I do observe that it is a fact that vociferous alienation from national feeling is probably an obstacle to left organizing.
Maybe in the late sixties and early seventies, it was common to hear vocal expressions of alienation from national feelings among leftists. Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, etc. come to my mind. That's the state of left-wing culture more than two decades ago. (I wasn't even in the States then.) The culture of the anti-war movement in the USA today is decidedly more pious and patriotic than that of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Eric Foner, etc. quickly condemned Nicholas De Genova's remark wishing for "a million Mogadishus" and distanced themselves from him. I've yet to hear any US leftist offering solidarity, in a public forum (a teach-in, a speech at a rally, or whatever), with Iraqis who resist the US military with force, aside from the unwise comment made by De Genova. There must be a way for US leftists to affirm Iraqi resistance without conjuring up an image of corpses of US servicemen being dragged in the street, but I have yet to come across a public expression of it.
Do US leftists think that freedom is not just an "American value" but an "Iraqi value" as well? If so, why don't we hear about it?
--
Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>
