Unholy Alliance

For the last week I have been receiving some much needed rest at the coast. Thus my recent blogging dearth. The time out did however give me a chance to catch up on some of my reading.

Last year for my birthday, one of my friends misguidedly gave me Michael Moore’s latest anti-American rant as a present. I immediately swapped it for David Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, which in the end turned out to be a rather agreeable gift.

David Horowitz underwent a remarkable political transformation. From being a prominent member of the New Left in the 1960s, Horowitz later rejected Marxism and is now a leading conservative intellectual.

In Unholy Alliance, Horowitz exposes the bizarre love affair between the far Left and Islamic Fundamentalism. On the surface this relationship seems absurd for radical Islam represents the antithesis of a progressive ideology. Islamists oppose the separation between church/mosque and state, abhor gays, oppress women, discriminate against non-Muslim minorities and relish in the use of the death penalty (particularly beheadings). So why would any self-respecting Leftist ever throw their lot in with these guys?

Horowitz convincingly argues that the far Left’s hatred of the ‘capitalist’ West is at the heart of the answer. The Left has undergone an interesting mutation over the last century. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union they supported the violent overthrow of the capitalist system and its replacement with a socialist utopia. But after the horrors of the Soviet Union’s proletariat ‘paradise’ were exposed, many Leftists were forced to discard the second part of their agenda. Thus all that has remained is a nihilist ideology hell bent on the destruction of the West.

Modern Left-wing radicals do not concern themselves with the morality of the means only of the end result. Thus Leftists unquestioningly support ultra conservative Islamic extremist so long as their goal is the annihilation of the West. The Lefts romance with Cuba’s long time dictator Fidel Castro is another example of this phenomenon. The exponential rise of the cult of Chavez is perhaps the most recent illustration of Leftists blind support for anything or anyone anti-American.

While many on the Left have denounced President Bush for his use of phrases such as ‘axis of Evil’ for being child-like and simplistic, their world view is equally if not more one-dimensional. They see America as the ‘great Satan’ and anyone who opposes it, no matter how abhorrent, as righteous. This sentiment is encapsulated by Nicholas De Genova, a Colombia university professor who openly called for a million Mogadishus and America’s defeat in the war on terror, saying that ‘a world in which there is peace and justice is a world where the US would have no place.’

Horowitz in detail examines how this nihilist anti-Western ideology has infused many of the different factions within the Left-wing camp. He exposes its influence on the anti-War movement, the pro-Palestinian lobby, academia and even mainstream elements with the Democratic Party.

Horowitz argues convincingly that there are now two Americas: an America that embraces its heritage and purpose (to promote liberty) and an America that has seceded from both. As Horowitz so succinctly puts it

The secessionists are persuaded that America is the adversary of what is decent and good in the world, that its heritage is one of inequality and injustice, and that its purpose is expressed in an arrogant will to dominate and oppress…. Consequently, the secessionists want to make a separate peace with America’s enemies, even in the midst of a War on Terror… In conducting their internal war against America’s war on terror, they reveal a loathing—which is really a self-loathing—for their country and its citizens.

Winning this global struggle against radical Islam will require more than just crushing Al Qaeda and spreading democracy in the Middle East. The insurgent element of the Left that wishes to overthrow Western civilization from within also needs to be defeated.

Comments

[Trevor]

Hope your friend doesn't read your blog!

[Darren]

Well, there's nothing like a hint like this to ensure they make a better gift choice next time round...

Btw, welcome back Mike.

[Mike]

She is a big time liberal. But more of the popularist variety. As a rule we don’t discuss politics. She gets too upset about my positions.

She was in America on holiday during the presidential election campaign and phoned me from the Democratic convention. She bought me a whole bunch of anti-Bush badges. I think she hopes it might reform me.

[Steve]

Anti Bush badges and a Moore book. Thats just too funny.

[Mike]

And the badges weren’t even clever. They say something like 'Bush for 1 time president like his father'. No wander the Democrats didn’t win.

[Gary]

Please take a few minutes to read my review of Unholy Alliance.

http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/viii/190120063

[Steve]

Great review...

[Mike]

Ya great review Gary. You conclusively summarized all his points.

He has been totally demonised on the left for it. Even had a pie thrown at him at some college campus.

[Gary]

Just like Alan Dershowitz was demonized for 'The Case For Israel'
On a university campus he was surrounded by a threatening group of leftists and Moslems (the two go toghether these days like mould and slime) shouting slogans comparing Dershowitz to Hitler and Goebbels.