On Oct 9, 2007, at 9:42 AM, Marvin Gandall wrote:
> Yoshie and LT think it gives aid and
> comfort to the enemy to point to the limitations on democratic
> rights in
> Iran. I happen to agree with Doug and others who think it's not
> necessary or
> principled for the left to practice this form of self-censorship,
> especially
> internally, but I don't think it's urgent that there be a meeting
> of the
> minds on this issue, so long as opposition to current US policy
> remains
> firm.
I don't see the point in harping on Iran's internal problems, now or at any other time. But there's no point in denying them if they're brought up. But Yoshie - and maybe LT, it's hard to tell - is using her affection for the Islamic Republic to launch a war against "liberalism," which apparently includes civil liberties and antidiscrimination laws, rather than just the Manchester ideal of free exchange. And not because liberalism doesn't go far enough - that it doesn't confront the limits on personal freedom imposed by the regime of "free exchange," which is based on exploitation and profound inequality - but because it's bad in itself. Inauthentic, or inorganic, or rootlessly cosmopolitan. That from someone who's relocated herself about 5000 miles from her own organicity - you'd almost suspect it's some rootedness fantasy of a lonely expat.
> So far I can't see any evidence that the opposition to a wider war
> against
> Iran has been weakening - not only on this list, but beyond it,
> where it
> counts more. In fact, alarm has been growing about another "neocon
> adventure" among the great mass of liberal Democrats and well into
> elite
> circles. Berating "soft liberals" and others about their attitudes
> towards
> the Islamic Republic does little to develop defence of it against US
> aggression on this list or outside of it, and may well have the
> opposite
> effect. That seems to me to be the real point worth discussing.
Good point, as usual, Marvin. Infecting the antiwar agenda with apologetics for Iran risks discrediting the whole enterprise and alienating a good bit of the base of the movement.
Doug