Goodsen's book is an excellent compression of large amounts of history and geography into an easily accessible form for the novitiate into the Afghan Gordian knot.
It seems bizarre that the quasi intellectual right wing (TNR) has branded as "pink" MESA, which I view as relatively conservative and traditionalist in its academic approach to the "Middle East" (a term I reject because of its geographic illiteracy and colonial stigma... preferring instead to use the more accurate and neutral, Southwest Asia and North Africa). But the USA is if nothing else a paragon of a middle that sits so far right of centre as to make Keynsians out to be leftists. jb -----Original Message----- From: michael pugliese [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 11:57 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:20437] RE: Re: Afghanistan & class See the references in the work by Larry P. Goodsen, "Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban." Univ. of Washington Press, pb. just pubshed, $22.50. Goodsen studied with L. Dupree, who I gather is a majorfigure in Afghan Studies. Builds on Oliver Roy and Ahmad Rashid, among others. A paper that Goodsen read at the conference of the Mide atStdies Association in 2000 on the Taliban & Women, is cited inthe endnotes. MESA, btw, was harshly denounced in a recent TNR or National Review by John J. Miller, if memory serves. Cartoon illustrating the piece had a leftover hippie from the 60's at the chalkboard after having written, "America Is Wrong!" Michael Pugliese >--- Original Message --- >From: Yoshie Furuhashi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: 12/7/01 9:32:53 AM > >>Pen-l old-timers may be interested in knowing that pen-l alumnus Wojtek >>Solokowski (sp?) had a letter in the current issue of the NATION [New York], >>criticizing Chalmers Johnson's "blow-back" hypothesis. Though the critique >>was somewhat off-target, I think that Wojtek had a valid point: it's >>important not to simply think of what's happening in the world outside the >>US as only a result of US policies (so that ObL is simply a creation of the >>US war against the USSR in Afghanistan), because that world has its own >>class structures and struggles (so that ObL also reflects an ensemble of >>social relations that promotes clerical fascism). >> >>If someone knows Wojtek's e-address, please forward this to him. >> >>Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine > >I' cc'ing this post to Wojtek. > >I second Jim on the gist of his post here. According to Dr. Margaret >Mills, clerics & other reactionaries in the Afghan countryside were >gearing up for oppositions to state reform efforts _even before_ >Afghan socialists came into power. That said, Afghan clerics & other >reactionaries would not have had a chance against socialist >modernizers without massive aids given to them by US imperialists, >Pakistan, etc. On balance, imperial geopolitics had a far larger >role in determining the fate of Afghanistan than whatever local >oppositions to populist & feminist reforms that would have existed >independently of US imperialism. > >That said, PEN-pals can help anti-war & anti-imperialist organizers >immensely if they post here analyses of Afghan social relations >(before, during, & after the rise and fall of Afghan socialists), >from points of views of historians, economists, sociologists, >political scientists, etc. Feminist analyses are especially welcome. >-- >Yoshie > >* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: ><http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> >* Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> >* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> >* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/cjp/> > >
