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margaret45678's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I learned of Eqbal Ahmad from Khalidi's The Hundred Years' War on Palestine. I would certainly like to read more of his work - I'm not sure these seemingly off-the-cuff interviews fully represent his thought. However, they were very interesting and quite inspiring, though I worry that the world has changed too much for Ahmad's flexible, creative, nonviolent positions to be widely accepted or adopted.
I can see why his position on western/US intervention has been criticized as inconsistent, though I think I might be biased by interpreting his comments through a 2020s lens. At one point, he criticizes US feminists for not drawing attention to atrocities perpetrated against Bosnian women. I feel like in more recent years we have seen western feminism (and LGBTQ+ rights) mobilized as hawkish, Islamaphobic talking points (pink/purple/rainbow-washing, homonationalism), so I'm inclined to be sort of cynical about how this would have played out, but of course the perspective of someone in the late '90s would not be the same.
I can see why his position on western/US intervention has been criticized as inconsistent, though I think I might be biased by interpreting his comments through a 2020s lens. At one point, he criticizes US feminists for not drawing attention to atrocities perpetrated against Bosnian women. I feel like in more recent years we have seen western feminism (and LGBTQ+ rights) mobilized as hawkish, Islamaphobic talking points (pink/purple/rainbow-washing, homonationalism), so I'm inclined to be sort of cynical about how this would have played out, but of course the perspective of someone in the late '90s would not be the same.
zachcarter's review against another edition
3.0
Eqbal Ahmad's grasp on geopolitics is something of a marvel. These interviews really were like spinning a globe and stopping it with your finger and asking him to analyze the forces at play. That said, I found a handful of his analyses sloppy - he equates Hitler to Stalin, calls the Soviet Union "one of the most defective formations" in all human history and then goes on to defend social democrats as a positive force, and really undervalues the incredible gains made by both socialist revolution and national liberation movements around the world. In many ways, he should be placed in the same category as Noam Chomsky - from whom I've learned a tremendous amount - in that their immense contribution to the field of anti-imperialism is at its best when it is aimed at the Western imperial powers.
rmphyllis's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Very informative, covering numerous event in recent decades and summarising them well enough that even a newcomer to political commentary - such as myself - can understand what Eqbal Ahmed is referring to.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Antisemitism, War, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation
Minor: Rape
sanafarooqui's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
dansbooks's review
4.0
Times like these make me all the more sorry for Eqbal's passing years ago - but his voice is very much alive in this collection of excerpts from David Barsamian's taped interviews. Some remarkable insights here, all still very relevant.
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