On 5/1/07, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On May 1, 2007, at 6:11 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> I thought you were rooting for secular elitists rooting for the army
> -- given what you said on your mailing list -- glad to see you retreat
> from that.
I thought it was bad form to import disputes from other lists. But
since you've hit your daily posting limit on lbo-talk, I guess you
needed an outlet.
Of course this isn't true, though that hasn't stopped you from
repeating this insult several times now.
It's unwise to cheer big right-wing nationalist rallies, though, just
because they say they are for secularism. Leftists worth their salt
should be informing people that organizers of the rallies do not mean
well, rest some remain boondoggled by their PR.
Can you understand how both
sides in a dispute might be seen as wrong? Or do you always have to
take sides, especially if there are Islamists involved?
Both sides are "wrong" in the sense of both being for neoliberal
capitalism and imperialism, though nuances exist. But one side is
democratically elected, while the other side isn't, and the unelected
side in this case are far more repressive toward leftists, the Kurds,
the Armenians, etc. than the elected side, and that's a difference
that matters. Abstention is correct only because Turkey, like the
USA, Japan, etc., doesn't have any strong organized Left, so leftists
wouldn't be able to make a difference even if they tried.
--
Yoshie
