[Marxism] Left Hook Updated

["M. Junaid Alam" <junaidalam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Left Hook


www.lefthook.org

Last Release: Friday, July 2, 2004

Iraq: The Limits of Empire

| Mark Yu |

The U.S. occupation of Iraq is running into serious obstacles on several
fronts. Photos documenting the use of torture at Abu Ghraib prison have
torn the mask of legitimacy from the face of the civilian-military
occupying force. While the torture itself could be treated as a mere
aberration by U.S. politicians and commentators--overlooking the
violence of the entire colonial enterprise in Iraq and ignoring similar
abuse in prisons at home--the political impact of the photographs could
not be so easily disregarded. The prison scandal, scandalous only
because the perpetrators were caught in the act, has permanently
disarmed the public relations effort to "win the hearts and minds" of
the Iraqi people.

http://lefthook.org/Politics/Yu070204.html - (Read full)
<http://lefthook.org/Politics/Yu070204.html>

Take Me Out to the Antiwar Ballgame

| Derek Seidman |

Dick Cheney was able to score a hot ticket to see the biggest rivalry in
baseball when he attended the Yankees-Red Sox game on Wednesday. The
Vice-President even made his way into the locker room before the game to
mumble at a few players. It was a proud moment for Yankee coach Joe
Torre, who told the press, "It's great any time a dignitary like that
visits. It slaps you with pride."

Come the seventh inning stretch, it was Cheney's turn to get slapped.

http://lefthook.org/Politics/Seidman070204.html - (Read full)
<http://lefthook.org/Politics/Seidman070204.html>

February 15th Goes to the Movies: Farenheit 911 Review

| Keith Rosenthal |

With the anti-war movement facing a bit of a lull over the past year,
Michael Moore's new movie, Fahrenheit 9-11, is just what the doctor
ordered. A scathing attack on the record of the Bush administration over
the past four years-and the war and occupation of Iraq in
particular-Fahrenheit has the potential to revivify a layer of activists
by proving conclusively that we were right to march against the war.

http://lefthook.org/Reviews/Rosenthal070204.html - (Read full)
<http://lefthook.org/Reviews/Rosenthal070204.html>

Photos: Palestinians Punished for Existing

| Musa Alshaer |

Click http://lefthook.org/Palestine/index.html  to view photos

*Caption for first two photos: *

This house belonged to Bassam Abu Akkar, an Islamic Jihad activist, from
Bethlehem. Akkar was arrested on the 1st of June, and his house was
blown up on June 25th. The explosion also completely demolished two
adjacent apartments in the building. One cannot distinguish between the
target apartment and the other two - all were demolished to the same
degree. Three extended families are homeless.

*Caption for second two photos:*

In the path of the "isolation wall" (the term used by Palestinians when
referring to the wall), one house demolished, and villagers praying on
land that will be soon confiscated and destroyed.

Radio Interview on KPFK

Recently /Left Hook/ co-editor M. Junaid Alam was able to talk about the
connection between and importance of politics and personal identity with
host Neel Garlapati and another guest, Jyoti, over at KPFK Radio,
Southern California's Pacifica Subsidiary. To listen to the half-hour
segment via .MP3 file, do one of the following:

1. Just copy and paste this into your browser, without the brackets:
[http://lefthook.org/Reviews/interview.mp3], and hopefully some program
starts up for you and plays the file.

2.*Go to www.lefthook.org*, then look at option #2, which is to download
the file onto your computer ("Save Target As" in Internet Explorer),
then play with either Winamp or Windows Media Player.

(Starts at the 2:30 mark, and there are a few gaps of silence due to
streaming errors).

Reading List on Islam

Recently a member of the Left Hook discussion list got into an argument
on campus over Islam and its role in current affairs. This inspired him
to want to learn more about this timely subject, and he asked people on
the list what books we might recommend on Islam. We thought others might
benefit from the suggestions. Here are the results, touching on many
different aspects:

   * Clash of Fundamentalisms, by Tariq Ali
   * Orientalism, by Edward Said
   * Maxime Rodinson's biography of Muhammad
   * Ibn Warraq's "Why I am not a Muslim" (rightwing view)
   * Omid Safi on Progressive Muslims
   * "Believing women in Islam, unreading patriarchal interpretations
     of the Qur'an" by Asma Barlas
   * Qur'an Liberation and Pluralism by Farid Esack
   * Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism by Omid Safi
   * The Place of Tolerance in Islam by Khaled Abou El Fadl [Includes
     an essay by Tariq Ali]
   * The Adventures of Ibn Battuta" by Ross E Dunn
   * Susan Buck-Morss' "Thinking Past Terror"
   * Z. Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davis: No-Nonsense Guide to Islam


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