[Marxism] Iraq and resistance

[Philip Ferguson <plf13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

DOC:
> The equivalent questions on Iraq would be: Do we support the Shia
> resistance? Do we support the Kurdish resistance? Do we support the
> Baathist resistance? Do we support ex-army resistance? And how do we
> expect marxists living in Iraq to support and engage with these groups?
> Is that what we mean when we say we support them? Or does it mean 'We
> oppose our own imperialists'.


What Marxists in the West must support is the right of Iraqi people to
resist the occupation and do so by whatever means they so choose.

It's not a question of us picking this or that section of Iraqi society
as some kind of 'rightful' opposition which alone has the right to resist.

Moreover, I would suggest that the political forces in Iraq which will
win the most credibility among the oppressed are those who put up the
most resistance to the occupation.

You should be especially aware of this, because this is what happened in
Ireland.  The reason the Provos emerged as the dominant force among the
most oppressed in the north in the early 1970s was not because of any
particularly brilliant political positions, but because they were the
people who did the most serious and effective fighting against the
occupying British Army.  The fact that a lot of them trudged off to
worship on Sundays, and probably other days of the week as well, and
likely said the rosary regularly, did not matter much.

In Iraq, the easy co-option of the CP will simply serve to discredit
socialism among the masses, unless there is a socialist force which
takes on the occupation.

This, btw, is something that the US SWP leadership around Barnes is
congenitally incapable of understanding.  Their argument that leftists
should not engage in armed resistance but merely take advantage of the
'civic space' permitted by the occupation shows that people who spend
their political lives in offices in New York haven't got a clue about
revolutionary strategy and revolution-making in the real world.

Thankfully, no-one in Iraq could care less what such hopeless,
inveterate armchair would-be generals think.

Philip Ferguson






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