In todays Observer Nick Cohen wrote:
“Last thursday, I chaired the official launch meeting for the Euston Manifesto, which I played a tiny part in writing. The Euston what? Come now, surely you must have heard of it. There have been 300,000 mentions of it on the internet and it has provoked rave reviews and splenetic denunciations in the mainstream press. If you don't believe me, type 'Euston Manifesto' into Google and see if your computer can cope with the workload.
“Yet its success is puzzling. Academics, journalists and bloggers, who met in a pub in Euston, produced it and, at first glance, their work seems nothing more than a straightforward restatement of obvious leftish values. You should not allow cultural relativists to persuade you that brown-skinned women should not enjoy the same rights as white-skinned women, for instance. There should be no excuses made for fascistic religious movements and totalitarian states.
“Yet you only have to look at the Liberal Democrats, read the liberal press or turn on the Today programme to realise that these values are no longer obvious.
“It is not at all clear that modern, middle-class, liberal-leftists are either liberal or left wing in the old senses of the words, although they will always be middle class to their bones. Many of them are becoming little Englanders, all for human rights and democracy at home but not abroad.
“I guess this is why an obscure manifesto has created such a fuss, not only in Britain, but in the United States and Europe. Many people have had an uneasy feeling that the mainstream liberal-left is going badly wrong. The manifesto explains why and, in doing so, puts its finger on a very raw nerve.”
I must admit I often find Nick Cohen’s column a bit irritating but on this point I feel he hits a spot. Although I certainly consider myself to be on the Left I find myself increasingly at odds with much of the intolerance, cultural relativism and anti-Semitism I see spouted by my fellow travellers.
Although I have some reservations about the Euston Manifesto - I certainly did not support the war in Iraq (although and I appreciate it may show a degree of hypocrisy I am very glad to see the end of Saddam’s vile regime) – but I found there is a lot to support and I was therefore happy to sign. Time will tell if it will have any impact but if it goes some way to taking the left/liberal agenda from the totalitarian apologists then it cannot be a bad thing
11 comments:
I'll join you in that sentiment...
Nick Cohen is a complete arrogant prat, what the hell does he know about core Labour vales anyway?
Sounds as though someone is being dragged kicking and screaming into the moderate middle. I firmly believe that regardless of political affiliations your conscience should always be your guide and help you decide which course to venture upon.
Great, now I sound like Jiminy Cricket.
Hi Crowsdell I apprecaite what you say. Like the chanpioing of Ayaan Ali Hirsi it is essential that we do not get co-opted by the Neocon right. .
The idea that we do not criticise, say, Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo is not right and must be condemned. If we do not do so then we may find ourselves on the slippery slope to tyranny.
The Euston Manifesto makes it clear that there is no room to diminish such acts even if the acts of other nations may be far worse:
"The violation of basic human rights standards at Abu Ghraib, at Guantanamo, and by the practice of "rendition", must be roundly condemned for what it is"
Seriously, if I believed that Euston did want to give the West the easy ride you fear I would not have touched it with a bargepole of any length
Anonymous, arrogant and irritiating he may be at times but what do any of us know about core labour values? I am sure we would disagree over what they constitute ourselves
Ah elasticwaistbandlady I remain formly on the left on many issues but you are quite right to say that one's conscience must be one's guide.
My own conscience screams that we seek
non violent solutions to the issues we face although I do not oppose self defence. I may be a dying breed but I loathe the bigotries I see all too often among my fellow travellers on the Left
On this Memorial Day I would like to invite you, on behalf of everyone who has lost a family member to war, to take your prowar Euston Manifesto and shove it right up your ass.
You're welcome.
“On this Memorial Day I would like to invite you, on behalf of everyone who has lost a family member to war, to take your prowar Euston Manifesto and shove it right up your ass.
What, I got that same exact comment on my blog today! And I thought I was special…
Hmm Roland someone has time on his hands!
Thanks crowsdell, that is much appreciated! Yours is very interesting too
I found the death penalty number crunching article on Harry's Place to be rather disingenuous: Even though the US doesn't execute people for being gay it does execute. That for me is the alpha and omega and criticism of the USA for continuing to undertake judicial murder is quite correct.
In addition what has happened at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib are to be roundly condemned for being utterly unacceptable in a civilised society. Again, criticism of the USA on this point is utterly acceptable.
There is still a matter of equivalence though: bad as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo (or to add another disgraceful event, our treatment of the Chagossians) are they do not come close to the scale of abuse commited by those I see and hear lionised by our comrades on the left. Those who decry US and UK human rights abuses must also be prepared to do the same when it comes to nations they support.
That said, when those of us that support Euston point out the beam in our opponents eyes we must not ignore the mote in our own ones lest if become a beam itself.
Signing The Manifesto does not mean that one automatically becomes an apologist for the USA and I too have concerns with the way both bloggers have presented their subjects. Perhaps the Manifesto should make it clearer that it does not exist to give the US or the UK a get out of jail free card!
Euston Shmeuston, what drivel.
Have we got it right?
See the Anatomy of New Labour at www.1820.org.uk
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