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Speaking of Empire and Resistance: Conversations with Tariq Ali

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As a solitary, anguished New Yorker, afflicted by the nightmares of this world, I found the Ali-Barsamian conversation both refreshing and cheery. To be honest I learnt a great deal and can now read the NYT more critically. I have never read such material on Pakistan, Iraq and, yes, Israel. I am not Jewish, but have been sympathetic to Israel because of the past. No longer. The flow of the conversation is hypnotic and I strongly agreed with Eduardo Galeano's cover comment referring to the book as a feast to which all are invited...a comment, incidentally, which attracted me to the book in the first place.

The American public, Ali notes, rarely have their media place American foreign policy in historical context. How did terrorist Muslim fundamentalism arise? Well, the U.S. encouraged it, funded it, in the Muslim world during the Cold War, against such Arab nationalists like Nasser who threatened U.S. hegemony over the oil supply.. The modern fundamentalist movement in Indonesia blossomed when the U.S. backed General Suharto seized power in 1965 and the CIA gave lists of suspected communists, to Muslim fundamentalist groups in the country. Such groups and the Indonesian mlilitary massacred about one million people, mostly poor peasants. Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, also had the largest Communist party in the world outside of the Soviet Union and China. However, with Suharto's massacres, the secular left in Indonesia was crushed and Muslim fundamentalists were left as the only alternative to the barbaric Suharto regime. Hence today, Muslim fundamentalists, including the Al Qaeda elements among them, are the pre-dominant opposition groups in Indonesia. In Egypt, the late President Sadat used Muslim fundamentalists to crush his secular leftist opponents. In Pakistan, Ali writes, Muslim fundamentalists gained influence by the use of the weapons and money that was being funneled throughout Pakistan throughout the 1980's because of the Afghan war. Such groups have been rampaging about the country terrorizing people, part of the reason why Pakistan is such a basket case now.

Then there was Afghanistan. From 1979-92, the U.S., directly and indirectly through the Pakistani military, gave a couple billion dollars to the Afghan Muslim funamentalist warlords and "Arab Afghan" fighters such as those led by Bin Laden. These groups, of course, later morphed into groups like Al Qaeda. Ali notes that Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, bragged to a French newspaper in the late 90's, about his role in causing the Soviet Union to collapse by his support of this war. When asked about the side affects of these activities--the formation of the Taliban, the unleashing of Bin Laden, etc--Brzezinski declared to the effect that the collapse of the Soviet Union was more important than "a few stirred up Muslims." Zbig, the great warrior, of course, made these comments before 9-11.

Religious fundamentalism has arisen to pre-dominance because secular possibilities for reform have been destroyed. Certainly the corporate globalization policies enforced by the IMF and World Bank, make the possibilities for attacking concentrated economic power in the third world, very limited. So secular politicians (Ali gives the example of the Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif governments in Pakistan) have mainly devoted themselves to embezzling and getting favors from foreign corporations and the U.S. In free market India, the Hindu fundamentalist party BJP which was in power from 1998-2005, distracted the increasingly impoverished Hindu masses, by turning them against the even worse impoverished Indian Muslim population. A prime result of this was the massacre of several thousand Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat, by Hindu mobs in early 2002, as the BJP controlled state government and police authorities sat by and watched and encouraged them. V.S. Naipaul was initially friendly to the BJP, Ali says, but was not in favor of the Gujarat butchery.

Islamic terror will continue as long as major grievances exist. Ali quotes former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg as pointing out that so long as Israel makes life unbearable for Palestinians, with the "collective punishments," the virtual elimination of economic activity, letting people die for want of medical attention while they wait five hours at check points, imprisoned without charge and tortured, etc., some Palestinians are going to be motivated to engage in suicide bombing.. Moreover ,Ali notes, a rallying cry against the U.S. will be lost by terrorist groups, when the U.S. stops giving military weapons to Israel to use to torture and kill Palestinians on Palestinian land and steal all their water and land. The Palestinian "state," the Oslo accords envisioned, and what the Camp David offer of 2000 consisted, much deceit to the contrary, is essentially the plan of the "Kadima" government today i.e. imprisoning Palestinians within isolated ghettos in the West Bank and imprisoning in the hellhole of Gaza while Israel steals all the resources,.

The ability to quell revolutions against oligarchies in the area, is part of the reason why the U.S. keeps its largest military base outside the U.S. in Ureid, Qatar, Ali notes. The Hashemite kingdom of Jordan is one of these cases, Ali notes. In the 60's, when Nasser's favorite journalist Mohammed Heikal was publicly making fun of King Hussein for turning Jordan into an American protectorate, the immortal King pointed out how the Ba'ath party in Iraq (pro-Nasser at the time), came to power in 1963, with American aid. The CIA provided lists of suspected Communists for the party, of whom Saddam Hussein was then head of security, to kill. King Hussein himself was getting lots of CIA aid at the time, so he was in a position to know.

