The Euston Manifesto

Excerpt: The Euston Manifesto, a decidedly bland declaration by self-confessed “left-liberals� [explained by Norm Geras and Nick Cohen here], has now been published on behalf of some of the usual suspects. But among the blandishments you will search in vain for references to “civil liberty�, and you might be surprised when you realise that despite explicitly stating that they ...
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Comments

On 14 April 2006 - 7:57pm, Peter McGrath (not verified) wrote:

Laudable stuff, but there is someting about attempts to realign progressive politics that gets the writers' verbosity glands going.


On 16 April 2006 - 7:43pm, Anonymous (not verified) wrote:

“…there is no mention of the destruction of democratic safeguards on executive power and the creation of the instruments of a surveillance state here in the UK.�

Troubling certainly, but do you honestly equate the short term, reactionary polices of democratically elected governments as being equally threatening and unacceptable as the inhuman, destructive and uncountable actions of undemocratic regimes across the world?

To be liberal (and I should confess to being of the “classic� variety) means you have to be prepare to stand up for political liberalism and at the same time stand against tyranny and the circumvention of individual freedom… you simply cant be a “liberal� and an apologist for undemocratic tyranny who turns a blind eye to the denial of other human’s liberty in “distant lands�.


On 17 April 2006 - 9:33am, Rob Knight wrote:

I think that was exactly Simon's point. You can't stand up for liberty abroad whilst allowing it to be eroded at home.


On 17 April 2006 - 7:51pm, Anonymous (not verified) wrote:

Absolutely! But I fear far too many on the left in the UK see the threats to liberty at home and don’t have any appetite to take on the enemies of liberty abroad … But I totally agree that “liberal interventionism� abroad has to be married to a stalwart defence of historic civil liberties at home, something which this government and, all be it to a lesser extent, the Bush Administration have failed to do…. I think the word I’m looking for is consistency lol!


On 18 April 2006 - 3:31pm, Simon Mollan wrote:

Anonymous - if you check what I have to say about Iran here I hope you will see that I am far from being an apologist for totalitarianism.


On 18 April 2006 - 4:41pm, Wallyxab (not verified) wrote:

The drivel that this 'manifesto' spawned on the new Graun 'comment is free..... and frequently ill thought out' website was quite something else. No sensible points made unlike Simon's initial comment.

But the call for a more domestic focus is surely appropriate on several grounds: 1) it has more immediate relevance for the population of the UK and therefore 2) it is more likely to be acted on as New Labour can be voted against at local/ national elections. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is not accountable to UK residents.

Please note that is not a call to ignore overseas illiberalism...