During the first two years of the war in Iraq, my neighbor sported a large banner on his balcony that read “No a la Guerra” or “No to War”. Then last January he hung a flag of the pro-Sahrawi (Algerian and Libyan backed) Polisario, in favor of Western Sahara’s independence from Morocco. And over the past few days following the recent disturbances in the region between the Polisario and the Moroccan government, he has decided to once again hang the Polisario flag.
What I find interesting is that a person — not to mention the whole gang of self-righteous Spanish actors — who was so vehemently against one war in an Arab country when the American right claimed to be toppling a human rights abusing dictatorship is now so eager to favor another war in an Arab country, but this time with the difference that it is the Spanish left who gets to denounce a human rights abusing dictatorship. I suppose in retrospect the original slogan should have read “No a Esta Guerra” instead of the moral condemnation of war of in general.
If anything, what we learned from Iraq is that the world becomes a very wicked place when people so confidently and self-righteously believe that they have the truth on their side.
Grave Error 
I understand how you could be annoyed by your neighbor’s flag waving, and I do think that “No a Esta Guerra” is more accurate, but you are being a bit nitpicky… I do not see any inconsistent message w/ the flags. It is entirely possible that your neighbor is against imperialist wars. The US invasion of Iraq was not a war of independence (not matter how US leadership and media packaged it). I could go on and on, but you get the point.
Remember I am not passing judgment on the merits of the claims. I am simply pointing out that the “curious” position of the self-righteous Spanish left who was (i) radically against the American imperialism to topple an arguably brutal dictatorship and (ii) is now radically in favor of intervening here regardless of the imperialistic past of Spain in the area. These guys never defend Moroccans when they protest against police abuse in Melilla.
If the activists were from a different country, I would give them some leeway. But as you can imagine, just as the U.S. has lost its right to opine on say the internal conflicts in Vietnam, the same should be true of the Spanish.
So if they are against imperialism, what do you call activists from the former colonizer returning 30 years later? They aren’t making a movie….
I couldn’t agree more with Eric. In simple terms, the Spanish Left are a bunch of hypocrites
mmmm…I am bringing a moroccan flag with me;)
Granhuja, and now the Spanish Right is following the hypocritical path. They are now siding with the lefties to accuse the Spanish government of not being tough enough on Morocco. Every one changes positions in this week’s episode of Hypocrisy.
Sana,
We can either fly the Moroccan flag or a big sign that reads, “20% unemployment, mind your own business.”
I’m neither right nor left Eric, I’m smack in the middle…What I’m realy for is the declaration of Spain as top 10 retarded countries of the world.
@ Eric, I get your point, I don’t completely agree with your analogy… but I do love your Denis Leary reference that shit made me laugh.
My general ethic/policy is that we are qualified to criticize the action of our own country, but not that of others. Thus, I can complain about what the U.S. does in Iraq, but not what the Iraqis do in Iraq. And for example, I do not appreciate others who have no first hand knowledge of the U.S. opining about my country either.
Of course, we live in a world where everyone is a critique. Hence, my earlier post on Meet the Idiots, how people who are constantly and consistently wrong about everything (another example would be Thomas Freidman) still get air time to talk about the same things they are always wrong about.
In that sense, I can criticize Spain and the U.S., but not — in this example — Morocco.