I have just signed up to the Euston Manifesto. Launched to considerable fanfare in April, it is an organisation of leftist academics, journalists and activists committed to re-stating the principles of the democratic left. It is an attempt to distance themselves from the quagmire of much of what passes for left wing ‘thought’ these days, which is so often consumed with blind hatred for America, Israel and the West generally, not to mention the more insidious recent alignment with the forces of extreme Islamism which, as I have argued many times, is an abhorrent and un-natural marriage of convenience between two movements that, opposition to US and UK foreign policy aside, share no common ground whatsoever.
Amongst the Manifesto’s statement of principles are commitments to spreading democracy, refusal to apologise for tyrants, human rights for all, equality, development for freedom, opposing anti-Americanism, a two state solution for Israel and Palestine, combating racism, opposition to terror, fostering internationalism, critical openness, historical truth and freedom of ideas.
Which all sounds good to me and I like to think that much of what I write here covers similar ground.
Norman Geras and Nick Cohen were among the founding members. Other signatories include Oliver Kamm, Francis Wheen and Harry Hatchett of Harry’s Place, so I consider myself in good company. Suffice to say, George Galloway has not signed up.
You can read the manifesto for yourself here.
Centrist. Atlanticist. Dry liberal. Anti-totalitarian. Post-ideological pragmatist. Child of The Enlightenment. Toucan.
Citizen Sane 
where do you get off claiming that the left is aligned with “the forces of extreme Islamism”? this is a load of horse manure, quite frankly. while many leftists, including myself, do oppose U.S. imperialist foreign policy as well as Israeli aggression (Jews themselves balk at the aggression of Israel), this doesn’t mean we support the overthrow of western civilization. to speak on Israel, they responded to a relatively minor act of aggression by bombing the living crap out of Lebanon. no wonder Arabs hate Israel. Israel needs to return the territory it seized in the 1968 War which it started as a war for hegemony. it needs to return all the occupied lands, as the UN has unanimously agreed for years (with the exception of the U.S. and Israel), and it needs to stop taking Palestinian land through fraudulent legal means.
Where to begin with that pseudo-Socialist Worker rant?
By your alignment with Islamonazis, that is what you are unwittingly doing.
“Imperalist” does not = exlcusively America.
Insidejob – There is a significant movement of the ‘left’ in Britain called the Stop The War Coalition. They are a collective of left wing groups (Socialist Worker Party, Respect, Living Marxism) allied with a number of British Muslim groups. It is fairly well documented that a number of high-profile members of said Muslim groups hold opinions totally contradictory with the supposed goals of the left: Holocaust denial, execution of homosexuals, enslavement of women, female circumcision, to name but a few.
Which is how I came to my assertion that much of the left is aligned with forces of extreme Islamism.
By the way, I see you have a blog dedicated to proving that 9/11 was perpetrated by the US government. Oh dear.