Doug Henwood Talks

On Jul 24, 2006, at 7:07 AM, www.leninology. blogspot.com wrote:

No one is idealising Hezbollah. Hezbollah is an Islamist movement
with a strong history of repelling Israeli aggression. Israel is
now destroying Lebanon on the pretext of hunting down Hezbollah.
In this context, it makes perfect sense to say “We are all
Hezbollah” as the Lebanese civilian shortly to perish under Israeli
fire said. This does not entail support for Hezbollah’s broader
goals or ideological imperatives.

Shouldn’t a slogan 1) make sense, and 2) bear some positive relation
to your principles? On 1), I’m not Hezbollah, because Israel isn’t
trying to attack me, or any Americans (though Israel’s actions, paid
for by the US, make it more likely that some ally of Hezbollah will
try to attack me, a resident of a very Jewish neighborhood in a large
American city) and 2) by saying you are Hezbollah, you are, however
temporarily or expediently, performing an identification with the
organization’s broader goals or ideological imperatives. If you’re
not performing that identification, then you’re not Hezbollah. Are we
supposed to make some forced choice between Hez and the Irgun?

Doug

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