> too mechanical! Imperialism is a structural problem of world
> capitalism -- a "problem" from its victims' perspective, of course --
> whereas Al Q-type terrorism one of many human reactions to the
> intersection between imperialism and traditional ways of life in those
> areas not totally absorbed into the system. It's not only disgusting,
> but is not effective at overthrowing the system.
And Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> [CLIP] I could go on about how imperialism helped create
> >AlQ, but I'm not in that kind of mood right now.
>
> Which isn't to say I think AQ - broadly defined - doesn't suck. It's
> awful. It's not anti-imperialistic in any admirable or useful way.
> It's like imperialism's hideous double or evil twin. And they'd
> behead most of us, given the chance.
I agree with all three (Carl, Jim, Doug), and/but I think Jim's objection to Carl (too mechanical) still partly applies to his and Doug's responses.
The Chinese Communists thought that Chiang sucked; and Chiang certainly was not anti-imperialist, if by anti-imperialist one means opposition to imperialism as such. But Chiang _was_, half-heartedly, opposed to the _particular_ imperialism that counted then, namely Japanese imperialism. The situation is different now, and I'm certainly not advocating a United Front with AlQ, but nevertheless the United States _is_, from the perspective of most the world's peoples, THE enemy. And if (as I think is probable) the U.S. invasion of Iraq will in the middle run weaken _u.s._ imperialism (perhaps already has weaken it), one can understand how even strong non-Islamists in the Mideast would be willing to ally with AlQ.
In any case, there will never be a secular democracy in the mideast until the U.S. power in the region is destroyed, Then there will be room for them to fight amongst themselves, and how that fight turns out is none of our business.
When we can with some hope of success mount a serious challenge to u.s. imperialism at home, _then_ and only then can we become picky about the tactics or goals of u.s. enemies elsewhere.
Carrol