From International Socialism (1st series), No.17, Summer 1964, p.31.
Thanks to Ted Crawford & the late Will Fancy.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Population and Society in the Arab East
Gabriel Baer
Routledge & Regan Paul, 40s.
This is a very informative handbook. It suffers, however, from a lack of any unifying theory. It is much more a catalogue of facts than an analysis and interpretation of development. Above all, it neglects to deal with the role of imperialism, including foreign capital. In a book full of statistics there is not a solid fact on foreign capital in the Middle East (somehow petroleum has been overlooked).
There is hardly a word on the national anti-imperialist movement. The only reference to it is a phrase about ‘nationalistic movements’ (p.52). There is no mention of the Suez War, and the struggle of the Arab people against oppressive British and French imperalism and their ally Israel. Has Dr. Baer been muted by Zionist pressure in Israel where he lives? In short, the book is a catalogue full of information, which is, however, too narrowly conceived to be of great use.
Last updated on 10 April 2010