[Marxism] Re: Bill Weinberg: redbaiter

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

(Weinberg's reply appears in its entirety. My comments are interspersed.)

Bill Weinberg wrote:
> You are quoting here from a piece I wrote two years ago, based on
> information about CARDRI older than that (from their important pre-Desert
> Storm book "Saddam's Iraq"). My point was that simply demanding a US
> pullout without loaning support to Iraq's secular left (after the US
> invasion had unleashed the jihadis) is an irresponsible position. I was
> taking the anti-war movement to  task for making no effort to even find
> Iraq's secular left. I stand by this analysis absolutely.

What does it mean to "loan support to Iraq's secular left"? If it means
writing articles on their behalf on your website or talking them up on your
radio show, we have no quarrel. But when you polemicize against "Out Now"
as you did, the clear implication is that the US military must not leave
Iraq *prematurely*--that it has a role there. I call that scabbing, no
matter the radical rhetoric you wrap it in.

> What has changed
> is that since then I have managed to find an organized exponent of Iraq's
> secular left: the Worker Communist Party of Iraq and its associated groups
> including the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, the Federation of
> Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, and the Iraqi Freedom Congress.
> Browsing through WW4 REPORT, you will find numerous interviews with these
> groups' leaders--all outspoken opponents of the occupation and jihadi
> "resistance" alike. You will find not a syllable of support for the
> occupation. I challenge you to forward these remarks to your list, if you
> have more integrity than your pals at the crypto-fascist Workers World
> Party. Surprise me.

You don't support the occupation in the same way that Marc Cooper doesn't
support it. He and you pay lip-service to opposing the war, but  oppose
immediate withdrawal. Some people might call this "slippery". I prefer to
call it slimy.

One last thing. No matter my quarrel with the WWP, they don't provide scab
services for US imperialism.


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