Last night I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by Tariq Ali – an activist and academic that I’ve admired for some time. I’ve read a couple of his books and have always admired his uncompromising position on so many issues – particularly related to the Middle East.

His talk covered the usual areas you’d expect it to cover and unfortunately much of what he had said I’d heard (or read) before – but it’s a very interesting commentary none the less. I was particularly interested in comments he made about the growing and powerful social movements in South America and his criticisms of Lulu in Brazil for capitulating to the neo-liberal order. He also heaped, perhaps rose-coloured, praise on Hugo Chavez which he rightly pointed out is far from as revolutionary as he is viewed and only 10 or 20 years ago his presidency would have been considered progressive but not nearly as radical.

However this was all old news. The comment that he made that stood out most to me was on the issue of Israel and Palestine. He argued that any hope for a truly sovereign Palestine (by which I mean a two state system) has now been lost and the death of Arafat certainly hasn’t done anything to improve the chances of this – particularly while Sharon is still in power. Instead, he argued that the only way that any sort of emancipation for the Palestinian people can be achieved is through a one state system where power is shared equally by all ethno-religious groups (including Arab Christians as well as Jews and Muslims).

I guess it fascinated me because, while I have a fairly limited knowledge of the region and the issues, I’d always assumed this position to be the most utopian position and hardest to achieve. It seemed Ali was arguing that it was easier to achieve than a two state system. Perhaps it also placed in context certain things I’d read by Said.