Misrepresentation and imperialism S Akbar Zaidi Friday, November 08, 2013 One would expect the film to explain somewhere why the poor, defenceless, otherwise jovial, people of Waziristan are being bombed into oblivion by the mighty US empire. There is no explanation at all. Obama and the US are found guilty of such an extreme measure, but why is it that the US is targeting this region? Is the film silent about this because its makers are sympathetic to the Taliban – seeing them as freedom-fighters fighting the great Satan Amrika, in their anti-imperialist crusade? Located in the heart of empire, in London and New York no less, some Pakistani academics and a handful of privileged, supposedly, leftist students from Pakistan, have taken it upon themselves to malign the politics of some Pakistani academics, feminists and activists, on the allegation that this politics is ‘pro-imperialist’. This claim made by these cyber activists sitting in comfort in the bosom of the west, rests on their false and limited understanding about the larger politics of drones in Pakistan, about Islam in Pakistan, and perhaps most seriously, a fact which undermines their claim to belonging to a politics of the left, of completely misunderstanding the basis of imperialism in the modern age. On all three issues – drones, Pakistani Islam and imperialism – these individuals reveal how disconnected they are with Pakistan, literally in terms of location, as well as in terms of understanding. In their writings, the simplicity of their arguments rests on the position one takes regarding drone attacks – are you for them or against them? No nuance here, only black or white. If one does not out rightly condemn drone attacks, one is considered ‘pro-imperialist’ and one’s credentials on being a good anti-imperialist – or progressive engaged with the daily oppression of class, state and imperialistic forces – rests simply on how one answers that question. thenews.pk/Todays-News-9-212997-Misrepresentation-and-imperialism
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 04:56:31 +0000
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