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| Terror Networks |
| The Western (that is, Marxist) roots of Islamofascism |
| 2004-07-10 |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #4 Paul Berman's book Terror and Liberalism addresses some of the same issues in more detail. I reviewed it last year. He finds that communists and fascists are united in measuring the importance of a cause by how much horror you are willing to commit on its behalf; and plausibly finds their influence on the current crop of Islamists. He also found english editions of part of In the Shade of the Qur'an if you want to know what Qutb is about (also see Ideofact's series on Qutb if you haven't already). I grant you that Islam doesn't need Western influence to generate murderous sects: it seems to have a history of doing that. |
| Posted by: James 2004-07-10 8:59:44 PM |
| #3 Rudyard Kipling wrote about crazy, murderous Wahabbis, well before Marx became fashionable. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-07-10 10:56:04 AM |
| #2 Until the theocratic revolution that put Khomenei in power in Iran, most of the terrorism that had been perpetrated was done in the name of Marxist support for the "Palestinian" cause. I remember vividly a video from back in the early 70s showing Vanessa Redgrave doing some sort of war dance with a band of raghead revolutionaries from the PLO (or PFLP, or whichever "liberation front" organization it was), whooping it up and waving an AK-47 around). The only thing different today is that instead of Karl Marx leading the struggle for the ascendency of the poor, helpless proletarian victims of evil capitalist hegemonic oppression, the struggle is being led by "Allah" and his acolytes. No change, really; it's still the ideology of poorhelplessvictimism: "We're not responsible for the fact that our culture sucks, YOU are!" |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-07-10 10:03:23 AM |
| #1 "Inspired by Fanon, such figures as Lin Piao...and Pol Pot, justified revolution as a therapeutic act by non-Western peoples. Violence exposes the egoism and hedonism of bourgeois societies, and facilitates the creation of a new world based upon collective self-sacrifice. By destroying existing power structures they will regain the dignity lost due to Western oppression and materialism, selfishness, and immorality." Excellent article, Mike. When I read "collective self-sacrifice", I got a chill. That is the grade of hate these folks run on. |
| Posted by: jules 2 2004-07-10 8:57:24 AM |