The importance of education about the merits and future contours of a socialist society, is critical, Ali writes. When unrestrained free market policies caused a severe economic depression in Argentina in late 2001, revolutionary-style neighborhood assemblies were formed and stuff, but there was no real idea about what should happen next, so the old regime was essentially able to regain power, while promising to avoid adhering to IMF dictates.
We really need is a mass anti-imperialist movement, comprising people who are not necessarily socialists but still decent nonetheless. We need something along the lines of the American Anti-Imperialist league of which Mark Twain was such a powerful voice or along the lines of the movement calling attention to the killing of millions of Congolese at the turn of the twentieth century by the Belgians.

Ali has some very harsh words for the "House Arab" intellectuals. He discusses the relationship of literature to culture and politics in the Arab world...

I had not read any books by Tariq Ali, but now intend to do so.Usually I read him on the Counterpunch website, but here he expands at length on many themes, including the role of poetry.
As a person of Jewish origin I was especially pleased by what he wrote in this book on Israel and the fact that he quoted Israeli dissident and newspapers to support his argument, something rarely done in the US press or even in the Italian media (I live in Rome). I am well aware that those of us who criticize Israel are often described as 'self-hating Jews'. I don't hate myself but I do hate those who coined the phrase. Ali's description of Zionism is hardly a surprise and I would recommend his detractors to read 'Zionism contra Israel' by Nathan Weinstock which I read in a Maspero edition during my teen years in Paris a long time ago.
I also greatly enjoyed Ali's blunt and refreshing remarks about the 'house Arabs'....Fouad Ajami and Kanaan Makiya....does that make him a 'self-hating Arab'?

Tariq Ali is one of the more vocal left-wing public intellectuals in the modern world. The Pakistan-born British resident is a prolific author of both fiction (the Islam Quintet) and non-fiction (Clash of Fundamentalisms, Bush in Babylon and the like). He is also a magnetic public speaker, with the gift of a whithering turn of phrase to complement his impressive analysis of the global political situation.

"Speaking of Empire and Resistance" is a collection of interviews conducted by David Barsamian over the early years of this century. There are also two solo pieces, one is a speech which Ali gave on radio and the other is an afterword specifically written for this book. In these pieces, Ali clearly sets out his views on the current state of the world, views covering everything from the War on Terror through to Pakistani politics and American adventurism in Latin America. Having seen him speak at considerable length on many of these topics, I can vouch that the voice coming through here is most definitely that of Ali.

For the reader familiar with Ali's politics, there is probably nothing much new here. As in "Clash of Fundamentalisms", the Pakistani political culture comes in for its fair share of criticism. Similarly, readers of "Bush in Babylon" will note that many of the same remarks on the war in Iraq are made here.
What is quite interesting, however, is that these interviews are (presumably) raw products and creatures of their times. Thus, Ali's impressions of the anti-war marches in London are found here, along with his rather gloomy predictions about exactly how much they will be taken notice of - predictions which came true very soon thereafter.
The strength of "Speaking of Empire and Resistance", however, is that Ali's views are presented in this raw forum. Unlike in his books, where he sometimes seems to get carried away with metaphor and name-calling, these interviews focus on facts and analysis. This does not mean that the criticisms are tempered to any degree, just that they are (if anything) more hard-hitting.

Readers of a conservative persuasion, or those who tend to take the Israeli side in the dispute between that country and Palestine should be aware that Ali is from totally the opposite side of the ideological fence. While one other reviewer here has unhelpfully categorised Ali's views as "right-wing", this is quite a false description as he has consistently appeared on the left.
As a result, there will be a section of the population to whom this collection will sound like many other left-wing writings. For them, this is almost definitely not the book to buy. For those interested in broadening their minds, or those already aware of Ali's firebrand views, "Speaking of Empire and Resistance" is a superb read and highly recommended.

Tariq Ali speaks of the role of religion in empire building and in terrorism and in so much killing in the world.

There have been big increases in fundamentalist religious fighting groups in recent years. One of the reasons for this is that fundamentalist groups have been becoming the safety net for persons in need of food and medical care in parts of the world for their entire families and many persons have real and powerful loyalties to these fundamentalist religious groups.

