Debate issue_002 winter, 2004 Socialist_ Outlook Letter to Socialist Outlook I cannot fully agree with David Coen when he states in an otherwise very good article (Why Terrorism Is Not The Answer) that the Left must not/cannot support individual attacks by Palestinians, specifically suicide attacks, within Occupied Palestine. Firstly, I do not think it is up to us in the comfort zone of the West to advise anti-imperialist movements in the developing world how to resist occupation and oppression. Secondly, individual attacks on an occupying or colonial force have proven successful in the past - I am thinking in particular of the Algerian National Liberation ront, though we may also conside he current Iraqi resistance, an in a slightly different context the guerrilla warfare of various movements American Latin such as the FSLN in Nicaragua. Thirdly, and for me this is the most important point, it is surely the job of us in the Left Palestine solidarity movement to offer unequivocal support to anti-imperialist/ struggles. national liberation reply, It may be that the original article was not clear. I did not say the left could not support individua tacks by Palestinians... withi Occupied Palestine: I did sa tacks on civilians in Israel wer I think you are right about "left' advisers in the imperialist heartlands telling anti-imperialists how to conduct their struggles. Lagree with Tom Paulin that targeted would be effective in making life literally unliveable for the settlers, - from expansionism. Such attacks would have to be supported When a huge number of people are unemployed and are dispersed around camps, it is not possible to protest through strike action or other collective activity. Palestinians engage in the only meaningful pom, licite politial vilence activity available to occupation, illegal apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. Let'srememberthatthe Palestinians have seen their land stolen from Too often, sections of the British left were only heard joining in the condemnation of an IRA attack rather than what gave rise to it: British occupation of part of Ireland. A key part of your letter concerns the distinction between "individual' strikes and mass protests. You are right to point out that armed resistance may be the main option. But armed resistance is every What is Israel? To all intents and purposes it is basically an offshore US military base. Israelis are targeted because they vote for far right Zionist parties, applaud the Apartheid Wall, enthusiastically endorse the isolation and proposed elimination of Yasser Arafat. Jihad/ Hamas/PFLP/Islamic DFLP target Tel Aviv nightclubs because they find it sickeningly offensive that Israelis dance, celebrate, and indulge their imitation of US consumer society while the people whose land they occupy suffer the degradation of refugee camps, border controls, giving birth while an Israeli soldier stands over them with a gun, their water and electricity supplies cut off, their brothers and fathers imprisoned and tortured. Until there is any other avenue through which the people of Palestine can effectively resist occupation and ethnic cleansing, I would encourage everybody on the Left to refrain from condemning the armed struggle and to unconditionally support ALL Palestinian resistance. Paul Brown Holloway N19 [email protected] bit as dependent on collective mobilisation of the population in support of the struggle - the sea in which the guerrilla swims to quote Mao. Guerrilla warfare is mostly armed propaganda: its main objective is not the military defeat of the occupying power but forcing it to pay so high a price that political support at home (and internationally) ebbs away and it is forced to leave. The Resistance must therefore carefully calculate
the cffects of its actions on this audience and on its own population. Killing Israeli civilians has not so lar led to a mass movement demanding Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories in the same way that IRA bombs in English pubs did not lead to a big withdrawal movement here. So the case against such attacks is not based on liberal humanism. TV images of civilian deaths on either side can be uscful tools in the battle for 'hearts and minds" and have devastating military consequences, as the IRA often found after actions that went wrong. In fact, the political results of armed actions are usually more important than their military consequences. Everybody on the lefi should unconditional should certainly not join in the the bourgeois media but reserve the right in criticise, in 'uncritical' and not mean appropriate forums, any actions that undermine the struggle. This is especially important because of Finals may tone is me at targeting of nightclubs: Israelis dance, celebrate The summer issue includes Fourtational: 25% discount. Manchester M12 5DW, UK November Ist 2003 International Viewpoint Monthly review of news and analysis from the Fourth International the documents of 15th World Congress 10 issues by airmail only £30 (UK). First time subscribers £22.50 - For all non-UK subscription rates contact: [email protected] Cheques made payable to International Veiwpoint PO Box 112, Debate issue__002 winter, 2004 Socialist_Outlook their imitation of US consumer society.... The Left should also distance itself from the kind of sermonising Puritanism beloved of imans, rabbis and priests of every Page_31