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Review: The Paradox of Liberation

Religion versus freedom

July 23, 2015 13:26
Members of Neturei Karta and other ultra Orthodox Jews in Israel protest against Bibi Netanyahu’s anti-Iran speech in Washington earlier this year

ByDavid Conway, David Conway

2 min read

By Michael WalzerYale

University Press, £16.99

During the last century, many peoples under alien rule gained independence, usually after considerable, often violent, struggle, spearheaded by various nationalist groups.

Successful national liberation movements have typically had to fight against two principal foes. First, of course, is the alien ruling power from whom they seek independence. The second consists in the quietist attitudes and ideologies prevailing among the territory's population that have tended to reconcile the inhabitants to their lot and thus accommodate them to subordination. Foremost among such attitudes and ideologies have been the traditional religions of the people.