Contemplating changes that the Taliban are provoking in Pakistani society:
Pakistan has important left and secular traditions and you wonder whether the Taliban are reinvigorating them by tying religion to mindless violence and Draconian repression.
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johnpi
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johnpi
One political movement can learn from another in the Muslim world.
It is sadder to observe some of those, who were formerly from what was deemed as the liberal left in Pakistan, arguing that the Taliban should not be pushed until the Americans are out.
Such an argument is made without recalling that the partnership between the liberal left and the extreme right in Iran was at the cost of the former. The left represented by Ali Shariati didn’t realise how fast it was taken over and swallowed by its partners.
Yes, what was the name of the prison where Marji said her beloved uncle was buried in a mass unmarked grave with all the other lefties?
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aziz
a great series at Open Left by diarist dreaminonempty has been chronicling the future decline and fall of the Republican Party on the basis of demographic trends, ethnic and religious. The post on religious trends had a extensive section on how muslim voting trends, which have been much more volatile in response to policy than comparable groups like African Americans or Jewish Americans. I take these results at City of Brass and re-open an old debate about whether there is/should be a "muslim vote" and whether it would necessarily be aligned with the political Left.
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aziz
Thursday thread: Shahed’s post at Beliefnet argues that muslim-Americans’ natural political home is the Progressive Left. However, I remain skeptical that the Left will ever be more than an ally of convenience; in my experience, progressive lefties are equally likely to impose their morality (or rather, their secularism) on others as conservatives are. It’s difficult to argue for preservation of our religious values when we are marching alongside Amy Richards and her ilk. The rhetoric of the progressives is one of tolerance and inclusion, but the reality is that they are not immune to xenophobia – it was Hillary Clinton who led the charge against Dubai Ports World. And we cannot ignore the simple truth that the Left has an innate hostility to religious expression, most particularly with respect to issues of personal choice like hijab.
(I made the case against a strong alliance with the Left in more detail at City of Brass)
