Review by Eleanor J. Bader
The Dissident Club, a graphic memoir by award-winning Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui, opens with his attempted kidnapping by military officers in 2018, presumably under orders from government officials who were displeased with his near-constant reporting about government corruption. As someone on the country’s “Kill List,” Siddiqui had long attracted official enmity. But this beautifully illustrated and evocative book is more than an account of Siddiqui’s political resistance: It is also a deeply felt reflection on his childhood and a potent critique of fundamentalist religious viewpoints and restrictions.
As the oldest son of deeply conservative religious parents, Siddiqui began life in Saudi Arabia, then returned to Pakistan where his parents attempted to keep him and his siblings from Western media and culture. The book chronicles Siddiqui’s attempts to come of age — drinking, smoking weed, and hiding a Shiite girlfriend from his Sunni parents — and asserting his independence by refusing to work in his father’s business. Not surprisingly, this took a toll, as his family never accepted his vocational choice or lifestyle.
It’s a sad, if not uncommon, denouement, but one that comes with a relatively happy ending.
Shortly after the kidnapping attempt, Siddiqui, his wife, and son emigrated to France where he set up The Dissident Club, a thriving Paris-based gathering place and bar for refugees and their supporters. The Dissident Club tells the site’s story, along the way zeroing in on religious hypocrisy, the War on Terror, the uses and misuses of propaganda, and the ways many government officials promote repressive policies for personal, financial, and professional gain. It’s a powerful indictment and an ode to free expression.
The Dissident Club by Taha Siddiqui; co-author illus. Hubert Maury; trans. David Homel. Arsenal Pulp Press, April 2025.
Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.
