There has been a major failure on the part of the Western left. Can’t they imagine themselves living in such places and being punished for saying or doing all the things they take for granted?
Once upon a time they would have shown solidarity with their murdered, imprisoned, and repressed counterparts. They would have been outspoken about what’s going on, for instance, in Tunisia where the level of crackdown is gradually increasing and at least one leftist party leader has been murdered by Islamists. They would be jumping up and down to protest the withdrawal of women’s rights. And the Marxists would be throwing around the phrase, “clerical-fascists” to describe what was happening. There would be protests, and a massive literature on the evils of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists, perhaps as alleged tools of capitalism and imperialism but denunciations none the less.
Sure, the Western left were for decades apologists for repression carried out by leftist regimes–the USSR, Soviet bloc, and Third World dictatorships among them–but not about repression carried out against leftists.
Now things have changed. The left has sided with the reactionaries because they hate their own countries’ systems more. This is a mistake and their comrades will pay for it in blood.
Originally published by Rubin Reports.
