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| The Meaning of 'Islamofascism' |
| 2006-05-24 |
| Since the war on terrorism began many new Arabic and Islamic terms including "Fatwa" and "Jihad" have been introduced to Western vernacular. To the displeasure of some Islamists other terms such as "homicide bomber" and "Islamofascism" have also been introduced. An article titled "How the Right Played the Fascism Card Against Islam" on the Web site of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is highly critical of using the term "Islamofascism": "Fascism is coming back into fashion, at least in the propaganda wars. For the right, it comes in the shape of a new word: 'Islamofascism'. That conflates (sic) all the elements into one image: suicide bombs, kidnappings, and the Qur'an; the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan; Iranian clerics and Hitler ... Usage has gathered momentum among commentators and academics who seek a verbal missile to debilitate those who disagree with them. They have adopted it as a sort of Judeo-Christian war cry." Unlike CAIR, many Arab liberal and reformist writers, have supported such an analogy.A Saudi columnist, Muhammad bin 'Abd Al-Latif Aal Al-Sheikh, published a series of articles in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah in July, attacking the ideology of the Al-Salafiyya movement (long associated with Saudi Wahhabi Islam). He said that the ideology of this movement was similar to, or even worse than, the Nazi ideology, and that it should be dealt accordingly. Mr. Al-Sheikh cited the conference on "de-Nazification" held in Potsdam, Germany, shortly following Nazi Germany's surrender in 1945 to serve as precedence today. He explained it was credited with uprooting the culture of Nazism from Europe and that the conference made Nazism into something similar to a crime, not just in judicial and political terms, but also in terms of culture, ideology, and the media. Just as the world uprooted Nazism at the Potsdam conference, Al-Sheikh explained that the West should follow suit with Islamism after the attacks of September 11, 2001: "I still believe that one of the primary missions of the international community today is to repeat its experience with Nazism and to deal with this dangerous barbarian culture [of Islamofascism] exactly as it dealt with the Nazi culture. If this does not happen, the near future is liable to bring many [events], the consequences of which will be far more severe for all of humanity than [the consequences] of World War II." A columnist for the London Arabic daily Al-Hayat, Zuheir Abdullah, blamed what he termed "Arab fascism" and "Islamism" for leading to the current backwardness of the Middle East. In an August 2003 article he wrote, "since 1948, primitive Arab fascism," sometimes "allied with fundamentalist Islam," has produced only "empty slogans." Mr. Abdullah continued, "many simple-minded people and ignorant persons were unfortunately brainwashed and turned into the fuel of this extremism." He concluded by stating the Arab world's embrace of fascism and Islamism has led it to adding "almost nothing" to modern civilization. In a liberal Arabic Web site, elaph.com, on December 13, an Iraqi reformist, Dr. Abd Al-Khaleq Hussein, explained that the Iranian and Syrian regimes are fascist in the true sense of the word, and that no stability, democracy, or economic prosperity is possible in the region as long as they exist. Dr. Hussein said, "Some believe that describing the Iranian Islamic regime and the Baath Party's Syrian regime as fascist is offensive ... I call a spade a spade, in accordance with the scientific definition of the terms 'Fascism' and 'Nazism.' Italian Fascism, like German Nazism, was a racist movement that discriminated among human beings on the basis of their racial or national affiliation ... The common denominator defining an ideology or policy as Fascist or Nazi is discrimination among human beings ... Since both the Iranian and Syrian regimes discriminate among the various groups within their peoples on the basis of religion and ethnicity, they are no different from any other fascist or Nazi regime." Dr. Hussein is hopeful that the West will treat "Islamofascism" in the Middle East as Nazism in Europe was treated following World War 2 and that it will lead to similar results: "We are optimistic about the future ... The first domino has already fallen, when the fascist Baath Party fell in Iraq.The rest of the dominoes will follow. Just as Nazism and Fascism fell in Europe, and the rest of the totalitarian, tyrannical regimes followed, it is inevitable that history will grind down the remaining fascist regimes [in the Middle East]." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #5 Joe Mendiola, you have an uncanny ability to muddy things up. ;-) I'd say you use too many spades. ;-) |
| Posted by: zazz 2006-05-24 20:59 |
| #4 No mention of the ninja Motherly Communists again, which in Clinton-speak Fascists > De-Regulated pro-Competition Commies, Limited Totalitarians/Governmentists, etal. Hiding in the shadows, depending on the Right or Rightist Conservatism to solve their problems for them, andor take care of them, then to take over from the Right at opportune time. THE GWOT FOR THE FAILED LEFT(S) > also an INTER-SOCIALIST as well as INTRA-SOCIALIST GLOBAL IDEO WAR, i.e. RIGHTIST SOCIALIST vs LEFTIST-SOCIALIST, AND DEGREE OF LEFTIST-SOCIALIST OR PAN-SOCIALIST ABSOLUTISM/ TOTALITARIANISM! Also INTER-SECULAR vs INTRA-SECULAR - Radical Islam is both enemy, ally, andor "useful idiot" to the always PC Left. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-05-24 20:49 |
| #3 I have to agree with you there LH. Gutsy I hope there are many more like them. Otherwise the alternative may be too terrible to imagine. |
| Posted by: DanNY 2006-05-24 14:19 |
| #2 thanks to Mr Al Sheik, Mr.Abdullah, and Mr Hussein, for telling it like it is. Hope they are well protected. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-05-24 13:18 |
| #1 highly critical of using the term "Islamofascism": I concur. Fascism is a Western form of Islam. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-05-24 12:39 |