Maverick philosopher Ted Honderich offends everyone. The not-so-young revolutionary tells Peter Gruner why we should take a stand

HE IS one of Britain’s most controversial thinkers and writers and has already upset both the pro-Israel and the pro-Palestinian lobbies.
Now Professor Ted Honderich, the philosopher of determinism and consciousness, has entered the debate on world hunger with an admission of a “sneaking sympathy” for Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe.
He argues that it is the West, rather than despots like President Mugabe, who are ultimately to blame for continuing African poverty.
It’s a view that will not endear the outspoken Grote Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at University College London to a lot of mainstream campaigners.
But at 72, the professor enjoys sticking his boot into a political punch up – even more since he retired from teaching five years ago.
And while not condoning Mugabe’s current campaign to demolish so called illegal homes, he believes that the old Marxist had a point when he decided to remove land from privileged white farmers in an effort to spread a little equality.
“To call Mugabe a monster and a crackpot dictator doesn’t really help anyone’s cause,” he says.
Professor Honderich’s view is that militant action is the only way we are ever going to end hunger and poverty. To that end he calls for a campaign of all conceivable mass civil disobedience in every city in the world as the only realistic way of forcing Western governments to take action.
He’s not content with a simple Bob Geldof style demonstration of a million people in Edinburgh. His contribution to last week’s New Statesman magazine, along with those of Tony Benn, Jon Snow and other figures, was edited a bit. In what he wrote before the editing, he said that a “disruption of conventions” might just get the message across to Western governments of “limited moral intelligence”.
He wants to see an end to inflated subsidies in America and Europe, which give the west an unfair start against African traders.
“Bush and Blair use the African despot as an excuse for doing nothing much,” he said. “It’s an excuse to keep the current terms of trade, which result in millions starving to death. I’d like to see a boycott of American trade until such times as Africans are given the same advantages as we get.”
The last time he got into a big political scrap was 2002 when his book After the Terror was published. It was mainly about Africa, but he said in passing that the Palestinians had a “moral right to their terrorism against neo-Zionist ethnic cleansing”. The Pro-Israeli Jewish lobby accused him of anti Semitism and encouraging suicide bombers.
He also upset the Palestinians by arguing that after the Holocaust there was a moral justification for the Jewish state, albeit within the original borders. That resulted in a pro-Palestine group banning him from giving a talk in the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
In Germany, where they take such issues even more seriously, he was given police protection on one lecture tour when both sides turned up to have a go at him.
“To call me an anti-Semite was just a lie,” he said. “Read my autobiography. For a start, I had a Jewish wife, I have other Jewish family, and I have always gone on record as a supporter of the right of the state of Israel to exist. That’s why the Palestinians are opposed to me. What I don’t support is Israel’s expansionism after the 1967 war.”
His pronouncements brought consternation to the politically correct world of charities. Oxfam decided it couldn’t accept his £5,000 donation to their cause. War on Want didn’t want to be seen accepting something that had been refused by a rival so they also turned it down. Medical Aid for Palestine gratefully accepted the donation.
Professor Honderich lived in Hampstead for more than 30 years, then decided to move to a fine old house in Frome in Somerset five years ago with no regrets.
He hates TV which he finds stomach turning in its banality.
He describes a rather charming scene where each evening his wife Ingrid reads a new chapter of Anthony Trollope before bedtime.
He wants to see philosophy taught more in schools and colleges, which might encourage young people to think and question the meaning of their lives.
He’s urging teachers and lecturers to contact the Royal Institute of Philosophy, who provide free visiting philosophy teachers.
His favourite philosopher is David Hume, not just for his great books, but for the way he died. “When he knew he was dying, Hume was carried around Edinburgh in a sedan chair and bid a decorous farewell to his friends,” he says. “It was all good humoured, easy and rational. It’s the way I want to go.
“I’ll hire a taxi to go around Frome and Bath and, if I can afford it, I’ll divert up to Bloomsbury and Hampstead to say goodbye to some characters there.”

• Contact Royal Institute of Philosophy for free visiting philosophy teachers: 14 Gordon Square, WC1 or 0207 387 4130.