RE: [Marxism] rwrainey5@aol.com

[Joaquín Bustelo <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rachel writes: "I am puzzled by the virulent reaction to my posts on
mullahs, priests, rabbis, shamans, what-have-you.  If I seemed to single out
one over the other.  I apologize.   I despise them all, and I am surprised,
on a Marxism list, to watch others rush to their defense."

The reason for this shouldn't be impossible to understand. You identify the
Iraqi resistance as primarily an *ideological* phenomenon. You say what it
represents is Islam, which (by your lights) is equally (as you now hasten to
add) is *just as* reactionary as Christianity, etc. 

I have a very different approach. Ideology is not the decisive criteria,
social forces are. The Iraqi resistance from my point of view is not the
expression of a particular religious faith, but of a nation that is the
target of a war of conquest by imperialism and is resisting that conquest. 

You proclaim yourself neutral in this war. Your thesis is basically the
neocon "clash of civilizations" crap that the corporate media constantly
propagandizes, except that instead of openly favoring the imperialist side,
you have  an ostensibly neutral "plague on both your houses" position.

Your position is thus atypical, not just among pretty much everyone on this
list or on the left, but among the big majority of working people in the
United States, especially Blacks and Latinos, and the absolute crushing
majority of working people on a world scale, who oppose the U.S. war.
Moreover, it is a completely untenable position. Given an actual invasion by
YOUR OWN imperialism done in YOUR name with YOUR money and YOUR friends,
neighbors and relatives as cannon fodder, you're like the Pierre of the
children's story: "I don't care." So your ostensible neutrality favors one
side over the other: perhaps someone on the Moon can claim neutrality, but
not where you sit.

Thus your position is quite reactionary. As for the rest of it, whatever
your intentions, it mostly echoes the racist ideology of broader U.S.
society. 

Yet you express bemused surprise that anyone could possibly object to your
rants against "mullahs" on a Marxism list, calling the reactions "virulent."

Wake up and smell the Napalm, Rachel. Fallujah is burning. All of Iraq is
burning. 

Joaquín


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