Reddit reviews What's Left?: How the Left Lost its Way

I think it's more like a neoconservative sub in the sense that neoconservatism, when it's really effective, is to present right-wing or far-right positions as the true "left" position. A lot of the people there would've been big Christopher Hitchens fans during the Iraq War and so on, and they do still think very highly of him. I've also seen the "Euston Manifesto" get shared around there which is an old neocon document from the mid-2000s. Basically the argument was that the parts of the left that opposed the war had betrayed its principles and fallen into "moral relativism" and all these right-wing tropes. Today this kind of tendency also rewords the main right-wing positions of the time (cracking immigrants over the head with clubs, transphobia, etc.) as left-wing positions.

If anyone here is British they might be familiar with Nick Cohen. It's like "I'm on the left guys really but why is the left apologizing for MILITANT ISLAM???" Stupidpol is Nick Cohen-esque:

https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Left-How-Lost-its/dp/0007229704

He basically makes his money from critiquing the left. He wrote this book back in 2007 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Left-Lost-Liberals-Their/dp/0007229704


Literally "what happened to the left", and hes been cashing those "i don't like the left" checks for like 10 years at this point.


That said, hes not wrong, corbyn needs to go

Maajid on Twitter today acknowledged that, although he coined the term, Nick Cohen was really the grandfather of the concept. He published a book on the subject in 2007 called What's Left.

>Unless you can qualify this statement with an actual source of information it is only an opinion.

I did mention that there's an entire book of source. Don't bother with the Amazon reviews, just read it. Get it out of the library if you don't want to pay money.

He was behind this in the early 2000s when he thought that the Left was becoming toxic, especially after Iraq.

http://eustonmanifesto.org/the-euston-manifesto/

Essentially a manifesto that says universal values should be upheld instead of relative oppressor/victim politics and the politics of anti-imperialism.

He also wrote the book 'What's left'.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Left-Lost-Liberals-Their/dp/0007229704

This book was a critique of modern double standards in leftists which excuse Islamists, horrible dictatorships and other nasties in the name of anti-imperialism. His principle is that someone like Putin should be opposed, and not supported because he is an enemy of the USA. Same with people like Chavez, Iran, Hamas, Hesbollah and so on.

A few months ago he made a 2 minute video in a spectator column on why he 'left the left'. Critizing Corbyn, though mostly his politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQQw5T2T94M

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/why-ive-finally-given-up-on-the-left/

I keep coming back to Nick Cohen's What's Left when these things crop up. Some on the left have a big blind spot when it comes to the behaviour of others on the left, preferring to believe that their innately moral nature means that any reports of misdeeds must surely be propaganda of the right.

Plenty on the left supported Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq prior to 1991, as he was seen to be a pan-Arab socialist standing up to American neocolonialism. The fact that he massacred tens of thousands of Kurds was merely incidental.

Corbyn has banged on and on about how great Venezuela is, when it's wildly corrupt, funds FARC terrorism, and is now pretty close to becoming a totally failed petro-dictatorship.

This is just another example.

For What's Left?

I know the author splits opinions, but Nick Cohen's book What's Left? really is an excellent deconstruction of the Corbyn-style left in Britain. It's never been more relevant than now, I read it recently and it's spot on in many of it's arguments and insights.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Whats-Left-How-Lost-its-Liberals-Their/0007229704

British author and journalist Nick Cohen wrote about this in 2007 in his book What's Left?: How the Left Lost its Way: How Liberals Lost Their Way Where he discusses this unholy alliance came to be of the left and the Islamist far right.

The left have become so rabidly anti-US/West that they have adopted the idea of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend". They have abandoned their core principles and will make bedfellows with those that are antithetical to their world view and goals. This is how you have British Labour protesters marching shouting "We are all Hamas" or have an ostensibly progressive organization to combat fascism named Unite Against Fascism have an Islamist Fascist serving on the board...

A principled left would be supporting Arab intellectuals, journalists, authors, professors, feminists, trade unionists, Marxists, etc. Instead we have the left supporting the far right Islamist movements in these parts of the world i.e. Hamas, Hizbollah, etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Whats-Left-How-Lost-its-Liberals-Their/0007229704

"From the much-loved, witty and excoriating voice of journalist Nick Cohen, a powerful and irreverent dissection of the agonies, idiocies and compromises of mainstream liberal thought.

Nick Cohen comes from the Left. While growing up, his mother would search the supermarket shelves for politically reputable citrus fruit and despair. When, at the age of 13, he found out that his kind and thoughtful English teacher voted Conservative, he nearly fell off his chair: 'To be good, you had to be on the Left.'

