*..."Death to America! Death to Jews!" Mr. Sadr's supporters shouted.*
Does this bother anyone on this list, or is "Death to Jews" an acceptable slogan as long as the sloganeer is deemed "anti-imperialist"?
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Yes, of course this bothers me. I'm sure it doesn't give pleasure to most listmembers.
But then, we're not supporters of al Sadr, only observers of the unfolding scene. No one's raised the al Sadr banner (virtually speaking) and applauded the goals of his group. Clearly, it's time to begin cultivating the ability to hold several, perhaps contradictory, yet true ideas in our heads simultaneously.
For example...
al Sadr's group is not democratic or socialist or any of the other things folks like us approve of
and yet...
people who've been abused have the right to defend themselves -- this includes people we don't agree with. I'm sure at least some of the 19th century stories of American settlers being butchered by the Lakota were true. This doesn't mean their efforts to resist the US' westward expansion were illegitimate.
The American Left is in a very bad spot. Of course, nearly everyone opposes imperialism and hopes to halt it through peaceful and democratic means (changing the US' political culture via elections and so on). But outside of the United States, at those places where the sword pierces flesh, there WILL be violent resistance, triggered by the conditions imperialism creates and enforces. Right now, it seems the only people violently resisting are folks we don't agree with and who, in their general rage at Americans, might even kill pleasant people like us if given the chance.
We would like to support Iraqi trade unionists and others with agendas we can understand and relate to and who prefer peaceful marches. But it so happens that al Sadr, taking into account all the unsavory things we think we know about him, is the one who stepped up to the plate and confronted imperialism head to head. And yet, even so, we cannot support him in good conscience.
So here we are, opposing imperialism, hoping for its relatively gentle end yet stuck with a queasy feeling about the very people on the front lines against it whose goals, if realized, would present the world with no improvement.
This is a true dilemma. We need to recognize it and deal accordingly.
DRM