>At 01:20 PM 04/29/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>>Ali complains in A letter to a Young Muslim, ``...We are
>>suffocating. Why can't we breathe? Everything seems static. Our
>>economy, our politics, our intellectuals and, most of all our
>>religion. The West does nothing. Our governments are dead. Our
>>politicians are corrupt, Our people are ignored. Is it surprising that
>>some are responsive to the Islamists? Who else offers anything these
>>days?...'' (306p)
>
>And yet why the asymmetry? If the capitalist present is empty for
>all but the elite, why a swing to the right, rather than the left?
According to the transcript provided by CNN, Osama bin Laden says: "(...Inaudible...) when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse" (@ <http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/tape.transcript/>). Which is a stronger horse, i.e., a better organized socio-political force to reckon with -- leftists or Islamists? The answer is clear.... No one -- not just young Muslims -- wants to join a bunch of losers, no?
What we need to do is to get better organized and rebuild a left first of all, so that we have something tangible to offer to young Muslims, be they in the West or the Middle East or elsewhere. Islamists have an actually existing international network through which money, manpower, weaponry, ideology, etc. get transmitted across borders; they also have institutions (mosques, cultural associations, mutual aid societies, etc.) in each nation for socialization, community involvement, and mutual support. Leftists have to create a concrete and winning alternative to what Islamists offer. -- Yoshie
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