In Tariq Ali's book "Speaking of Empire and Resistance." David Barsamian engages Ali in a series of interviews on politics, world affairs, imperialism, and social commentary. Ali was exiled from Pakistan in the 1960's, but that did not stop him from speaking his mind. Unfortunately Ali is a socialist, and socialism has its negative aspects as well as some exceptional viewpoints. (Universal Health Care being one of the positive aspects.)
However, what individuals like Ali fail to ascertain is that socialism leaves all social programs in the hands of the government. And letting the government completely control our lives only leads to totalitarianism. There are many historical examples, but I'll just mention a few. Josef Stalin's Russia, Jiang Zemin's China, and even Adolf Hitler's Germany are prime examples of socialism/communism gone awry. (Yes, I included Hitler since we can recall that Nazism is National Socialism.)
Still, I personally believe that Tariq Ali has the best intentions, but his views literally eviscerate any chance for sovereign states to thrive, plus personal autonomy would be desecrated upon.
The trouble with people who think along the Left/Right paradigm is that they depend on government to solve all of their troubles, not realizing that government/corporate elites are the ones causing all of the world's problems in the first place.
Now, to completely ascertain this point of view we have to recognize what the word "government" really means.
The root words of government are "Govern" and "Aug[ment]," which according to the Oxford University Dictionary the word "Govern" means:

1: To conduct the policy and affairs of a state, organization, or people.
2: To control or influence
3: To constitute a rule, standard, or principle for.

And the definition of "Augment" is "to make greater by addition; increase."
So, it is obvious what the definition of government is, "to increase control." And when people demand bigger government, more government, or for entities such as the United Nations to lead the world then they are asking to be controlled, therefore manipulated.
For you see, Tariq Ali and many (so-called) liberals and conservatives are infuriated with the U.S. and world government, but what is their solution?
Answer: more government!
Which the ending results would be the expedient metastasizing of the New World Order.
With that said, even though I disagree with his socialistic views this man's intellectual prowess is stunning. Point after point Ali successfully makes his case very clear.
To sum up, Ali tackles just about every issue under the sun. From Zionist tyranny of Palestine, to Latin American issues, He also discusses his own country of Pakistan and its shortcomings.
Plus he engages the 9/11 and U.S. hegemony issue from the left perspective.
So, basically if you lean on the so-called left side of the paradigm then this book is effervescent indeed.
Nonetheless, if you lean on the right, well you get the picture.
In a nutshell, Tariq Ali is the yang to Bernard Lewis' yin.
Overall, this was a great book to read and learn from no matter what your political beliefs are.

This is the first time I've read anything by Tariq Ali, and I am about as close to speechless as I'll ever be.

Let's see, I'm a liberal. I dislike Empire. I dislike Imperialism. Now, I think Tariq Ali and I probably agree to some extent about disliking British imperialism. And I think we even agree that the United States, a very powerful nation, has thrown its weight around sometimes, and in a counterproductive manner. And that the Monroe Doctrine has to be looked at as an example of us throwing our weight around, good or bad.

Now, that really ought to start a serious discussion about how we Americans are actually affecting the lives of, say, impoverished potters in Guatemala. Are we helping them overall? Do we have little effect on their lives? Or are we actively hurting them? If we're doing something Wrong, could we stop doing it? Yes, these would be interesting questions. But Ali is not the one to discuss them, as far as I am concerned.

One problem is that the book spends some time discussing the Arab war against Israel. I think Ali and I may agree that anyone who picks the wrong side to oppose in this war is immoral and dishonest. Unfortunately, we've picked different sides.

Ali feels that the Arab-Israeli war is important because the US has jumped into it and backed the wrong side. I feel it is important because the United Nations has jumped into it and backed the wrong side. I feel that the contamination of the international information supply with arbitrary antizionist lies is serious, and is part of a greater fight against truth in general. Ali feels that the United States and Israel ought to be condemned for supporting each other.

Now this could raise an interesting question. Suppose the United States were truly awful. And suppose Israel, surrounded by Arab nations that might be politically dominated at any time by racist antizionists, agreed to accept support from the United States, just to try to avoid being overrun. Ought we condemn Israel were it to do that?

My answer to that question would be that I expect people and nations who are being threatened with obliteration to fight for their lives, right or wrong, whether they do it or not. But Ali is too busy complaining about Israel and the United States to ask such a question. At least, we both realize that politics is politics, and that large, powerful nations can rarely be trusted to act morally when their interests are at stake.

Now, what do I think of this book? I think it is dishonest and immoral. I think Ali's views are on the extreme right wing. And I think it might be a good idea to see if his comments on Rachel Corrie are anything like Joseph Goebbels' comments on Horst Wessel.

Well, what would I advise? I think if you are interested in what Ali has to say, I'd advise learning enough about American foreign policy and about the Arab-Israeli war to judge books such as this one for yourself.