Barry Artiste Op/Ed
Well certainly not a big surprise as I have always maintained all along in my Op.Eds on Now Public, the Left Wing have finally come out and said it, that the Left Wing will forego Afghan women and children’s human rights in favour of a Taliban Victory no matter how many innocent people they butcher, all in the Talibans drive against the Great Satan as they call the West and a Victory for the Left. Did I mention Hitler was a Lefty?
Should the left call for Taliban victory?
August 18, 2009
AS SOCIALISTS, we support the right of oppressed peoples to fight for self-determination unreservedly, just as we oppose imperialism, without caveat.
This perspective is generally accepted by the left without question in contexts such as Latin America or Africa, where bitter fights against U.S. and European imperialism have been fought and, in some cases, won.
Yet, when it comes to the Middle East and Afghanistan today there is suddenly much less clarity about what radicals and Marxists should be saying. Nowhere is that more evident than in the case of Afghanistan, which has suffered under the yoke of U.S. imperialism since 2001 (with active U.S. interference in the country since at least the 1970s).
The idea that the Taliban, as a movement fighting against U.S. occupation, is a force we should be supporting is, unfortunately, a somewhat controversial position to hold, even on the far left. This is a serious mistake and speaks both to the extent to which Islamophobia has penetrated the left, as well as to the lack of understanding of the social dynamics of an oppressed and devastated country like Afghanistan.
Source: socialistworker.org
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/08/24/well-finally-as-socialist-had-the-nerve-to-come-out-and-say-it-let-s-all-root-for-the-taliban.aspx
Well, finally a socialist had the nerve to come out and say it: Let’s all root for the Taliban
Posted: August 24, 2009, 11:25 PM by Jonathan Kay
In case some of you missed your latest web issue of The Socialist Worker, please check out this charming article entitled “Should the Left Call for Taliban Victory?” — a question the author answers with a resounding yes. Here’s the money quote: “The Taliban, as a broad-based movement of poor farmers and lower clergy, is the face of anti-imperialist resistance in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. To put it another way, if we, as avowed anti-imperialists, intend to wait around for a resistance movement that agrees with us on every issue, including the need to fight the oppression of women, gays, racial and religious minorities, etc., we’ll be waiting a long time. The Taliban is the resistance in Afghanistan and we must support it, critically, but unreservedly.”
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