Woolwich soldier killed (was "Did cops just shoot 2 dead in woolwich?")

[butchersapron]

Important argument to make:

Why Mehdi Hasan is half right and half wrong on foreign policy as a cause of terrorism

Uncomfortable though it might be, it is entirely conceivable the Woolwich attack was motivated by both an unwise, unsustainable and unjust foreign policy, and the beliefs predominant within minority elements of British Sunni Islam, namely Salafi-Jihadis.

 

[andysays]

Uncomfortable though it might be, it is entirely conceivable the Woolwich attack was motivated by both an unwise, unsustainable and unjust foreign policy, and the beliefs predominant within minority elements of British Sunni Islam, namely Salafi-Jihadis.

These factors are relevant, but I suggest it's also got domestic causes:

Add a dash of neo-liberal economic policies and a pinch of racist polarisation to the pot, and then stick the lid on and wait until it boils over...

 

[brogdale]

Important argument to make:

Why Mehdi Hasan is half right and half wrong on foreign policy as a cause of terrorism

That's a really useful contribution to the discussion on the fall-out from Woolwich, and good also to see a more nuanced interpretation of the left's response.

I'd be quite interested to read more of Stott's work on Salafism, particularly when that ideology is so fractured into strands that include on the one hand 'super-salafi' jihadists, and on the other those prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with the EDL at memorials to Lee Rigby.

Complex.

 

[Streathamite]

Important argument to make:

Why Mehdi Hasan is half right and half wrong on foreign policy as a cause of terrorism

That's an excellent piece, and prolly bang on the money.

 

[Ld222]

I think it goes back to your schooldays

That's plausible.

 

[treelover]

Interesting to see Paul get a piece in the Statesman, good to see wider arguments than the usual UAF/liberal ones.

 

[sihhi]

Left analysis has kind of dropped off recently but here is something (not too sure about it tho'):

http://www.tmponline.org/2013/06/10/thin-blue-crimes-on-asab

But ASAB points to the very necessary structural critique that must be levelled against the role of the British and other armed forces in the perpetration of oppression both at home and abroad: the demands that any serious claims to internationalism, to anti-fascism, and to anti-capitalism make upon us with regard to the armed forces; the solidarity that must be upheld with those they kill, dehumanize and abuse; and the necessity of identifying who has chosen to be against us.

 

[laptop]

Rigby murder 'was not preventable'

Lee Rigby killing 'could have been prevented'

Guess the sources