For legal reasons, Z is a novel

Security

In this television interview, Jonar Nader explains why he wrote the novel Z, and why the cover says, ‘For legal reasons, this book is a novel.’ He was stopped and questioned at the airport on the way to the TV station in New Zealand. He was due to go on a range of New Zealand television programs. Unfortunately, that very day, New Zealand received its first major terrorist threat, with a potential release of the ‘foot and mouth’ disease. As a result, the nation was on high alert, and normal television programming was suspended, while the then Prime Minister, Mrs Helen Clark, took to the airwaves to quell the panic, which resulted in a range of countries cancelling their beef orders. Due to the book’s cover containing an electronic LCD display, Jonar did not carry a copy of the book. Doing so would have slowed him down at airports because the book, if scanned through the x-ray machines, would look like a ticking time-bomb. As a result of not having a book to show the authorities, his explanation of ‘being on tour to promote the book’, seemed suspicious. Why does an author not have a copy of his own book? ‘Because it would look like a bomb if scanned’.

Combining the words Jonar + Nader + Lebanese + book + bomb + terrorism, rang too many alarm bells. It was all a saga, on the way to the forum. Here is one of the interviews that Jonar managed, despite the many that were cancelled. In this interviews, you will notice Jonar being almost speechless in parts, because there was too much to say, in such a short time, on live television.

Low-res version 10 Mb 5 mins and 30 sec

High-res version 18 Mb 5 mins and 30 sec

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