regarding the dearth of progressive Muslim writing published here. i wonder if given what you identify, we shouldn't take a different tack and try and work with some of the more progressive islamic religious voices at times. clearly, its available - witness tariq ramadan's work, for example, which is fascinating. i have no problem publishing work such as his. while it might not be ideologically as consistent with my own politics as i would like, it's politically challenging, and it irritates the hell out of the powers that be here. to boot, clearly, he has something to say as well. that goes without question.
i'm increasingly convinced that one way to make up for the deficit you describe below is American periodicals like ours doing better recruiting for writing in Europe. I have met, for example, many progressive secular persons of both Arab and Pakistani background in the UK, who do unbelievable work, but only for British publications. Particularly academics, whose writing just needs a little accessibility refinement and editing for more broad public audiences here interested in left perspectives.
On May 8, 2006, at 11:32 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> On 5/8/06, Joel Schalit <managingeditor at tikkun.org> wrote:
>> I don't think that's fair, Yoshie. The situation is a lot more
>> complicated than that. By blaming the left's problems about talking
>> about Islam on the high preponderance of Jews within the left, you
>> over-generalize and make the kind of statements that lead people like
>> me to say that there are prejudicial elements in the ways that you
>> talk about Jews.
>
> That's not my point. I'm saying that there isn't much of a problem of
> anti-Semitism among leftists (if there is any at all), due in part to
> the presence of Jewish leftists of all varieties _inside_ the left,
> but that there is a problem of anti-Muslim prejudice, due in part to
> the dearth of Muslims among leftists. Another reason is that the
> Jewish identity for many (most?) Jews has become more of a cultural
> identity, whereas the Muslim identity for most Muslims is still a
> religious identity, and religious thought and secular leftist thought
> don't mix well. Yet another reason is language: I'm illiterate in
> most foreign languages (except French) in which Muslim thinkers
> overseas may express themselves (this problem also applies to the
> dearth of secular Arab thoughts published in US left publications),
> and so are most leftists (except scholars like Juan Cole); whereas
> many Jewish Israeli thinkers can and do write well in English, easing
> their publication here.
> --
> Yoshie
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
> <http://mrzine.org>
> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>