Re: re-ISO and Hamas

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

Bruce writes:
>
> Adam,
>
> While I sympathise with your desire to align yourself with the
> anti-imperialists, I'm not convinced that Hamas 'fits the bill' any better
> than Fatah/PLO. The Problem as I see it is that being an anti-imperialist is
> not necessarily a self-sufficient virtue.  Imperialism may be fought by
> those who merely desire to establish their own power over domestic
> populations.
>

Well, they "fit the bill" by actually fighting against the Israelis.

The leaders of any fight against Imperialism are nearly always people
"who merely desire to establish their own power over domestic
populations".

No strain of nationalist politics fights consistently against
Imperialism, because they don't want to get rid of Imperialism but
renogotiate the position of their country within it.

However, to the extent that we have a common enemy, we fight alongside
them. Any radical movement in the middle east, if it creates a serious
threat to the established order in the middle east, will have to confront
the Israelis and the US. As far as they are strengthened, we are weakened.
If socialists are not part of the struggle against Imperialism, then
we allow nationalists to win the political argument hands down.

>
> While you acknowledge that anti-imperialism on its own is not enough for you
> to declare your whole-hearted support for Hamas' 'politics' (whatever that
> means), I suspect that you then go on to confuse (or conflate)
> anti-imperialism with socialism when you conclude:

This is a strange criticism.

The battle for socialism must be in part a struggle against Imperialism.
Of course, it is also a battle against more or less nationalist ruling
classes, who sometimes come into conflict with Imperialism. When they
do fight their battles against Imperialism, we stand alongside them
but we use, or advocate the use of, different and more effective methods.
We do this, partly because it is the best way of defeating Imperialism,
and partly because we want to win the political battle against the nationalists.

One of the obvious strategies Palestinian Nationalists have never used in their
liberation struggle is strikes by the Palestinian ( and workers of other
nationalities ) oil workers in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. They
have never advocated this because they see the rulers of these countries as
potential allies.

The oppression of national minorities eg the Kurds in Iran and Iraq, or
potentially Arab Christians in an Islamic Palestine, takes a potent anti
Imperialist force out of the struggle.

And of course, taking women out of the struggle and into the home first of all
weakens the fight against Imperialism, if only by simply halving the number of
people involved in the fight.

>
> It is not clear to me that the interests of the working class or of any
> oppressed group is best served by establishment of a state which becomes the
> vehicle for new forms of oppression and exploitation.  Moreover, I more than
> suspect that a state founded upon the sort of restrictive Islamic doctrines
> that Hamas seems to favour offers few prospects for an enduring and
> substantial liberation for the working class - inter alia!
>

My argument is that a defeat for Imperialism by any forces at all makes the 
struggle
for socialism internationally easier, but that nationalist politics ( PLO, 
Hamas,
Muslim Brotherhood, whatever ) is not the best way to defeat Imperialism.

Of course, social crises arise when the immediate question is not "how do we 
best
fight Imperialism ?" but "what do we replace Imperialism with ?". In that case,
the immediate battle will before for socialism against the nationalists and the
Imperialists ( I'm thinking particularly of Iran in 1979 ). But part of that
political battle will still be along the lines of "in order to permanently 
defeat
Imperialism, we need a state which cab obtain support from workers 
internationally,
in other oppressed countries, and in the Imperialist countries. Only a socialist
revolution can deliver this. The alternative is reintegration with Imperialism".

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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