Islamofascism
Encyclopedia
The term Islamofascism is a neologism which draws an analogy
between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the 21st century on, and a broad range of Europe
an fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism
.
, which defines it as "a controversial term equating some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early twentieth century". The term is used in this manner by writers like Stephen Schwartz
and Christopher Hitchens
, to describe Islamist
extremists, including terrorist
groups such as al Qaeda, Hamas
and Hezbollah. William Safire
makes particular note of Hitchens as a "popularizer" of the word, though Hitchens declines credit for coining it. The terms Islamic fascism and Muslim fascism are also used by the French philosopher Michel Onfray
, an outspoken atheist and antireligion
ist, who notes in his Atheist Manifesto that Ruhollah Khomeini
's Islamic Revolution "gave birth to an authentic Muslim fascism".
The origins of the term are uncertain. William Safire writes that the "first use [he] can find" comes from Malise Ruthven
in 1990, when Ruthven wrote in The Independent
that "authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from Morocco
to Pakistan
." Albert Scardino writes that the term "seems to have appeared first" in a Washington Times piece, in which scholar Khalid Duran used it "as a criticism of hyper-traditionalist clerics." According to the Times, this piece appeared in July 2001.
and Islamofascism, Christopher Hitchens makes the following comparison:
and international relations
scholar Angelo Codevilla consider it historically inaccurate and simplistic. "...the term "Islamofascism," used to describe strongly anti-Western
movements in the Muslim world, betrays ignorance of those movements as well as of Islam and Fascism." Author Richard Alan Nelson criticized the term as being generally used as a pejorative
or for propaganda
purposes. Tony Judt
argued in a September 2006 article in the London Review of Books
that use of the term was intended to reduce the War on Terror to "a familiar juxtaposition that eliminates exotic complexity and confusion", criticising authors who use the term Islamo-fascism and present themselves as experts despite not having previous expertise about Islam.
Critics such as former National Review
columnist Joseph Sobran
, and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman
argue that "Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term." used by proponents of the "War on Terror
". Security expert Daniel Benjamin
, political scientist Norman Finkelstein
and The American Conservative
columnist Daniel Larison, highlight the claim that, despite its use as a piece of propaganda, the term is inherently meaningless, since as Benjamin notes, "there is no sense in which jihadists embrace fascist ideology as it was developed by Mussolini
or anyone else who was associated with the term."
Cultural historian Richard Webster
has argued that grouping many different political ideologies, terrorist and insurgent groups, governments, and religious sects into one single idea of "Islamofascism" may lead to an oversimplification of the phenomenon of terrorism. In a similar vein the National Security Network
argues that the term dangerously obscures important distinctions and differences between groups of Islamic extremists while alienating moderate voices in the Muslim world because it "creates the perception that the United States is fighting a religious war against Islam." Daniel Larison attributes proponent Hitchen's support of the phrase to his anti-religious stance. British historian Niall Ferguson
points out that this political use of what he calls a "completely misleading concept," is "just a way of making us feel that we're the 'greatest generation' fighting another World War." Reza Aslan
claims the term "falls flat" when describing groups like al-Qaeda, noting that they are anti-nationalist while fascism is ultra-nationalist.
Commenting on the claimed incongruity between the "Muslim World" and "industrial state fascism," US journalist Eric Margolis
claims that ironically the most totalitarian Islamic regimes, "in fact, are America's allies."
The public use of the term has also elicited a critical response from various Muslim groups. In the aftermath of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
, George W. Bush
described his policies as a battle against "Islamic fascists... [who] will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom". The Council on American-Islamic Relations
wrote to him to complain, saying that the use of the term "feeds the perception that the war on terror is actually a war on Islam". Ingrid Mattson
of the Islamic Society of North America
also complained about this speech, claiming that it added to a misunderstanding of Islam
. Mattson did acknowledge, however, that some terrorist groups also misuse "Islamic concepts and terms to justify their violence."
In April 2008, Associated Press
reported that US federal agencies, including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, were advised to stop using the term 'Islamo-fascism' in a fourteen-point memo issued by the Extremist Messaging Branch, a department of another federal body known as the National Counterterrorism Center
. Aimed at improving the presentation of the "War on Terrorism" before Muslim audiences and the media, the memo states: "We are communicating with, not confronting, our audiences. Don't insult or confuse them with pejorative terms such as 'Islamo-fascism,' which are considered offensive by many Muslims."
One of the world's leading authorities on fascism, Walter Laqueur
, after reviewing this and related terms, concluded that "Islamic fascism
, Islamophobia
and antisemitism, each in its way, are imprecise terms we could well do without but it is doubtful whether they can be removed from our political lexicon.
launched a series of lectures and protests on college campuses under the title of "Islamofascism Awareness Week.". Several Muslims and non-Muslims on different college campuses aware of the event came out in opposition to it. The Muslim Student Group at Penn State University, for instance, said it feared "that this Islamophobic program will have hazardous consequences on the Penn State community." The Harvard Republicans have also gone on record to distance themselves from the event.
