If leftists hadn't given up on politics outside the Democratic Party in the USA or had taken as much interest in politics outside the North as bygone red intellectuals had used to (as revolutionaries in Nepal remind us), they might also care about what this -- Jesus and Mohammed replacing Marx in the hearts of the Third World poor in many places -- all means.
In some places, like Somalia and Afghanistan, there is virtually no secular leftist current to compete with Islamists. In other places like Egypt and the Philippines, cooperation between Muslim and secular left activists are developing.
About Egypt, see for instance <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070312/004982.html> <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070319/005425.html>
About the Philippines, see <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sanjuan180207.html> U.S. Imperialism and Arroyo Regime in the Philippines on Trial at the Permanent People's Tribunal, the Hague by E. San Juan, Jr.
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The following interview by E. San Juan (ESJ) with Luis G. Jalandoni (LGJ), Chairperson of the NDFP [National Democratic Front] Negotiating Panel and member of the NDFP National Executive Committee, was conducted through the Internet on February 15, 2007:
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ESJ: Finally, what is your assessment of the Moro struggle and the possibilities of closer NDF linkage with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and sections of the Moro National Liberation Front that have refused the Misuari compromise with the neocolonial state? Do you envision a future political united front despite ideological differences?
LGJ: We have always regarded the Moro people's struggle as a just struggle for national self-determination. There are great possibilities for closer NDFP linkage and cooperation with the MILF. There has been friendly cooperation between the MILF and the NDFP for quite a number of years now. This cooperation can certainly be further strengthened, in such fields as defense of human rights, organizing of the masses, mobilizations, and other forms of cooperation of mutual benefit. The possibilities of linkage and cooperation with sections of the MNLF are increasing as the Moro masses influenced by the MNLF resent US military intervention in their communities and protest against the Arroyo regime's subservience to the US.
There is already an alliance between the NDFP and the MILF. Such alliance is also possible with sections of the MNLF. Hence, there is already the beginning of a political united front despite ideological differences. After all, in the NDFP, the basis of unity is political. Also, the basis of the alliance between the NDFP and other progressive or revolutionary forces is or shall be likewise political. -- Yoshie