Re: [Marxism] Imperialist feminism in Iraq

["andypollack@xxxxxxxx" <andypollack@xxxxxxxx>]

I had the same reaction as Louis to the article about Fern Holland and yesterday sent the following to the NYTransfer list:

--------------
sent by Andy Pollack - Sept 20, 2004

Benevolent Imperialism as Seen by The New York Times

The New York Times this Sunday presented two apparently separate yet --
unwittingly -- complementary apologies for the right of imperialists to
modernize their lessers.

In the Magazine section, the cover story was about "feminist" Fern
Holland, the lawyer who set up women's centers for the occupation. The
author admits she told friends she didn't care about Bush's motives,
invited Bremer and Rice to speak to her conferences, etc., but in her
mind what mattered was that she was going to liberate Iraqi women. Of
course the author blames her death, and the backlash against women in
Iraq, solely on fundamentalist men, letting Washington off the hook for
empowering these bastards (just as, on a larger scale, Johnson-Nixon et
al. created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge to run rampant).
See: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/magazine/19WOMENL.html

Then, in the Week in Review section, they present a barely critical look
at Japanese historians who want to prettify the Japanese attempt to
"modernize" Manchuria in the '30s. Yes, there was segregation, slave
labor, even murder -- but didn't the Japanese build and educate? And even
the Chinese, says the author, agreed with the occupiers' notion of "Asian
solidarity" against the West.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/weekinreview/19fren.html

Niall Ferguson, lead ideologue for the notion that the US must emulate
the "benevolent" imperialism of the Brits, must have been in seventh
heaven this Sunday!



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