A Decent Leftist

A few months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Michael Walzer wrote an article for Dissent, "Can There Be a Decent Left?," which made a number of American leftists rather mad. In it, Michael reproached those who saw the mass murders ordered by Osama Bin Laden as revenge for "the crimes of the imperial state." Too many radicals responded to the grief of their fellow citizens and their desire that al-Qaeda be punished by saying, in effect, that we Americans had it coming. That response was, Michael wrote, an indecent act, that instead, "what is necessary now is an engagement with our fellow citizens that recognizes the fellowship. We can be as critical as we like, but these are people whose fate we share; we are responsible for their safety as they are for ours, and our politics has to reflect that mutual responsibility."