A new liberal policy for dealing with terrorism?

[Hamlette]

In Britain last year a group of citizens signed a document known as the Euston Manifesto. The purpose of the document was to show that there were those on the UK left, both liberals and progressives, who supported the struggle for democracy and against tyranny. "We are democrats and progressives," it opened. "We propose here a fresh political alignment. Many of us belong to the Left, but the principles that we set out are not exclusive. We reach out, rather, beyond the socialist Left towards egalitarian liberals and others of unambiguous democratic commitment."

snip

The authors concluded that "the values of democracy, human rights, the continuing battle against unjustified privilege and power, solidarity with peoples fight against tyranny and oppression are what most enduringly define the shape of any Left worth belonging to."

end quote

Now a group of American liberals have written their own Manifesto in support of the Euston one. It makes sense to me, I especially like this quote:

"Anger at the Bush administration, however justified, should not trump opposition to all aspects of jihadism."

While I think "terrorism" is over hyped, I do think fundamentalists of all stripes (Muslin, Christian, Jewish) are a threat to those of us who do not want to live in a theocracy. And while I recognize that many things we have done have contributed to the hatred of Americans, I'm not giving my house back to the Native Americans...if you know what I mean. If you read Looming Tower, fundamentalist Islam predates Americas worst mistakes in the Middle East and has at its core a refudiation of rationalism. Scary stuff. Karen Armstrong has been telling us how scary it is for a long time. Saying Bush got it wrong does not mean we don't need to do everything we can to oppose these nut cases.

Anyway, more at the link. I think they have a good point (although I think the focus of Iran getting a nuke is overstated, the rest of it I agree with.)


http://www.nysun.com/article/39692

[Betsy Ross]

1. I feel like I am in good company

Many of my feelings were represented in the US letter, particularly my disappointment with much of the far left rhetoric. I have to go read the manifesto. Thanks for the link.

[Hamlette]

2. yes, I heard today that the one Muslin country that doesn't hate us

is Indonesia and it is because we are seen as having helped them so much with the tsunami.

Good liberal values may be the best approach...too bad the far left doesn't see it. We lead by example but we also need to be a tad freaked out by religious nut cases who think rational thought is the greatest evil.