Le Flâneur

I can now proudly say that I am a signatory of the Euston Manifesto. Having been aware of it for about a year, and having spent a great deal of time over the last year arguing and rehearsing some of it’s central points, I finally decided to sign. This decision has been helped along greatly by what I’ve been reading in 2007, but also lately by Joe introducing me to Little Atoms and all the great interview downloads on the site. Little Atoms has been a revelation in reassuring me that I’m not alone in my views.

The pro-intervention left have been poorly represented in the mainstream liberal media (so a common refrain of signatories of the Euston Manifesto is what a relief it is to be connected to others of a similar position via the wonders of the Internet). Lots of factors have contributed to this situation but I especially feel that post-modernism’s challenge to enlightenment values is somehow at the heart of this.

Some of the creators of the manifesto opposed the war in Iraq and this is clearly written into it as a valid position to hold. As Norman Geras said at the Launch: “Reasonable people can reasonably disagree”. But both sides of that debate are united in a disillusionment with the state of the left, with its marginal far-left factions, but perhaps more importantly with the left’s representatives within the liberal establishment. The massive schism created by the 9 11 terrorist attacks and the end of the cold war has thrown the left into a crisis. The Euston Manifesto is an attempt to formulate a progressive program that is true to the left’s best historical values.

This entry was posted by Chris on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 9:51 am and is filed under politics.