[lbo-talk] Paradise Now and Munich

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Dec 27 12:20:36 PST 2005


Carrol Cox wrote:


>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>>
>
>> > protagonists take responsibility for their own decisions and
>> > choices instead of relying on canned scripts embedded in popular
>> > culture.
>
>Wojtek's rock-hard allegiance to an individualist metaphysic shows up in
>his choice of language here. Let me give a rough translation:
>
>. . .protagonists reject their birthright as Palestinians, reject all
>solidarity with their own people, and egotistically separating
>themselves from any shared humanity, make an arrogant individualist
>choice to live in isolation. They become things rather than humans,
>since to be human is be one's history, not a dot outside history. They
>become perfect followers of Margaret Thatcher.

Oh please. You may well be the most rigidly doctrinaire person I come into regular textual contact with. I haven't seen this movie, so I can't comment on it or Woj's interpretation, but I can see that your interpretation of Woj's interpretation is ludicrous. You make it sound like the only two choices in the world are suicide bombing and Thatcherism. Is someone who blows up a pizzeria expressing his solidarity with shared humanity? Leaving aside principle, is suicide bombing a positive contribution to the Palestinian struggle, or is it a sign of desperate marginalization whose effects are only to deepen that marginalization?

Doug



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