Christopher Hitchens on anti-Semitism as “the godfather of all other forms of racism” and “the gateway to the tyranny of fascism and war” at the Daniel Pearl memorial lecture.
He knew that the tale he had to tell could not be one of a final victory. It could be only the record of what had had to be done and what assuredly would have to be done again in the never-ending fight against terror and its relentless onslaughts. . . . And indeed, as he listened to the cries of joy rising from the town Rieux remembered that such joy is always imperiled. He knew what those jubilant crowds did not know but could have learned from books: that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linen-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when . . . it roused up its rats again and sent them forth to die in a happy city.
Albert Camus The Plague
