Postel responds to Leninology
From: “Danny Postel” danny@postelservice.com Date: February 14, 2007 3:58:20 PM EST To: “‘Doug Henwood’” dhenwood@panix.com Cc: “‘Scott McLemee’” scott.mclemee@insidehighered.com Subject: RE: Why the left should take the Iran issue back from the =
neocons
Please forward the following message to the member of the British SWP:
I am indeed aware that Appiah, Bauman, Chakrabarty, Chomsky, Coetzee, =
Eco, Habermas, Kolakowski, Laclau, Mouffe, Nussbaum, Pamuk, Taylor, =
Todorov, Wallerstein, West, Zinn, and =8Ei=9Eek signed a statement =
supporting Ramin Jahanbegloo. Guess how I know — because I =
personally approached each of them, on behalf of the Committee for =
Academic and Intellectual Freedom of the International Society for =
Iranian Studies, and asked for their signatures. “Leninology” seems =
not to have noticed my name atop that statement when it appeared in =
the New York Review of Books (www.nybooks.com/articles/19149) and =
openDemocracy (www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-irandemocracy/ =
openletter_3578.jsp). As much as it meant to me and my comrades on =
the Committee to have the signatures of the above (which is why I =
approached them), and as deeply as I appreciate their support, I =
would hardly characterize them as being “involved in campaigning on =
behalf of Iranian dissidents” merely for having added their =
signatures. One got the distinct impression that most of them had =
never heard of Ramin Jahanbegloo before — which in no way diminishes =
them or the value of their support, but let’s be clear about the =
difference between “campaigning” and agreeing to add your name to a =
statement.
By the way, with the exception of =8Ei=9Eek, it’s worth noting that among =
the members of that group, it was decidedly the liberals rather than =
the Marxists who were already aware of Ramin — Appiah, Habermas, =
Kolakowski, Nussbaum, Pamuk, Taylor, Todorov — all non-Marxists =
(with the partial exception of Habermas, who remains one-part Marxist =
but is basically a liberal-internationalist social democrat). =8Ei=9Eek =
learned of Ramin from me, just a few weeks before signing the letter, =
as I had asked him to blurb my book, which contains my interview with =
Ramin. Chomsky knew Ramin well (Ramin has interviewed him twice) but =
is of course neither a Marxist nor a liberal.
In other words, the notion that large swaths of left-wing =
intellectuals in the west are actively campaigning on behalf of =
Iranian dissidents is simply absurd. It is a marginal cause at best. =
As I say in my book, conduct the following test: go to the websites =
of the most widely-read publications of the Left (New Left Review, =
Red Pepper, Z, CounterPunch, The Nation, The Progressive, In These =
Times, Mother Jones, CommonDreams.org, Indymedia, Monthly Review, =
Truthout, and so on), punch up the names of the Iranian dissidents I =
mention toward the end of Scott’s interview with me, and see how many =
results you get. How many sympathetic profiles of, long-form =
interviews with, or even short articles about them will you find? I =
can save you the trouble, since I’ve done it: precious few.
Danny
Danny Postel Senior Editor openDemocracy (www.opendemocracy.net)