Matt Zeitlin: Impetuous Young Whippersnapper

A constant refrain of the Eustonite Left is that, despite the mistake the invasion initailly was, we’re obligated to stay in Iraq because otherwise, Iraqi trade unionists would be slaughtered by religious fascists. Although, on face, it’s a highly admirable position reminiscent of the Spanish Civil War or some other great, principled stand in left-wing history, it’s also a highly odd position to take. After all, there are a huge number of factors and costs involved in the war besides the well-being of trade unionists, and despite their overall goodness, it makes little sense to elevate their interests above all others.

It’s also representative of the somewhat myopic view that many British Eustonites take about Iraq. After all, it’s in England where the soi-disant anti-totalitarian left is the strongest and people like Nick Cohen or Oliver Kamm think that the Iraq War is the most important liberationist struggle of our time. I’d chalk this up to two things. In England, much of the “mainstream” left – or at least the type that has a strong voice in the public sphere – is much more anti-American, anti-West, soft-on-Islamism etc than anything comparable in the United States. And so Nick Cohen et al actually have a coherent, strongly represented worldview to argue against. But it’s also impossible to ignore the fact that England doesn’t bear the great costs of the Iraq War. It’s not England that’s spending 1 trillion dollars on the war, that’s lost 4,000 men and women, that’s had its international reputation trashed, in short, advocating for continued war carries considerably fewer costs across the pond.

But what’s even odder about the almost-deontological stance that Eustonites take with respect to trade unions and the war is that it isn’t at all clear that Iraqi unions support the occupation. This Sami Ramadani piece references some trade union opposition to the occupation, and this May Day declaration against the occupation by trade unionists seems to indicate that, at the very least, it’s hardly a unanimous opinion among the Iraqi labor movement that the occupation is right and just.

Via Spackerman