Building support for the new Iraq
Home Who we are What we do How you can be involved |
July 13, 2005Not a Pretty Thing’: The Wisdom of Tariq Ali
Days after 7/7 Tariq Ali addressed Marxism 2005 (an annual week of discussions organised by the Socialist Workers’ Party). Telling Ken Livingstone to ‘get a grip of himself’, Ali said :I remember the French occupation of Algeria. The French used to call the Algerians filthy terrorists because they bombed cafes in Algiers. The Algerian National Liberation Front used to reply, "We do what we have to do to drive you out of our country. If you don't want us to bomb cafes where you and your friends sit, then please lend us a few fighter bombers and we can bomb your barracks. Throughout the Vietnam War the US denounced the Vietnamese when they planted bombs in the capital, Saigon. But the resistance had to do this to make the country ungovernable. It is not a pretty thing. But the character of the occupation determines the nature of the resistance — this is true in every single instance. |