and artists. The rankings might not necessarily be precise but it does indicate the orientations of the magazine and its writers. I saw General David Petraeus, the head of the CIA, in second place, and Barack Obama in 5th, although the latter can fire the former whenever he wishes. The Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei was in third place; he is more important in the west than in his own country, and a newcomer to the list. I was happy to find Wael Ghoneim in 10th place, right after Rupert Murdoch, for his role in the revolution by the young people of Egypt, and the revolutions in rage in the Arab world are continuing. I was also happy to see Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 11th place, followed by Nicolas Sarkozy. However, my happiness with the Turkish prime minister was short-lived, because I found Benjamin Netanyahu in 18th place; he was chosen for his extremism and his opposition to the peace process, while he continues to wield domestic influence. He would have taken the top spot, if it had been a list of the world's remaining war criminals. The list contains Warren Buffett, in 22nd place, to recognize his success in the world of finance and charitable activities, and Usain Bolt, the world's fastest 100-meter and 200-meter runner, and Russian policy's strongman, Vladimir Putin. I found Lady Gaga in 26th place, followed directly by Hillary Clinton. Moqtada Sadr was in 34th place, and Anwar al-Awlaqi in 37th, but the latter was murdered in an American airstrike and the place must now be empty. But he was still one place ranked ahead of Pope Benedict XVI. Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, was in 40th place, but did not make it on the book list, although JK Rowling, and Larry Page of Google and Tim Cook, the successor of Steve Jobs at Apple, made it. Perhaps the strangest selection on both lists was Richard Dawkins, who is in 25th place on the top 50 world figures, and in 60th place on the world's most important people in the world of books. Dawkins is a scientist and lecturer who is famous for being an atheist and the author of "The God Delusion," published in 2006, which sold 2 million copies in the United Kingdom alone and was translated into 31 languages. I think that if each list was expanded to include the top 1,000 personalities, neither myself nor my readers would make either one. khazen@alhayat.com