Progressives need a Jed Bartlett Moment

Alan Johnson, Labour Friends of Iraq (personal capacity), had this published in Tribune on 20th May.

At the heart of the Iraq "debate" is a hole in the shape of a social democratic narrative. The Labour Party must fill that hole, and quickly. Labour should be less defensive on Iraq.

The liberal-left often reduces the political complexity of Iraq to poodles, liars and 'insurgents. Most Iraqis are ignored.In January, over eight million Iraqis, most very poor, voted for a democratic future after thirty years of totalitarianism, war and misery. They danced with joy, purple fingers held aloft in pride. It was the most significant and hopeful event in the region in decades and links to a wider mood there of democratic yearning.

Yet much of the left has been mute or worse. If we are to prevent further degeneration into incoherent anti-Americanism, we need what might be called a neo-progressive alternative.

During the election campaign, Iraq was mentioned as A Good Thing but there was little attempt to inspire or educate. One-time abour supporters and activists won't return to the party unless Iraq can be understood and defended in terms of social democratic values and
hopes.

Labour must be bold about Iraq. The removal of Saddam and the end of his murderous Ba'ath, regime should be welcomed. So, too, should the return of the refugees, the joy of the Kurds, religious freedoms now enjoyed by the Shia and the creation of a UN-backed political process, a fantastic display of 'purple power'. There is a new democratic assembly, one in three members of which are women, the rebirth of trade unionism and the labour movement, the rise of new democratic political parties, a relatively free press, the reflooding of the Marshlands, the return of the Marsh Arabs, the opening up of the mass graves, the beginning of a truth and justice process. Freedom and social justice are spreading through the region and are the only antidotes to fundamentalism and terrorism.

The same neo-progressive narrative is the basis for a Left critique of post-war Iraq. It enables an anti-fascist discourse about the so-called 'resistance' as well as banning torture, safeguarding human rights, sacking Rumsfeld, a Marshall Plan for Iraq, social justice in the new Iraqi economy, and solidarity with Iraq's free trade unions, democratic parties and progressive civil society organisations.

Jack Straw tried to speak in a new way about Iraq: "Progressives know better than anyone the power of democracy as an instrument of social justice, and as a tool for the realisation of human potential. And we know the Middle East's importance to our foreign policy and to the international community as a whole. Supporting the emergence of democracy in the Middle East and around the world must be a central part of a progressive foreign policy, and a task for all of us".

And Tony Blair urged voters to 'listen to the Iraqis.' But this sotto voce social democratic narrative was drowned out by 'Blair lied'.

There is a scene in The West Wing, the White House set television series, in which Democratic President Jed Bartlett's aides decide that they have played 'defence' long enough against their own better instincts. One says 'Let Bartlett be Bartlett.' A fightback begins. So it should here over Iraq.

But we will only develop the confidence to take on the cynics once we establish clear neo-progressive water between ourselves and neo-conservatives. That means eschewing hysterical conspiracy theories about the Big Bad Wolf.

It is an awkward fact that the commitment of Paul Wolfowitz to freedom and democracy shames parts of the western left. What Christopher Hitchens says of him - 'I know some very tough Kurdish and Iraqi and Iranian and Lebanese antifascist militants who would welcome him as a blood-brother' – can hardly be said of Harold Pinter or George Galloway.

Just because Wolfowitz said 'The values of freedom and democracy are not just western values or European values' does not invalidate this insight for all but bigoted anti-Americans.

We can talk about the pivotal role of the institutions of civil society, including the labour movement. We can shift the debate onto the fight for labour rights and human rights, equality and opportunity, whether in Britain or Iraq or Africa. And we can keep talking about the importance of a two state solution in Israel-Palestine.

We do share important goals and values with Paul Wolfowitz but his overarching narrative remains 'US primacy' while ours should be the doctrine of the International Community. While the Neocons talk of a US-led military intervention from above in Iran, social democrats talk of political warfare' and solidarity with a popular democratic Iranian revolution.

We've already got a doctrine and it isn't neoconservative. It is the doctrine of the international community pursuing global democratisation and development. Within this framework, humanitarian interventionism is a duty on the international community – and on those who can act if the international community will not - to rescue those facing Genocide and Crimes against Humanity.

Backing Iraqi democrats is internationalist and in the best traditions of the Labour movement. Troops will be out of Iraq when an elected Iraq government asks for them to go. They now protect Iraqis from fascists who falsely claim to be a national liberation movement. George Bush is brazenly for a free market Iraq. The 'resistance' and their Western backers want secular or theocratic tyranny. Social democrats should brazenly promote a social democratic Iraq.

The outline of a neo-progressive vision exists in Tony Blair's Chicago speech of 1999, when he outlined the doctrine of the international community and in Robin Cook's speeches about intervention in Kosovo.

Gordon Brown promotes a global economic architecture and a global ethic that could give the doctrine of the international community economic muscle.

By 'letting Bartlett by Bartlett' the Party can renew itself and win the allegiance of a new generation of radicals. Local parties can make links to the free trade unions of Iraq, and also rebuild their relationships with local trade unions. It really is time to move on, honourably, as neo-progressives.