Telling the Left From the Right a471

Telling the Left From the Right Extract of Le Journal des Alternatives http://journal.alternatives.ca/spip.php?article47...

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Telling the Left From the Right Extract of Le Journal des Alternatives http://journal.alternatives.ca/spip.php?article471

Iraq

Telling the Left From the Right - EN - Our organisation - Our Publications - Analysis and Articles -

Publication date: Wednesday 19 March 2003

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How many Americans who oppose the looming war know the left from the right when it comes to Iraq? The only two players on the field are not George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. For inside and outside the borders of Iraq there is a political opposition to Saddam - and while some of those opponents are now aligned with the White House, others remain on the political left. But don't expect to read or hear much about any Iraqi leftist groups in the mainstream or even the "alternative" press.

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Telling the Left From the Right

How many Americans who oppose the looming war know the left from the right when it comes to Iraq? The only two players on the field are not George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. For inside and outside the borders of Iraq there is a political opposition to Saddam and while some of those opponents are now aligned with the White House, others remain on the political left. But don't expect to read or hear much about any Iraqi leftist groups in the mainstream or even the "alternative" press.

In past U.S. foreign-policy conflicts, American activists frequently expressed their solidarity with and support of embattled leftists, whether in Chile, Nicaragua or El Salvador. But in this standoff with Iraq, American leftists seem woefully ignorant of their Iraqi counterparts and, consequently, of their views on the present conflict. And for these Iraqi leftists the current crisis transcends the prevailing American leftist view, which reduces the matter simply to either war or peace.

Today, Iraqi leftists play an important oppositional role against Saddam. Foremost among them is the Iraqi Communist Party, which at one time was that country's biggest and broadest leftist mass movement, touching the lives of literally millions. Even before Iraq's short-lived, British-imposed monarchy was overthrown in 1958, the Communist Party was organizing trade unions and other civic groups.

Read the complete version of this article published by LA Weekly :

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/15/news-smyth.php

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