This Leftist critique of Leftist opposition to Gulf War II has been wending its way through the Internet for a while now. And for good reason: It’s correct.
“Whatever other crimes it committed or covered up in the twentieth century, the Left could be relied upon to fight fascism. A regime that launched genocidal extermination campaigns against impure minorities would be recognised for what it was and denounced.
Not the least of the casualties of the Iraq war is the death of anti-fascism. Patriots could oppose Bush and Blair by saying that it wasn’t in Britain’s interests to follow America. Liberals could put the UN first and insist that the United States proved its claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the court of world opinion. Adherents to both perspectives were free to tell fascism’s victims, ‘We’re sorry to leave you under a tyranny and realise that many more of you will die, but that’s your problem.’
The Left, which has been formally committed to the Enlightenment ideal of universal freedom for two centuries, couldn’t bring itself to be as honest. Instead millions abandoned their comrades in Iraq and engaged in mass evasion….For the first time in its history the Left has nothing to say to the victims of fascism.”
Traditionally I was more of a “liberal” than a “Leftist,” because even at my wildest I always recognized Marxism and Communism for the dehumanizing shams that they are; and even as a liberal I always believed international institutions to be means to a just and free world, not ends in themselves; but basically, there you have it.
How can I be a part of any movement that mobilizes to defend fascism? How can anybody?