Ali Eteraz has accused speakers at the event of hypocrisy. For example, he argues that while the event claims to promote gay rights in the Muslim world, one of its speakers, Ann Coulter
, refers to homosexuals as "faggots". And while the event focuses on "the oppression of women in Islam", Eteraz points out that one of its speakers has been denounced as "very anti-women" by the National Organization for Women
.
author and Richard Nixon
speechwriter William Safire
wrote that the term fulfills a need for a term to distinguish traditional Islam from terrorists: "Islamofascism may have legs: the compound defines those terrorists who profess a religious mission while embracing totalitarian methods and helps separate them from devout Muslims who want no part of terrorist means." Christopher Hitchens has also publicly defended the term in Slate
, noting along with the fact that he finds the comparison apt, that the names for other forms of religious fascism, like clerical fascism
have a less contested existence.
Author Malise Ruthven
, a Scottish
writer and historian who focuses his work on religion and Islamic affairs, opposes redefining Islamism as `Islamofascism`, but also finds the resemblances between the two ideologies "compelling".
Michael Howard has defended the use of the term drawing parallels between Wahhabism and European Fascist ideology.
In an April 2010 article in The New Republic
, historian Jeffrey Herf
outlined the ideological linkage of Islamism with World War II
Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda
which was broadcasted to Muslims throughout the Middle East:
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the 21st century on, and a broad range of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
.
Origins of "Islamofascism"
The term "Islamofascism" is included in the New Oxford American DictionaryNew Oxford American Dictionary
The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....
, which defines it as "a controversial term equating some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early twentieth century". The term is used in this manner by writers like Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz (journalist)
Stephen Suleyman Schwartz is an American Muslimjournalist, columnist, and author. He has been published in a variety of media, including The Wall Street Journal. He is the executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism...
and Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
, to describe Islamist
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
extremists, including terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
groups such as al Qaeda, Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
and Hezbollah. William Safire
William Safire
William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter....
makes particular note of Hitchens as a "popularizer" of the word, though Hitchens declines credit for coining it. The terms Islamic fascism and Muslim fascism are also used by the French philosopher Michel Onfray
Michel Onfray
Michel Onfray is a contemporary French philosopher who adheres to hedonism, atheism and anarchism...
, an outspoken atheist and antireligion
Antireligion
Antireligion is opposition to religion. Antireligion is distinct from atheism and antitheism , although antireligionists may be atheists or antitheists...
ist, who notes in his Atheist Manifesto that Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
's Islamic Revolution "gave birth to an authentic Muslim fascism".
The origins of the term are uncertain. William Safire writes that the "first use [he] can find" comes from Malise Ruthven
Malise Ruthven
Malise Ruthven is an Irish academic and writer. He was born in Dublin of Irish-British parentage. He obtained an MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, before working as a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Service, and a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs. He also gained a...
in 1990, when Ruthven wrote in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
that "authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
." Albert Scardino writes that the term "seems to have appeared first" in a Washington Times piece, in which scholar Khalid Duran used it "as a criticism of hyper-traditionalist clerics." According to the Times, this piece appeared in July 2001.
The proposed analogy with fascism
Proponents of the term argue that there are similarities between historical fascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and Islamofascism, Christopher Hitchens makes the following comparison:
Criticism
The term, "Islamofascism" has been criticized by some scholars and journalists. Historian Niall FergusonNiall Ferguson
Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism.....
and international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
scholar Angelo Codevilla consider it historically inaccurate and simplistic. "...the term "Islamofascism," used to describe strongly anti-Western
Anti-Western sentiment
Anti-Western sentiment refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, or governments in the western world. In many cases the United States, Israël and the United Kingdom are the subject of discussion or hostility...
movements in the Muslim world, betrays ignorance of those movements as well as of Islam and Fascism." Author Richard Alan Nelson criticized the term as being generally used as a pejorative
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
or for propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
purposes. Tony Judt
Tony Judt
Tony Robert Judt FBA was a British historian, essayist, and university professor who specialized in European history. Judt moved to New York and served as the Erich Maria Remarque Professor in European Studies at New York University, and Director of NYU's Erich Maria Remarque Institute...
argued in a September 2006 article in the London Review of Books
London Review of Books
The London Review of Books is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays.-History:The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times, by publisher A...
that use of the term was intended to reduce the War on Terror to "a familiar juxtaposition that eliminates exotic complexity and confusion", criticising authors who use the term Islamo-fascism and present themselves as experts despite not having previous expertise about Islam.
Critics such as former National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
columnist Joseph Sobran
Joseph Sobran
Michael Joseph Sobran, Jr. was an American journalist and writer, formerly with National Review and a syndicated columnist, known as Joe Sobran. Pundit Pat Buchanan called Sobran "perhaps the finest columnist of our generation", although Sobran was fired from National Review by his one-time mentor...
