15.2.04
IRAQ, THE LEFT AND THE 'RESISTANCE'
David McKnight, writing in the Australian, picks out some differences between the Iraqi left and some sections of the Western left:
"HAVING mobilised the biggest demonstrations seen in a generation against the invasion of Iraq, the Left and anti-war activists now face a dilemma as post-war Iraq unfolds. For multiple reasons many times recounted, the US invasion was wrong and hypocritical. But the invasion cannot be undone. And the reality is that Iraq now has the potential for a democratic future, as well as the potential for regression if the underground terrorist resistance assumes power.
But on this issue the Western Left is divided. Do the bloody actions of the so-called resistance constitute a war of national liberation, making them worthy of left-wing support? Are Saddam Hussein's thugs comparable to the Timorese fighting Indonesian occupation? Or to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress? Or to the French Resistance against Nazi Germany?"
David McKnight, writing in the Australian, picks out some differences between the Iraqi left and some sections of the Western left:
"HAVING mobilised the biggest demonstrations seen in a generation against the invasion of Iraq, the Left and anti-war activists now face a dilemma as post-war Iraq unfolds. For multiple reasons many times recounted, the US invasion was wrong and hypocritical. But the invasion cannot be undone. And the reality is that Iraq now has the potential for a democratic future, as well as the potential for regression if the underground terrorist resistance assumes power.
But on this issue the Western Left is divided. Do the bloody actions of the so-called resistance constitute a war of national liberation, making them worthy of left-wing support? Are Saddam Hussein's thugs comparable to the Timorese fighting Indonesian occupation? Or to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress? Or to the French Resistance against Nazi Germany?"
