[lbo-talk] Gays Flee Iraq as Shia Death Squads Find a New Target

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 8/6/06, Michael Givel <mgivel at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2006 11:40:54 -0400
> From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Gays Flee Iraq as Shia Death Squads Find a New
> Target
> On 8/6/06, Michael Givel <mgivel at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > GAYS FLEE IRAQ AS SHIA DEATH SQUADS FIND A NEW TARGET (uk)
> >
> > Evidence shows increase in number of executions as homosexuals plead for
> > asylum in Britain
> >
> > 6/8/2006- Hardline Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq are targeting a new
> > type of victim with the full protection of Iraqi law, The Observer can
> > reveal.
> <snip>
> > (c) The Observer http://www.observer.co.uk/
>
> Did the Observer defend the Baathist government of Saddam Hussein,
> before the invasion of Iraq, on the grounds that secular nationalist
> dictatorship would be better for gay men in Iraq than any of the three
> likely alternatives to it that could result from the invasion: a
> puppet government beholden to Washington or a radical anti-Washington
> Islamist government or, worst of all, decades of chaos and anarchy?
> If it didn't, can it learn a lesson from the present as history and
> make sure that it will defend the Syrian government precisely on those
> grounds*?
>
> ***************
> Dunno whether the Observer prior to the invasion was reporting its verison
> of the news or simply editorially defending Hussein as you suggest, but if
> we are to measure the current treatment of gays in Syria, the answer is
> pretty harshly, see:
>
>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_rights_in_Syria

I'm aware of what's been said about gay rights in Syria, but can you
show me an organized social force on the Left on the grounds in Syria
who can replace the Baath Party-led "National Progressive Front" (in
which the two branches of the Syrian Communist Party have
participated) on their own, without the empire's assistance, and make
things better for gay men and lesbians?

On 8/6/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Aug 6, 2006, at 11:40 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > Did the Observer defend the Baathist government of Saddam Hussein,
> > before the invasion of Iraq, on the grounds that secular nationalist
> > dictatorship would be better for gay men in Iraq than any of the three
> > likely alternatives to it that could result from the invasion: a
> > puppet government beholden to Washington or a radical anti-Washington
> > Islamist government or, worst of all, decades of chaos and anarchy?
>
> When did you reinvent yourself as a specialist in Hobson's choices?

Hobson's choices or merely descriptions of reality in places like
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and so forth?
-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>