[lbo-talk] Countering the Politics of Fear (was Tariq Ali at UCLA today)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 10/29/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 28, 2006, at 11:32 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > Nothing in the article below is over the top,
> > though, nor anything else by her I have read.  If her work seems very
> > persuasive to you, perhaps you might tone down your rhetoric to her
> > level.
>
> So you don't object when Moghadam describes "'Islamic democracy' [as
> a] pipe-dream or a highly managed form"; says that the choice between
> Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad was "rather like the choice between a
> Republican and a Democrat"; that Ahmadinejad "hijacked" legitimate
> discontents; that women "are now the main losers" in Iran"; that the
> constitution limits the role of women "to that of mothers - not
> workers or political actors"; that Ahmadinejad is a "religious
> conservative and a moralist...located squarely within the political
> establishment"; and that Iran needs "holistic reform," including the
> elimination of the mandatory hejab, allowing young people to listen
> to music and dance, that "political prisoners be released and civil
> liberties be established" (implying that they don't exist now), and
> that the country's wealth should be redistrbuted (implying that
> that's now not on offer)?

When rhetoric is not over the top, one can better evaluate the
substance of what's being said, whether to agree or disagree or agree
in part and disagree in part.  Over-the-top rhetoric, imho, gets in
the way of sensible discussion.

But leftists of almost all political tendencies tend to fall for
over-the-top rhetoric on one thing or another.  A funny thing is that
over-the-top rhetoric gets often accompanied by requests for puny
actions.

An emerging fascist tendency in the USA!
Vote Democrat.

A wave of political repression in a country X!
Sign this petition.

Frankenfood taking over the world!
Buy organic.

Etc.

Now, voting Democrat, signing a petition, buying organic, etc. might
all make sense, depending on situations, but when gaps between big
scares and puny actions proliferate, they add up to a credibility gap.

Moreover, big scares don't amount to a coherent picture of the world,
and puny actions, a coherent program of action.
-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>