Ever since it surfaced as an organized political power and a theoretical term, the left-wing was linked to the idea of progress. However, the practices and ideas of parties and individuals claiming to be part of the left-wing, justify the questions revolving around the fate of this link between it and the progressive policies. In reality, progressivism as an idea and a project is based on the priority character of freedoms and social justice, thus rendering their accomplishment, enhancement and defense constant and key demands in the context of the activities and the work of the progressive. Indeed, without social justice and individual and public freedoms, the progressive project cannot be secured. However, several changes affected the aforementioned definition, while the transformation that pushed freedom and justice to the backstage of the scene is long-standing. Indeed, under the pressures of the Soviet communism which is engaged in a cosmic clash with Western capitalism, some emerged and started promoting “principal and secondary contradictions.” The first is between achieved Socialism or Socialist Realism on one hand and Capitalism and its political imperialistic tools on the other, while the second is within each community alone and is related to the improvement of the domestic political and economic positions. This, in a non-exhaustive summary, is the current map of the conflicts in the world of the Cold War. It is based on it that the massive violations of Stalinism and its offshoots were justified, just like the alliance between the left-wing and the tyrannical and oppressive regimes in Third World countries. Very few left-wing parties noticed the drastic change which affected the system of relationships and values in the post-Cold War world. While some parties exited the circle of Soviet and Maoist communisms and even reconsidered the “new left-wing” principle which presented itself as an alternative for the calcified Soviet model, other parties maintained their loyalty to the old ideas and practices, thus favoring the warmth of the familiar lap to the iciness of the new world. It is from the womb of these parties and the individuals close to them that positions are now being issued and are more committed to populist and sectarian policies. These sides do not lack the pretexts, while hostility toward America is at the top of the latter positions. Consequently, America, its policies and strategies, as well as its different currents, cultures, elites and publics were all reduced to one definition, and it thus became enough to curse the United States to render the position a left-wing and patriotic one. In regard to the resistance, the “left-wingers” have allowed themselves to praise whoever shoots its people and throws its citizens in detention camps, as long as he supports the resistance option. Hence, the resistance acquired this eternal character in the ranks of the “left-wingers,” after they lost the ability to deal with reality that classifies the resistance as a mere temporary political tool. It is clear that this behavior stems from a perception (which is not that of the left-wing at its core) of the situation around the world, in which countries (the United States) and phenomena (the resistance) are turned into predetermined models that neither transform nor change. By doing so, the facts of this world were ignored, in regard to the refusal of the forces currently dominating the political scene to grant the remaining “left-wingers” any recognition or role. More importantly, the latter disregarded the primary characteristic of the left-wing, i.e. the commitment to progress and the staging of an action in the context of reality, i.e. the commitment to “progressivism.” One last note related to those who might argue that this tribune (Al-Hayat newspaper) is not the right place to discuss this issue. The latter opinion stems from the same bases which prompt people with different affiliations to say that the secular or the liberal do not have the right to discuss religious ideologies and doctrines in their own countries. Once again, we return to predetermined foundations.
