Desperately seeking the moral high ground. posted by Richard Seymour

Normblog will have his little snipes. Today, he compares the words of some angry trade union delegates who complain that the big four unions - in voting down a motion to withdraw troops early from Iraq - have violated their own stated policies and failed to represent the will of their members. A transparent case of contempt for union democracy, but not really surprising - after all, we wouldn't want to scupper that almighty Warwick deal, would we?

But here's the part of Norm's post that interests me:

This is Dromey speaking for solidarity, and Healey and Macedo speaking the same language of denial as much (most?) of the anti-war movement has done since turning its back on the people of Iraq.

To clarify, right-winger Dromey defended the union decision, while Healey and Macedo attacked it. Okay? Now, since Norm doesn't begin to advance an argument in defense of his latter assertion, I don't feel compelled to counter it with argument. Nevertheless, a few comments suggest themselves.

1) The "language of denial" could just as well apply to those who still insist the war on Iraq was really about overthrowing a tyrant, who still believe that the Prime Minister acted and spoke in good faith, who still believe that the occupation has anything going for it at all.

2) The calumnious assertion that much or most of the antiwar movement has "turned its back on the people of Iraq" hardly merits discussion, but it does point to something I have suggested before: the pro-war Left are absolutely desperate to retain the moral high ground. Every single other argument for the war lies in bloody ruins in Fallujah and Najaf. As most Iraqis have long since turned against the occupiers, as coalition troops commit war crimes day after day, as bodies pile up, what is left but the purity of our intent (and, following the ISG, the malignity of Saddam's)?

I repeat and underline my claim that this constant repetition of outrageous, stupid slurs on the antiwar movement is motivated by panic, because when the argument is lost, nothing remains but the moral high ground.

Fisherblog has some thoughts on this too.

Update: Some of the comments that have appeared in response to this post have been unpleasant and could be interpreted as being racist. KB has invited all kinds of shame on himself for the comments he has made. I myself believe that KB did not mean any specific harm in what he has said, but I will be deleting it. I have been very, very lax about posting until now. However, there are more than reasonable grounds for offense and, as lethargic and cold-ridden as I have been over the last few days, I haven't attended to this matter.

I wish to ask all contributors to avoid obviously baleful and offensive commentary. In most cases, I will not be inclined to delete comments, but I specifically do not wish to offend another reader (blogger or otherwise) by allowing comments that refer derogatively to their race or religion. Geras, as much as I disagree with him, has a right to be confronted on his arguments, not on his genealogy.

I ought to make it clear that the above has been prompted by this post at Normblog. Since this post is about "the moral high ground", the subsequent trajectory of debate is crushingly ironic. Let me therefore state a principle that I will be adhering to in comments policy from now on. Though I hesitate to delete comments, this blog cannot be a platform for racism, sexism, homophobia or other, similar kinds of abuse. As the content of comments boxes reflects on me, I will take an interest in making sure that, if they don't cover me in glory, they at least don't leave me drenched in ignominy. Racist and abusive comments will be deleted.

One last thing. I have written to Norm to apologise profusely for this, and explained my negligence in this case. I have also accepted much flak in the comments boxes for the lack of vigour in my response to KB, which is fair enough. I don't expect the discussion will end there, but I do hope that visitors can refrain from implying that I "condone" racism in any way. A great deal of energy has been expended at the Tomb to challenging racism, and that will continue.