On 2011-03-22, at 9:20 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> FWIW, my own take on the events, part of a lively discussion on Louis
> Proyect's Marxmail list which has reflected the deep divide within the
> international left on this issue.
>
> I would deny that there is a divide on the left. Anyone who approves of U.s.
> aggression is simply not a leftist.
Agreed, but who are you accusing of "approving" of US aggression? Who do you think is unaware of the US and EU motives in moving to "support" the democratic movements by force or guile in the Mideast? The young front line fighters in Libya who told a Western reporter a couple of days ago that "we've seen what they do in Iraq, and we don't want that in Libya" and "...we worry about foreign intervention and sending in ground troops"?* The Arab masses who have experienced imperialism first-hand and already have qualms about the bombing, but who have yet to raise the slogan Hands Off Libya? Your fellow Americans in Madison who took inspiration from the Libyan uprising? I don't particularly care whether those who solidarize with the Libyan insurgents call themselves "leftists" or not; the great majority don't. But it grates on me when comfortable leftist know-nothings who well outside the struggle characterize them as apologists for imperialism, as you do - "in the objective sense", of course.
>From my own far off perch in Canada, I think that it might have been better - and I would have preferred - for the Libyan democratic opposition to seek a negotiated solution or to go underground when the military balance turned sharply against it, rather than inviting foreign intervention which has compromised and may, if the war is protracted, potentially shatter its fragile unity. But I can understand that when finally backed into a corner and threatened with extermination like rats and cockroaches, the opposition combatants willing accepted NATO air support, as I would have done too in similar circumstances. Anyone with half a brain knows you first deal with the immediate threat to your own survival before you can deal with your other enemies.
*http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-03-21-Benghazi21_ST_N.htm