Dear Friends and Associates,
Two weeks from tomorrow -- Wednesday, April 17, at 8:00 PM -- there will be a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ali at Georgetown University's ICC Auditorium. The topic: The War and the Left.
The split since September 11 -- between what might be called, loosely, the Chomskyan camp and the Dissent-nik camp -- has taken place mainly in the form of polemical salvos, and in almost parallel universes, with very little by way of actual, substantive engagement between the two sides. This debate is a promising opportunity to have that substantive engagement: a direct exchange between two gifted critics and eloquent representatives of the Left's warring factions.
Many of you are familiar with Tariq Ali's work. For those who are not, you might want to consult his autobiographical essay "Mullahs and Heretics" from the London Review of Books (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n03/ali_2403.htm), which is an excerpt of his new book "The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihad, and Modernity" (out this month from Verso). There is also his polemical attack on Hitchens and other leftists who support the war in Afghanistan, "The New Empire Loyalists," from The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4375590,00.html).
As for Hitchens, I think we're all familiar with his views on this subject (for reference, however, there is an online archive of his writings at http://www.enteract.com/~peterk/).
I very much hope that you'll make it to the debate -- and that you'll spread the word about it as far and wide as you can. (I'm sending this e-mail to a number of people outside of the DC area, in hopes that, even if you can't attend the event yourself, you'll let local friends know about it.)
Danny