Thursday 29 May 2008

New issue of Democratiya

The summer issue of Democratiya is out and as always there's plenty to recommend. Themes running through the issue include the legacy of '68 and the current state of the Left. Russell Berman's piece on the deformations of the academic Left is particularly good, and is complemented by David Hirsh's critique of the anti-Israeli academic boycott campaign. Alan Johnson's interview with Matthias Kunzel, author of Jihad and Jew Hatred, is also not to be missed. Gabriel Noel-Brahm analyses what he calls the 'post-Left', but I think I agree with Norm's misgivings about the use of this term. (Mind you, it would be useful to have an agreed descriptor for what others have variously called the roccoco left, indecent left, reactionary left, faux-cialists or poseur Marxists - i.e. those on the left who explain every new terrorist/fundamentalist outrage as a 'reaction' to western policy and see America as the main evil in the world. Any suggestions?)

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