15.11.2001

Taliban apologists

On Saturday November 10, acting under the name of Dundee University Coalition for Justice not War, the Socialist Workers Platform held an afternoon teach-in on the imperialist war on Afghanistan. Around 45 people attended from various organisations: a few others from the Scottish Socialist Party; the rest from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, together with individuals from Amnesty International, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and non-aligned students.

SWP comrade Carlo Morrelli opened the first discussion on ?Why we oppose the war?. He cited the reasons for the American and British intervention as being both economic (to secure oil supplies) and ?cultural? - the United States needed to assert its power over the rest of the world. While making several good points regarding the oppressive role US imperialism plays, the comrade forgot to mention the oppressive role of the Taliban and other such regimes. Socialism was mentioned briefly at the end of his contribution, but comrade Morrelli was careful not to give it too much prominence so as not to offend the liberal CND types.

The second section was on the question of Palestine. This was introduced by professor Mono Chatterji and Dr Histiam Ghanayem, who spoke of the history of the Palestinian struggle and of the continuing political and economic disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people.

The third section looked at the issue of the media and its power. Introducing the session was Ken Ferguson from the Scottish executive of the National Union of Journalists (speaking in a personal capacity). His contribution was probably the most interesting. He looked at the role of the media vis-?-vis the state and the political interests of those who control the media. He described how journalists have to keep their noses clean if they want access to government information and key stories.

Comrade Ferguson discussed the BBC?s editorial policy of keeping certain drama, comedy, music, etc under review over the period of the war and its decision not to show close-ups of civilian casualties in order that they are depersonalised. His contribution examined self-censorship on the part of media workers as well as hidden state censorship.

The fourth and final session was a debate entitled ?Do women have anything to gain from the war?? SSP executive member Catriona Grant was due to open the session but failed to show up. Instead Sophia McLeod stepped in and gave a very brief opening. The title was a little strange, since clearly nobody was going to argue in this forum that women (or men, for that matter) would benefit from the imperialist assault on Afghanistan. However, the debate, which took place before the fall of Kabul, was really about the treatment of women by the Taliban. Almost all those who spoke condemned it - with the exception of the SWP. One  comrade seemed to be saying that the US and Britain were just as bad, if not worse, when it came to their treatment of women. It was not good enough to say that there is rape in Afghanistan without looking at rape in the west. And did you know that George Bush was anti-abortion?

It is time the SWP stopped looking at this war as though it was a football match. Just because you are for the defeat of one side it does not follow that you have to be for the victory of the other - let alone act as an apologist for it.

Sarah McDonald