Can They Handle It Hawi As Communist

Juan Cole 06/21/2005

Can they Handle it? Hawi as Communist

A reader writes:

‘ I noted with some relish the subtleties of perception. You and Al-Jazeera identify Georges Hawi [up front] as a communist. CNN and others identify him as an anti-Syrian politician. They [later] add “former secretary-general” leaving his present membership in the party up in the air. This is clearly some version of the “pretty girl in protest march” perception of the Middle East politics. ‘

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page