Today he's no less confused. When he looks around him, in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, he sees a community of Left-leaning liberals standing on their heads. Why is it that apologies for a militant Islam that stands for everything the liberal-Left is against come from a section of the Left? After the American and British wars in Bosnia and Kosovo against Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansers, why were men and women of the Left denying the existence of Serb concentration camps? Why is Palestine a cause for the liberal-Left, but not, for instance, China, the Sudan, Zimbabwe or North Korea? Why can't those who say they support the Palestinian cause tell you what type of Palestine they would like to see? After the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington why were you as likely to read that a sinister conspiracy of Jews controlled American or British foreign policy in a liberal literary journal as in a neo-Nazi rag? It's easy to know what the Left is fighting against – the evils of Bush and corporations – but what and, more to the point, who are they fighting for?

As he tours the follies of the Left, Nick Cohen asks us to reconsider what it means to be liberal in this confused and topsy-turvy time. With the angry satire of Swift, he reclaims the values of democracy and solidarity that united the movement against fascism, and asks: What's Left?"

> It is bad for the world. The US is fucking amazing, Europe is spineless and China doesn't give a fuck.

True

> Unfortunately, I think the US' golden age is over, and the world doesn't know what its got, until its gone.

You might be right, but I think this is a matter of popular perception. The US golden age as far as the US being loved does seem to be waning. As far as it's influence and power is concerned I think it's still strong. Much of the anti-Americanism (and anti-westernism) in the world is due to conspiracy theories but also partly to blame on leftists and I am a leftist/liberal just so you know.

This anti-NATO protest in Chicago is one example of what I mean.

I recommend watching this interview with the British journalist Nick Cohen:
Part 1 & Part 2 on his book "What's Left: How the Left Lost its Way"

At least Tony Blair doesn't have the western liberal guilt that many have...

Another part to the perception of western decline not just American is the rise of other big economies like China, India and Brazil.
Osama Bin Laden even said something like "we have to bleed the Americans". GW Bush's war strategy was forceful and huge in order to show American power but it was too expensive and hurt the economy. Exactly what Bin Laden wanted.

Obama is also part of this perception because of the way he talks. He wants to end American exceptionalism, which sounds like a fair thing to do but is ultimately a dangerous thing. He doesn't seem to me to believe that America is a leader in the world anymore.

> Politics still is a dirty game, and it has to be. The US and the UK can easily be called terrorists. They have done horrible things, and it sounds Machiavellian, but there are definitely times when the ends justifies the means, if you want rapid, more reliable results.

I agree with what you say here but I don't agree that the US and the UK can easily be called terrorists. They do not meet the definition of being terrorist states or state sponsors of terrorism. I don't think you can make that equivalence.

> That is the problem with democracy.

I agree. Another problem with democracy is the belief that if you give people free elections that they will choose wisely. Another problem is people misunderstanding democracy and believing it means majority rule. Yet another problem is trying to spread democracy without spreading secularism. The United States forced a constitution on Japan after WW2 and the Japanese people have barely changed it since and look how great their country is. So that proves you are right when you imply that an iron fist has to be used sometimes. I don't think that a kind and reasonable dictator is such a bad thing.

> And I liked Ron paul in the beginning. He was kind of adorable. But all that Gold standard/Austrian school/Mises shiz was just silly. Before you worry about a potential presidents stance on abortion, you have to look and see if he has a basic grasp of economics.

Haha yeah! He wants (i'm not sure if this is still his position) to shut down the US central bank and believes this will somehow improve the economy!

> It is illegal to serve as governor while being an atheist in more than 10-20 states. Half the country doesn't believe gays should be able to marry. They don't think prostitution or drugs should be legalized. The US has to take care of itself. It is the only civilized country without socialized healthcare. The jail situation is incredibly depressing, especially for the black population.

I don't see why a country like the US can't fix it's domestic problems while still having a strong foreign policy. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

> Your problem is that you care on an emotional level maybe.

Of course I care on an emotional level but I don't think on an emotional level.

> Being in the UK, I assume you are Indian or Pakistani?

I'm Egyptian and moved with my parents and sister to the UK when I was 4 years old.

> Not an isolationist. First you have to love yourself, before you can love others.

Agreed. I don't think your an isolationist btw.

I have to admit, I didn't put much effort into this post but I did read all of your post carefully.

>Do you not notice the stories you post dropping little hints about how David cameron would be a better leader on this or that

They aren't hints. They're clear statements of opinion. Labour are wrong they say, the Conservatives are right. You may notice other people post stories suggesting the reverse.

>And large injections of capital

So this is what? A condemnation of the stock market? Mr Robinson propping up the New Statesman? Or The Guardian denying the taxman his due?

>Its a strange mix, you have to look at the evidence not just disregard something if it doesn't fit your world view.

Good advice Spidermite. I suggest you read Liberal Fascism, and What's Left?.

Starting? It started with the SWP. As usual it's not mainstream, but it's not new either.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Left-Lost-Liberals-Their/dp/0007229704/