<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>A posting on a list-serve I am on that I thought you might find interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>David J.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>“ I agree with the condemnation of both the racist imagery of Islam as well as of all religious fundamentalism, Islamic and otherwise. It also seems to me that we can't make sense of this situation without some review of history. Why did these brothers who apparently were responsible for the attack on Charlie Hebdo turn to Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism as a means of expressing their anger against Western imperialism's interventions in the predominantly Islamic world? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>First there was the increased role of these reactionary forces - especially al Qaeda - in Afghanistan, mainly through the support of the CIA and their counterparts in Pakistan, in the struggle against the Soviet Union's role in Afghanistan. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Islamic fundamentalism also got a huge boost with the rise of Khomeini to power in the late '70s. That occurred through the triumph of counter-revolution in a revolutionary situation, following the fall of the Shah. That counter-revolution involved a classic case of the role of Stalinism, through the Tudeh Party.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>At the same time, we saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of an independent role of the working class.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>I remember when I was in Egypt getting lectured by a guy who was clearly some sort of fundamentalist about how the United States government "hates" muslims. When I replied by outlining all the crimes of the US government against non-Muslims (Native Americans, African people, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, etc. as well as workers in the USA), and that it had nothing to do with hating Muslims per se, this guy was caught up short. At the end of the conversation, he commented that I had "entered into his head." (I was later told that that means more or less that I'd made a serious impression on him.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>But on a wider scale, who is there to put this sort of perspective forward? Does the "representatives" of the US working class - the labor leaders? Don't make me laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>The other point is this: Racist bullies like those who drew those cartoons for Charlie Hebdo and reactionary Islamic fundamentalist terrorists actually rely on each other. They would find it much more difficult to exist if the other side didn't.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>John<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>