An Algerian Intellectual on Once-‘Arab Leftist Radicals’!

 

Were I to sum up Amin Zaoui’s position on the Arab leftist intellectuals, who nowadays are considered part of the mumanah alliance — that is, Arab intellectuals who support the positions of Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen — a word of caution about the terminology used must be clarified: a distinction exists between today’s leftists and those of the 1960s, 1970s, and even part of the 1980s. Today’s leftists tend to be vulgar and lack the theoretical sophistication of their previous iterations. These critiques by Amin Zaoui, an Algerian novelist and essayist whose commentaries appear weekly in Independent Arabia, analyze the two mumanah generations, particularly emphasizing the contemporary generation of leftists who grew up in the new millennium and its current trends.

 

The two articles in reference appeared in Independent Arabia (“The Tragedy of the Arab Left Intellectuals,” November 23, 2023 and “The Hostility of Intellectuals Towards Each Other,” September 14, 2023). His criticisms can be easily categorized within neoconservative traditions that gained popularity during the second Bush administration and the Iraq War. While the earlier generation of Arab leftist intellectuals (whose intellectual caliber surpasses today’s intellectuals despite undergoing generational differences), the disparity between then and now is stark; current mumanah discourse is marked by ideological weakness, with leftist intellectuals itching to stamp their seals of approval on Hezbollah and allies’ policies in Lebanon and elsewhere. 

 

Zaoui exposes the Arab leftist intellectual as caught between two opposing forces: the political dictatorial authority and the religious one, represented by the Faqih. Irrespective of which one dominates, both are the antithesis of the intellectual Zaoui has in mind: the democratic-oriented intellectual, secular and tolerant of the other.