Saturday, November 30, 2002

Correspondence between Chris Hitchens and Katha Pollitt on the motives and affiliations of those attending the recent anti-war protest in Washington D.C. Pollitt has the last word and, I think, the better point.

"As you well know, the sectarian left has had a hand in a great many noble causes, including the ones you still espouse. You told me a few years ago that you "signed everything that came across your desk" to keep Mumia Abu-Jamal from the death chamber. As you surely knew or should have known, Mumia was and is the cause c�l�bre of the Revolutionary Communist Party and its popular front organization, Refuse and Resist. Most if not all of those petitions and sign-on advertisements came from them. Did that make you their dupe, and the unwitting defender of the killers of Tiananmen Square? When you spoke at anti-Clinton rallies organized by freerepublic.com, did you care that this motley collection of racists, gun nuts, militiamen and conspiracy theorists opposed Clinton from the far, far loony right?"

No comments: