This unexpectedness ...
Bahrain is here also a very instructive example.
Just to add a few more anecdotes.
Recently one museum invited me to Qatar.
You must see these heavenly consumer countries.
Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi.
I am Marxist enough to have asked them
where are those who actually work.
I found some leftists who took me around Qatar.
You must leave the city and go to "Industrial Zone",
which is in essence a concentration camp
for workers who live as slaves.
The don't have a passport, their wage
is $ 150 per month without meals.
But, they have a problem. They work during
the week. Friday, their Sunday, is the day off.
How to prevent them from going into
the city and mix in the shopping malls.
Ah! They found a nice civilized solution.
Seemingly unconnected.
They realised that family is
in crisis nowadays.
And to help family they declared
Friday as family day.
The rule was that men without women
and children may not go to the stores.
Of course, workers don't have families,
it isn't allowed.
Under the pretext of saving families
they solved their problem.
This is literally ... slavery.
OK, half-slavery.
Voluntary four-year slavery.
Let's go on. Another lesson is also
extremely important.
We must reject all those flowery phrases
which we liked so much. That "understanding".
Even the Greeks know it. Recently
I've been to Greece to support hunger strikers.
Someone said to me privately, a communist,
"You know, but democracy is just not for everyone."
If a Greek says "not for everyone",
he means the Turks.
How we all lived in this ...
And now we see the secular political will,
which we thought was our privilege,
egalitarian and so on,
being extremely alive there.
It is here where we must remember from history.
Just to finish with a few
so-called deep thoughts.
Recall Afghanistan. We are old enough
to remember what Afghanistan was 40 years ago.
Enlightened, relatively secular
monarchy
with a pro-western king
who pushed for development.
With a very powerful ...
I'm not praising them, they are doomed ...
... autochthonous communist party,
which was powerful enough to make a coup.
Beside this, religiously extremely
tolerant.
According to some estimates,
Afghanistan was 40 years ago
religiously the most tolerant
country in the Middle East.
Who is on third place? Herat?
After Kandahar.
There they had a long tradition of
joint rites between Buddhists and others ...
But then it began. Communist coup,
it doesn't go well, Russians intervene.
To screw the Russians, Americans
organise their agents.
You know their agents.
Osama bin Laden and so on ...
No, no! You will discover here
great errors on our side.
For example. And I didn't find this in
some leftist magazine, but in New York Times.
Do you know that a little more than 10 year ago
Israel financed Hamas?
- Just a little. - Yes. But do you know why?
They had the fierce ... divide and conquer.
They wanted to weaken Arafat
at all costs.
To finish quickly. How did Afghanistan become
a symbol of backwardness, of degraded women?
There is no tradition here.
This was a country
which was by our Eurocentric standards
relatively open.
As a result of involvement in the
global capitalist process.
About America... What is it in today's global
capitalism that stimulates fundamentalism?
American Afghanistan has a name.
It is called Kansas.
You know Thomas Frank's book,
What's the matter with Kansas?
Where he faces with an enigma. 30, 40 years ago,
Kansas had the most progressive tradition in USA.
150 years ago, John Braun.
Against slavery, support of Negros.
Today Kansas is the most
bible-backed state.
This paradox, how the left emancipatory
energy went into religious fundamentalism.
And here is Walter Benjamin's
thought topical.
He said that behind every fascism,
there is a failed revolution.
Radical Right always takes the place
of the Left.
For me, the true key to this crisis is
the question, "Where is the secular Left?"
It was strong in the 50', 60'.
Here is a poetic paradox.
Even Saddam was the last sprout
of this secular line.
Only at the end, I think, he began
manipulating with Islam.
He was, basically, a secularly patriotic
dictator. Just to finish.
Israel. Here I am especially sad. Why?
I have contacts there; and in the West Bank.
What is happening there is such a tragedy.
What is so depressive in Wiki-leaks, Palestinian papers?
There you see how Palestinians were
willing to ease off.
Why is this so horrific for me?
A few years ago I was in Israel,
when there was much bombing.
All my liberal Israeli friends were saying,
"We admit it. It is unjust. We must talk."
"But at least stop throwing bombs.
We can't talk this way."
If we exclude Gaza, bombing did stop.
And what is the lesson?
Palestinians are loosing even more.
This is so sad. They gave Palestinians
the best possible argument for terror.
All my friends are worried about what
is happening in Israel.
I've written an article for Le Mond about
sexual relationships there. Don't laugh.
Young people are normal. Young Israelis
and Palestinians have sexual contacts.
An ultra paranoia has started.
Because it is viewed as Palestinian terror
when Palestinians seduce innocent
young Israeli girls.
By the way, this is a commendation.
As far as I know them,
an innocent young Israeli girl
is like woody iron.
You don't know how ...
Our Slovene nationalists can learn from them.
They have special phone numbers
which you can call if you think your daughter
is in contact with a Palestinian. Guards will
pick her up and take her to the psychiatric ward,
because this is considered an illness.
And so on and so forth ...
Not to mention ... What is continuously
happening in the West Bank?
My source is again NY Times.
Constant terror from ...
Fine, I won't say from the settlers.
But is supported by the government. Horrific.
They are poisoning their water,
setting trees on fire, burning crop, and so on.
If we are concerned about Israel, then
Israel should change it's sharp policy,
and should be pleased with
these events.
Isn't it clear that any anti-Semitism
in the Middle East was strictly connected with
autocratic regimes that emphasize
Israeli Zionism to gain legitimacy.
And if you in any way resist,
you are an agent of Zionists.
Gaddafi is saying this now.
Mubarak's policemen did too.
I think the affirmation of these forces
which have now exploded is the only
serious grand opportunity
to break this anti-Semitic obsession.
To really finish ... with two more
points. What will happen now?
Firstly. For me the key is the Left.
The rise of the secular Left.
Without it, they will have in the end
something similar what we have in Europe.
Where the Left, in any meaningful sense,
has disappeared,
what we have is some kind of dispassionate
technocratic liberal capitalist party,
and the only serious alternative are
anti-immigration nationalists.
Second is this. We shouldn't simplify
the situation there.
Yes, it is nice, this eruption of freedom
and so on. But, I worry about "the day after".
Who will profit from this?
There are several possibilities.
One is that, as Videmsek has said,
shame he's not here ...
He thinks this has already happened.
I'm more a believer in appearances.
It doesn't matter what is happening
at the back, but at the front.
Anyway, one possibility is that
the revolution will get stolen.
He described it as the "Romanian model", where
Securitate organised a coup against Ceausescu.
Here this is not the case. But still,
that somehow the "forces of continuity"
will find its way. Second possibility is
the liberal market capitalism,
which will not function in my opinion.
Only a secular Left can save the situation.
And now really only two sentences more.
Some people in our (parliament) opposition
like to draw this parallel ... That here too
we must overthrow the "forces of continuity".
Look deeply into your heart.
A won't mention any names.
Ask yourself, is there any politician (in Slovenia),
whose name can begin with any letter ...
... for example with "J" ...
Is there a politician whose public appearances,
when he is really wrathful, remind you of
Gaddafi, of his speech two days ago?
I think there is.
Thank you very much.
