Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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47 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
I'm Left wondering, 31 Jan 2007
I suspect how people react to this book will depend quite a bit on where they stand politically. I have noticed on blogs and messageboards that it has enraged the Trots and Trot-lite fellow travellers in the anti-war movement. It's also had enthusisatic approval from those you might expect it from - Christoper Hitchens, John Lloyd etc. Whereas I imagine some on the Right will (wilfuly?) misread the book as "all Lefties are soft on terrorists". (Although having said that Peter Oborne wrote a very fair-minded review)
Speaking personally as a fairly moderate but anti-war Labour supporter I found myself nodding in agreement with much of his analysis of elements of the Left but a bit annoyed by some of the extrapolations he makes.
It is definitely true that much of the Left these days seems to watch what America does and then look for the reason why US policy is wrong. The same could be said about their view of Blair. It is also true that there is often an undue focus on the "causes" of terrorism, rather than simply facing up to the fact that this is an extremist movement that has no problem with killing opponents. (No-one on the Left was bothered about the "causes" of the far-Right bomber who set off bombds in Brick Lane, Soho etc).
It is also true that the tendency to side with the underdog leads many lefties to turn a blind eye to some rabid anti-semitism on the part of those they support. And the treatment of some Iraqi trade unionists who opposed pulling the US & UK troops out of their country by members of the anti-war movement is simply shameful.
However these are often failings of subgroups within the Left (often those trying to fit the current maelstrom in Iraq into a crude imperialist/anti-imperialist framework) rather than the Left as a whole. And the book seems to veer between awareness of these subdivisions and lumping everyone in together. In addition he does often read like a recent convert to his position, advocating it without nuance, and failing to spot the nuances in others' arguments. A good example of this is where he misreads (in my view) a quote from Amnesty's secretary general (p324-325). I think the context to this quote is Amnesty's interest in economic human rights, and as such I don't think it means what Nick Cohen thinks its means (that human rights don't matter to poor people).
Overall I think it is worth anyone on the Left reading this book with an open mind. It is well-written, even if it does feel a bit like a pamphlet that's been strung out for a couple of hundred pages. And it should at least make those who can be a bit objective question some of their on views and ways of thinking (so that probably leaves out the membership of Respect, SWP etc).
He's no George Orwell though!
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40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
A brave examination at what has gone wrong with the left, 24 Feb 2007
Before I start, let's make it clear where I stand. I consider myself reasonably left-wing, I am and always will be a republican (small "r"!), I consider myself a socialist and always will be, but I also consider myself a democrat (small "d"!). It has irked me over the last few years to find myself reading comment from leftist writers whom I used to respect and finding myself vehemently disagreeing with what they say. Perhaps, I thought, like the old adage goes - "I'm just getting more right wing with age". Here, in this excellent book lies the explanation and my own salvation. The fault isn't mine or that of other decent socialists who seem to be increasingly alienated by voices from the left, its the left itself that seems to have changed.
Nowhere has this divergence of my own opinions and the liberal left seem to have grown than on the challenges facing the post 9-11 world. I just cannot understand how people who supposedly believe in the rights of man and enlightenment and reason can be supportive of movements that are completely fascistic. That's what we are fighting here, whether in its form of Baathist fascism or Islamofascism. I see little to choose between them. To all the commentators in the press and amongst the chattering classes who daily slag off Tony Blair and others with the guts to stand up to fascism this should be an essential read and if they are at all self-reflective maybe it might change their outlook, though I doubt it.
The book itself is a very well written critique of the drift of the left for whom the disappointment of the lack of a proletarian revolution has made them look elsewhere for succour and support. That they have chosen to align themselves with anti-Americanism in whatever form it comes is proof of their political idiocy. Cohen writes well on the parallels between the appeasers of the 30's and the modern day appeasers of Saddam and Bin Laden. The lessons are clear, appeasement failed in the 30s and it will fail again now. The enemy have parallels as well, in the 30s it was a Germany led by an obsessive anti-semitic death cult, today it is a terrorist organisation/idea that inspires madmen. Islamofascism is as patently anti-modern, misogynistic (whatever they say), homophobic and racist as the Nazis ever were. That those on the left who apologise for them cannot see this is to all of our detriment.
This is a brave book. Cohen will undoubtedly lost friends of long-standing in publishing this. Like David Aaronovitch he will no doubt be vilified in the liberal parts of the press. However, this is a necessary book and I thank Nick Cohen for writing it, at least i know I'm not alone!
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44 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
nothing left out, 26 May 2007
The central theme of Nick Cohen's book is that the liberal left in Europe and the USA has behaved badly in its attitude towards islamism and the US led invasion of Iraq. Cohen argues that the liberal left is consumed with hatred for George Bush and the neo-conservatives to the extent that it is prepared to find common cause with a right wing, religious fundamentalist ideology which is opposed to left wing values such as democracy,toleration of dissent, respect for the rule of law and sexual equality.
In my opinion he makes a decent case, but in doing so he is also self indulgent, discursive and like all left wingers is unable to resist the opprtunity to score points against fellow left wingers he has fallen out with. The end result is a hotchpotch of a book which gives a one sided history of the the left in the 1930s,criticises the appalling grammar of left wing writers, and settles a few scores with little known leftist groups such as the Socilaist Workers Party which enjoyed a brief notoriety in the 1970's. There are other diversions too, but unlike Mr Cohen I'll try and stay on track, and say that I was disappointed by this account because it could have been so much better, and hard hitting if only he had kept his eye on the ball.
Islamism and other fundamentalist, tyranical and anti democratic ideologies are gaining strength across the globe, and Mr Cohen is correct in his view that the left is too preoccupied with criticising the system of government which allows left wing values to prosper, and is failing to confront the real enemies of democracy.
I'll give this book full marks for its good intentions, but the vital arguments are smothered by irrelevant diversions
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