> So leftists have never been beheaded by Islamists who turned on them?
To be precise, many Islamists were beheaded by Islamists! But yes, of course I agree that this took place. One correct (obvious) observation does not make good history. Cf Niall Ferguson.
> This is true: "The first is that Halliday appears to have forgotten a
> deeper and more unambiguous conflict between imperialism and the
> left...." But it seems that you want to forget all the problems in
> making alliances with people simply on the basis of anti-imperialism.
I don't wish to forget anything, and I'm not interested in turning Islam into a master-category of resistance. I simply think that in all prevailing circumstances, it is absolutely imperative to open channels of communication and make links with politicised Muslims, and that includes some of those who are well to the right of us. My model here would be the collaboration between the Muslim Brothers and the Left in Egypt - as Hossam el-Hamalawy describes it, it is far from unproblematic, and dogged by the persistent conservatism of the MB leadership. Yet a constructive engagement with especially its radicalised youth and grassroots can produce results.
> I'm just editing an interview with Hamid Dabashi in which he recalls
> Iranians' fondness for Germans in the run-up to WW II, because the
> Germans made a lot of anti-British noises.
I think you need to be very careful about that kind of comparison. Do you really want to bolster the equation of Islamism with Fascism that the right are so fond of?