[lbo-talk] Norman Geras of NLR, Pro-War?!

[andie nachgeborenen]

An interesting interview. As one suspected, he's a
creature of a higher order than Hitch, we stands
revealed as a glib publicist, nice to have had on
one's side, but pretty empty. There is much is Geras'
interview that resonates with me, though I'd
characterize myself (at this point) as a
Marxian-tinged liberal rather than (as he does) as a
liberal-tinged Marxist. I also don't find it necessary
to be as apologetic about the Marxian tradition as he
seems to, or as embarassed about hanging on to hope.
Still, the general tone of disillusioned lack of
reconciliation is familair from the inside.

What is strange, though, is the bizarre focus on 9/11
as a unique crime that stands outside history and
resists comparison to or explanation in terms of
anything else. As if -- maybe he picked this up from
the worst of the Holocaust whores -- one could not
both condemn and understand, as if to put the crime in
perspective was to dimisnish it. The fact of the
matter is that killing 3,000 innocents for no good
raeson is what US imperialism does every day before
breakfast. That does mean one shouldn't be mad about
9/11, or that al Qaida ought not to have been (by
proper and lawful police methods) eradicated and its
leaders brought to justice. 

But somehow Geras has allowed this particular crime to
upset his entire vision of the world. And to drag in
Iraq! which -- though an utterly loathesome regime, as
we were saying when it was a  pet of US imperialism, a
bulwark of stability, and Saddam and Rummy were bosom
buddies (Chomsky called him -- Saddam, I mean -- a
"bloodsoaked tyrant"; this was in the mid-80s) 00 had
nothing to do with 9/11. Moreover, Geras has fallan in
love with American democracy, and suggests that it is
improper to attack the psychopathic funadmentalist
moron who was placed in the White House by the Supre
court because he's a democratic leader? There is some
basic disconnect here.

So, again, it's sad. Geras will be a greater and more
lasting asset to the other side because he is a
serious and thoughtful writer, and a greater loss to
us. --he's sort of Signey Hook figure, unlike
Hitchen's Whittaker Chambers. It is very regrettable. 

jks

--- Luke Weiger <lweiger at umich.edu> wrote:
> > Another victim of whatever got Hitchens. Very sad.
> I
> > have learned a lot from Geras over the years.
> Unlike
> > Hitchens, he was a real scholar.
> > 
> > jks
> 
>
http://info.bris.ac.uk/~plcdib/imprints/normangerasinterview.html
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

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