March 31, 2005
Left Apologists for the Occupation
Iraq's Right to Resist
By SHARON SMITH
Many antiwar leaders blamed John Kerry's defeat on the antiwar movement's failure to connect with America's conservative "heartland"--and have since followed Democratic Party liberals as they tack rightward to orient to this target voting base.
Indeed, liberal commentator Geov Parrish leveled harsh criticism at March 19 antiwar protesters in the Seattle Weekly, belittling antiwar rallies as "a pep rally for activists." Parrish argued, "Opposition to this war should be rooted in what is best for this country."
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Outright hostility to the Iraqi resistance now reaches far inside the antiwar movement, undermining the notion that Iraqis have the right to determine their own future, free of U.S. intervention.
This hostility was on display at the Washington, D.C., United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) national teach-in on March 24. During the discussion, audience member Jeff Skinner mildly suggested, "The antiwar movement should take up...Iraqis' right to resist the occupation." He added that his argument "is definitely not a glorification or a hope that American soldiers continue to die in Iraq," offering the parallel of the alliance between the Vietnamese resistance and U.S. troops as an example of the common interests between the two. Nevertheless, the panelists responded indignantly to Skinner's suggestion. Global justice activist Naomi Klein chastised, "We shouldn't get involved in offering blanket cheerleading for the resistance...There are dueling fundamentalists in Iraq...and
are enemies of the Iraqi people."
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As author and activist Tariq Ali argued recently, "How could a resistance be pretty when the occupation is so brutal and ugly. The senseless violence inflicted upon the Iraqi people by the occupation results in a violent response." Ali also points out, "The left is weak in Iraq because the Iraqi Communist Party backed the occupation and served in the puppet government."
http://www.counterpunch.org/smith03312005.html