Re: israelian attack

[Julio Pino <jpino@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   I quiet agree that fear of any criticism of Israel as anti-semitic in
nature stifles many leftists from supporting the anti-imperialist causes of
the Arab peoples. But there is more to it. Many Western leftists have
bought into what Edward Said calls "Orientalism", the myths about the
Muslim world perpetuated by both academic scholars and the bourgeois media.
eg, Muslims are naturally violent, Islam is an intolerant religion, Islam
is incompatible with democracy and/or socialism, etc.
   The Quran issues a mighty call for social justice which inspires
fighters like Hezbollah today.  If their inspiration is Allah rather than
Marx (or maybe both),they are still struggling on behalf of their people,
not writing academic tracts
Julio Cesar Pino
At 02:10 PM 2/12/00 EST, you wrote:
>The reason Arabs have been kept in a low profile in this "Left-wing" list is
>because any criticism against the Zionist State of Israel is immediately
>labeled as "Anti-Semitic" by those Zionist sympathizers on this list. Those
>on the Left who constantly sympathize with Israel still refuse to see Israel
>as a brutal colonial-settler state. The State of Israel was created by the
>imperialist West, and has been maintained by the imperialist West. Israel
has
>always been committed to its undemocratic program which could only be
>maintained by the power of the gun. It has brutally killed and uprooted
>millions of Arabs (both Muslim and Christians) from their historical homes
>and land in Palestine. Israel has violated more UN resolutions than Iraq and
>has more weapons of mass destruction than all the Arab countries put
together.
>