Look at the points made by Lee Bollinger in his introduction: <http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/07/09/lcbopeningremarks.html>. A majority of them are basically the same points that a number of liberals and leftists have repeated over, and over, and over again, to the marginalization of any other aspects of Iran. Many liberals and leftists are shocked, shocked by Bollinger's belligerent introduction and media hysteria that surrounded Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia, as if they had never seen or participated in the demonization of the very same man and his country. Strange.
Now, about the rhetoric of fear of a Caliphate and political Islam. . . .
If you want an example, look into a mirror: spreading a fear of a Caliphate, urging people to look to Fred Halliday for a history of "The Left and the Jihad," recommending a book review that misrepresents Joseph Massad's work as if it were the same as Islamists' message. . . . Would Lee Bollinger (at the Center) or David Horowitz (at the Right) disagree with you on these points? (Well, perhaps Bollinger does -- he has yet to can Massad.)
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070409/007175.html> [lbo-talk] Anti-globalists Reach Out to Islamists Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com Tue Apr 10 11:15:49 PDT 2007
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood>
The Muslim Brotherhood advocates the creation of Islamic governments eventually unified in Caliphate
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070409/007260.html> [lbo-talk] Halliday on the left & Islamists Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com Thu Apr 12 06:12:10 PDT 2007
If it [MB] really wants to create a caliphate across the Middle East that would merely be replacing one form of authoritarian imperialism with another.
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070409/007216.html> [lbo-talk] Halliday on the left & Islamists Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com Wed Apr 11 09:16:22 PDT 2007
[From the SA Debate list. Fred Halliday can be pretty noxious, but there's some useful history here. There's a response to Halliday at <http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-protest/ liberalism_halliday_4165.jsp>, and Halliday's response to the response is at <http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization/ liberal_riposte_4242.jsp>.]
Begin forwarded message:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Left and the Jihad Fred Halliday 8 - 9 - 2006
On 9/27/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Your answers to this question have previously been
> somewhere between weak and ludicrous. Maybe you
> can do better this time.
Have you ever considered a possibility that your faculty for textual interpretation and political judgment has been a little impaired, maybe, since September 11? Like, if you don't understand what Massad, for instance, is saying, maybe, just maybe, that's due to your absence of mind? -- Yoshie