The Cairo Cult: Anti-War Activism and Anti-Zionism in Canada
by Transmontanus, 3 April 2008
I’m giving out of myself at quite some length in Z-Word today. Thanks to Comrade Will from this very place for alerting me to Volkov and Postone, too, who helped me sort out my thinking about these things.
Some context here as well.
Thursday 3 April 2008 at 16:02
[liar and crank leaves comment — deleted]
Thursday 3 April 2008 at 16:52
Seconded
Thursday 3 April 2008 at 18:05
A good article from T. Glavin, but I think he should’ve stressed just how irrelevant the Canadian far left and “anti-war movement” are. A substantial number of Canadians oppose the Afghan occupation, but only a few hundred, tops, can be bothered to actually protest against it. And as the NDP have found out, it’s not a vote-winning issue.
Our local branch of the International Socialist Tendency are slavish followers of the line coming from London (whatever that is these days) and pursued the Respect-era “unite with Islamists” bit with gusto. Even among other Cliffite groups their absurd loyalty to the SWP leadership is something of a joke.
For me, the really worrying trend on the left (and it goes beyond the left, too) is the sort of reversal in how Israel and the United States are perceived. Once Israel was looked on as one of many American allies, doing its dirty work abroad, but now more than likely it’s considered the worst of the bunch, or even the one pulling all the strings. And that’s where the oldest conspiracy theory comes in.
Thursday 3 April 2008 at 19:37
“A substantial number of Canadians oppose the Afghan occupation, but only a few hundred, tops, can be bothered to actually protest against it. And as the NDP have found out, it’s not a vote-winning issue.”
I’ve made this point myself. I’d go further and say that not only has a reflexive “troops out” position failed to crank up support for the NDP, it’s dealt the NDP out of the conversation. Hardly anyone takes the NDP seriously on this issue, not even the NDP’s own supporters.
But the fact that the “left” in Canada has staked out a position on Afghanistan that results in these showings, and its default position can muster only a few hundred demonstrators in any given city, is not “irrelevant.”
It has rendered the Canadian left completely and wholly useless on the largest dedication of foreign aid funds, and the largest mobilization of Canadian troops, in more than half a century.
“Irrelevant” is not quite the the word that immediately springs to mind to describe this state of affairs.