“All these wars are similar in the way ideology is being used. It's the ideology of so-called humanitarian intervention. We don't want to do this, but we're doing this for the sake of the people who live there. This is, of course, a terrible sleight of hand because all sorts of people live there, and, by and large, they do it to help one faction and not the other.” PeopleWayWantWarHelpingHandsUsedCoursesTerribleSakeHumanitarianIdeologyInterventionFactionsHumanitarian InterventionSleight Of Hand Author:Tariq Ali
“When a country is invaded and attacked and people resist it's important to speak up and to say they have the right to resist and to defend their right to resist.” PeopleImportantCountrySpeak Author:Tariq Ali
“The U.S. is telling the Northern Alliance to kill Taliban prisoners. It's totally a breach of all the known conventions of war. Western television networks aren't showing this, but Arab networks are showing how prisoners are being killed and what's being done to them. Instead, we're shown scenes that are deliberately created for the Western media: a few women without the veil, a woman reading the news on Kabul television, and 150 people cheering.” PeopleWarDoneReadingKnownMediaTelevisionSceneNewsWesternPrisonerCheerConventionsVeilsAlliancesTalibanBeing DoneBreachKabulWestern Media Author:Tariq Ali
“The sobbing of the weak today is the sobbing of the victims of neoliberal policies. They consist of billions of people all over the world.” PeopleWorldTodayPolicyWeakVictimBillionsSobbing Author:Tariq Ali
“People are increasingly beginning to feel that democracy itself is being destroyed by this latest phase of globalization and that politics doesn't matter because it changes nothing.” PeopleFeelsMatterDemocracyDestroyedPhasesGlobalization Author:Tariq Ali
“Dear old al-Maarri was a great skeptic poet. He wrote a parody of the Koran, and his friends would tease him and say, "al-Maarri, but no one says your Koran." And he said, "Yes, but give me time. Give me time. If people recite it for twenty years it will become as popular as the other one."” PeopleIfsGivingYearsSaidPoetGive MeTwentiesDearAlsSkepticTeaseParody Author:Tariq Ali
“There was a good moment in Islam when people were actually challenging authority at every level. Very different from the world we live in.” PeopleWorldDifferentMomentsChallengesLevelsAuthorityIslamGood Moments Author:Tariq Ali
“The current Eurozone is obviously dysfunctional. And serious people within Germany and elsewhere know this to be the case and know things cannot function this way forever.” PeopleKnowsWayCasesForeverSeriousFunctionCurrentsGermanyElsewhereEurozone Author:Tariq Ali
“The judgement makes no sense at all. It exposes the country, Turkey, to ridicule. It would have been so much better if Ahmet Davotgulu had behaved like a medieval jester, but no such luck for poor Turkey. Its Prime Minister is not taken seriously by too many people.” PeopleCountryPoorTakenLuckJudgementRidiculeMedievalJester Author:Tariq Ali