Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

When will someone on Britain's left break ranks?

Colonsay | 13.09.2006 16:02 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | World

This article challenges the assumption that the Parties on the left, by definition are opposed to all of the War Party's doctrine.

Craig Murray’s appeals for scepticism regarding the latest supposed Muslim plot to carry out terrorist attacks have marked a possible turning point in popular attitudes towards the so-called war on terror. His blog has apparently been inundated with hits suggesting, as he puts it, that he has struck a nerve. Evidently, not everyone keeps swallowing this terror stuff uncritically. But his stance also has significance from another point of view: Murray is something of a hero on the left, but the left have made it an article of faith not to challenge the consensus on the war on terror. Might they not now be feeling the pressure to adopt a more critical stance towards the word of Tony Blair? On every other issue he is Bliar, but seemingly when it comes to the war on terror his word is his bond.

In fact, the left insist that Muslims, albeit legitimately disaffected Muslims, are behind the terrorist attacks. How do they justify this rather surprising line? Well, some of the more theoretically inclined of the comrades argue that the bourgeoisie (their rather quaint term for the Mafiosi who are seeking to make their rule absolute) simply don’t have to use such methods. In fact with the pirate’s endless war strategy beginning to look like endless defeat, as one disaster follows another, they would appear to have every need for every trick they’ve got- it is this sense that the latest plot comes just in time to save Blair’s bacon that has made so many people suspicious.

No, in fact there is no real debate about this amongst the left – this is simply the line and those who dissent are not presented with arguments but labelled: they are conspiracy nuts, or even anti-Semites. What gives the line credibility is that it’s backed up by the likes of John Pilger, Robert Fisk, George Galloway, Noam Chomsky et al; that is to say by sundry “bourgeois” journalist, academics and politicians. And how dare you challenge these luminaries! - We cling to their every word, we’re revolutionaries! Whose every word do you cling to? Well, oddly enough, some of us actually think for ourselves- a radical attitude, no doubt, but seemingly not a revolutionary one.

And what is it exactly that these luminaries are telling us and the far left is faithfully echoing: it’s the terrorists who are doing it as a response to our foreign policy. No elements inside the state are involved- we can rule that out a priori despite the fact that the war party is the obvious beneficiary of each and every terrorist attack.( didn’t Blair tell us that the war wouldn’t have been possible without 9/11?) Or are they? The left thinks not – they think, or claim to think, that blaming these attacks on our foreign policy means Blair and his gang will lose credibility. That is a rather foolish assumption, to my mind, ignoring as it does the deep reserves of racism and xenophobia which British society possesses. All you are doing is conceding unquestioningly that Muslims are indeed behind the terrorist atrocities and thereby setting up the Muslim community for further isolation and vilification. This politically correct counter spin now adopted by virtually every oppositional force in Britain simply reinforces the simple , brutal message that the War Party wish to convey: the Muslims are the terrorists.

Certainly one can understand why mainstream figures such as Pilger don’t want to start questioning 9/11 and the other atrocities: he risks losing his credibility and worse, witness the experiences of Cristopher Bollyn, Michael Rupert and other 9/11 sceptics. However, the loose canon of the far left, what have they got to lose? Is it fear, folly or something worse which motivates them not only to adopt this line but to so vehemently attack any dissent? Whatever the answer to that, their attitude is not one of the truth seeker unless truth be understood as the endless restatement of tired old clichés.

As the War on Terror approaches its denouement, those behind it will pull out all the stops to achieve their goals - the escalation of the war, beginning with an attack on Iran, and the consolidation of their power at home based on the de facto overthrow of what remains of government by consent. Only more terrorist attacks, attributed to Iran, no doubt, and creating an atmosphere of such fear that all becomes possible, can do this. So who will carry these out, some successful young Asian minding his own business or those being manipulated by dark forces behind Blair? (The “real terrorist” as the left always call him on their demos). When will someone on the left break ranks and admit to the latter as a possibility to be guarded against at all costs?

 http://www.iransolidarity.endofempire.org/oped_is.php?page=55

Colonsay
- e-mail: iransolidarity@endofempire.org
- Homepage: http://www.iransolidarity.endofempire.org

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

Some people on the left have been saying that the war on terror is fabricated

13.09.2006 16:21

But not many... the most mainstream peopls to come out and say it is Meacher:

This war on terrorism is bogus
Michael Meacher MP
 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/comment/0,12956,1036687,00.html

Other radicals on the left include:

GlobalResearch.Ca
Michel Chossudovsky
 http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=theme&themeId=18

Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone
Taking Aim
 http://takingaim.info/

Kurt Nimmo
Another Day in the Empire
 http://kurtnimmo.com/

shadowplay


and other people besides...

13.09.2006 17:25

In fact there's even a big protest where the skeptical appear to be coming together to get those monkey politicians thrown out of their zoo on the 9th of October. I've seen a bunch of Sack Parliament stickers around, and got a flier pointing out the whole war on 'terror' is just an excuse to rip up our freedoms, and kill people abroad. I'll see you all down there on the 9th!

lemur
- Homepage: http://www.sackparliament.org.uk


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech