<br>Dear Jerry,<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 11/29/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Jerry Monaco</b> <<a href="mailto:monacojerry@gmail.com">monacojerry@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Boddi<br>
<br clear="all">I suddenly realized that you were probably trying to
communicate with me about my rather limited defense of Yoshie. Perhaps
because you were disappointed in what I wrote. <br>
<br>
Let me state right off that she does not need my defense one bit. <br>
<br>
But... as I have written to her, my appreciation of her is based on her provocation of thought. She has made me think about certain aspects of past and present movements in ways that I have come to question my domestic political orientations. She has
brought me to investigate other aspects of the world political situation that I might have missed. I am not here to
support theocratic politics. Yoshie has _not_ led me to change my mind
on the character of what I take to be an oppressive, religiously
justified. politics, but she has led me to reevaluate some of my
accepted thoughts of my own politics.</blockquote><div><br><br>Sure, fair enough. I've been reading Yoshie for years and years so maybe I'm less patient, but I'm for anybody who makes one think. <br> </div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
So here is a list of what Yoshie has led me to reevaluate:<br>
<br>
1) The character of previous resistance movements and national
liberation movements: Are Hamas and Hezbollah really different from
the FLN in Algeria circa 1956? Are they really less "supportable" than
the various murderous Stalinist groups that fought in resistance
against fascism, or the various national liberation groups who fought
against colonilism? Sure I really "want" a secular, socialist,
internationalist, all-inclusive and "skeptical" political organization
based on the working classes. But where is there a possibility for
such organizations?</blockquote><div><br>Well, I think that it's a question of deciding what these groups are really up to. I don't really think that Hezbollah is a movement of national liberation. I think they are hoping to establish a separate "vertical" social structure with Shiite clerics at the top. I think they are more splitters than uniters. Iran, remember, is extremely unusual as really the only country that is almost all Shiite.
<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
2) One reason (among many) there is no possibility for such
organizations is U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East, and the
general failure of secular nationalism. Now if I oppose U.S. and
Israeli policy in the Middle East, this will probably mean given
current conditions that groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah will come to
power. The vulgar Marxists used to say that this mean that
"objectively" I am supporting Hezbollah and Hamas. So be it. It is
not my job to choose.</blockquote><div><br>Okay, but I don't think that all Western intervention is automatically evil and all "indigenous" groups are automatically unopposable. Every culture has to work with every other culture to promote what's good and repress the weird parts. Certainly the world tries to do that with the US. They buy our pop culture and protest our foreign policy.
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3) Because it is "our" (the U.S. empire) policies and "our" failures
(the "international" secular left in general) that has created the
possibility for the success of political Islam, I conclude that the
only way to combat it is to stop my country from creating these
conditions in the first place. Unfortunately the only people doing
this on the ground are people I dislike and people Yoshie supports.
That is the reality of things.</blockquote><div><br>Actually, I think it's the success of US Imperial policies that are inappropriate and badly thought out. I'm attaching an essay by Niall Fergusson which reminds us that we could (and should) be solving these problems economically, not militarily. No lesser capitalist than Meyer Lansky is quoted as saying "a problem that can be solved with money is not a problem". Fergusson points out that we could decomission every Kalashnikov in Iraq for less than we spend on food for our troops.
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4) In a "resolutionary" way I want to make a clear moral distinction
between slaughter and resistance; terrorism and legitimate violence
against combatants. This I do not only for my own satisfaction but to
set up "hope" for different possibilities in the future. I don't think
that Yoshie for one will concede that such plainly moral standards can
be upheld at a distance. </blockquote><div><br>Sure, but I think that when you couple the stated intent of the groups and the violence they themselves claim responsibility for you have a military objective. The military objective of Hezbollah and the Mahdi Army is very similar to the military objective of the Taliban. I think Shiite Sharia states are just a bit more...state-like than Sunni Sharia states.
<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
5) Yoshie brings out in her own way some of the contradictions inherent
in groups such as Hamas & Hezbollah and some aspects of politics in
Iran and if she limited herself to these descriptions I think I could
defend her more whole heartedly.<br>
<br>
6) There is simply no way that we can create movements to our
satisfaction in other nations without first creating movements to our
satisfaction at home. <br>
<br>
My defense of Yoshie is that in thinking about what she has written
these points have clarified for me or rather my previous thoughts have
been appropriately muddied. <br><span class="sg">
<br>
Jerry Monaco</span></blockquote><div><br><br>Well I appreciate your writing me and your typical thoughtfulness. <br><br><br>Boddi<br></div><br></div>