, and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman
Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
argue that "Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term." used by proponents of the "War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
". Security expert Daniel Benjamin
Daniel Benjamin
Ambassador-at-large Daniel Benjamin is the coordinator for counterterrorism at the United States Department of State appointed by Secretary Clinton.-Life:He was a 1983 Marshall Scholar at New College, Oxford where he studied for BA in PPE....
, political scientist Norman Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein
Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University...
and The American Conservative
The American Conservative
The American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
columnist Daniel Larison, highlight the claim that, despite its use as a piece of propaganda, the term is inherently meaningless, since as Benjamin notes, "there is no sense in which jihadists embrace fascist ideology as it was developed by Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
or anyone else who was associated with the term."
Cultural historian Richard Webster
Richard Webster (author)
Richard Webster was a British cultural historian, and the author of five published books, dealing with subjects such as the controversy over Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, and the investigation of sexual abuse in Britain...
has argued that grouping many different political ideologies, terrorist and insurgent groups, governments, and religious sects into one single idea of "Islamofascism" may lead to an oversimplification of the phenomenon of terrorism. In a similar vein the National Security Network
National Security Network
The National Security Network is a non-profit foreign policy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. that focuses on international relations, global affairs and national security...
argues that the term dangerously obscures important distinctions and differences between groups of Islamic extremists while alienating moderate voices in the Muslim world because it "creates the perception that the United States is fighting a religious war against Islam." Daniel Larison attributes proponent Hitchen's support of the phrase to his anti-religious stance. British historian Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson
Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism.....
points out that this political use of what he calls a "completely misleading concept," is "just a way of making us feel that we're the 'greatest generation' fighting another World War." Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American activist, a nationally acclaimed writer of religions. He is on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside, and is a contributing editor for The Daily Beast...
claims the term "falls flat" when describing groups like al-Qaeda, noting that they are anti-nationalist while fascism is ultra-nationalist.
Commenting on the claimed incongruity between the "Muslim World" and "industrial state fascism," US journalist Eric Margolis
Eric Margolis
Eric S. Margolis is an American-born journalist and writer. For 27 years, ending in 2010, he was a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, writing mainly about the Middle East, South Asia and Islam. He contributes to the Huffington Post and appears frequently on Canadian...
claims that ironically the most totalitarian Islamic regimes, "in fact, are America's allies."
The public use of the term has also elicited a critical response from various Muslim groups. In the aftermath of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada...
, George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
described his policies as a battle against "Islamic fascists... [who] will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom". The Council on American-Islamic Relations
Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...
wrote to him to complain, saying that the use of the term "feeds the perception that the war on terror is actually a war on Islam". Ingrid Mattson
Ingrid Mattson
Ingrid Mattson is a Canadian Muslim convert professor and activist and a former president of the Islamic Society of North America ....
of the Islamic Society of North America
Islamic Society of North America
The Islamic Society of North America , based in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, is a Muslim umbrella group. It has been described in the media as the largest Muslim organization in North America.-History:...
also complained about this speech, claiming that it added to a misunderstanding of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Mattson did acknowledge, however, that some terrorist groups also misuse "Islamic concepts and terms to justify their violence."
In April 2008, Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that US federal agencies, including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, were advised to stop using the term 'Islamo-fascism' in a fourteen-point memo issued by the Extremist Messaging Branch, a department of another federal body known as the National Counterterrorism Center
National Counterterrorism Center
The National Counterterrorism Center is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in a modern complex near McLean, Virginia called Liberty Crossing...
. Aimed at improving the presentation of the "War on Terrorism" before Muslim audiences and the media, the memo states: "We are communicating with, not confronting, our audiences. Don't insult or confuse them with pejorative terms such as 'Islamo-fascism,' which are considered offensive by many Muslims."
One of the world's leading authorities on fascism, Walter Laqueur
Walter Laqueur
Walter Zeev Laqueur is an American historian and political commentator. He was born in Breslau, Germany , to a Jewish family. In 1938, Laqueur left Germany for the British Mandate of Palestine. His parents, who were unable to leave, became victims of the Holocaust...
, after reviewing this and related terms, concluded that "Islamic fascism
Islamic fascism
Islamic fascism may refer to:*Neofascism and religion, section on Islam*Islamofascism, on the term itself...
, Islamophobia
Islamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
and antisemitism, each in its way, are imprecise terms we could well do without but it is doubtful whether they can be removed from our political lexicon.
"Islamofascism Awareness Week"
The controversy surrounding this neologism is not only confined to the critical commentary of media figures, academics and Muslim groups. In 2007, the conservative writer and activist David HorowitzDavid Horowitz
David Joel Horowitz is an American conservative writer and policy advocate. Horowitz was raised by parents who were both members of the American Communist Party. Between 1956 and 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left before rejecting Marxism completely...
launched a series of lectures and protests on college campuses under the title of "Islamofascism Awareness Week.". Several Muslims and non-Muslims on different college campuses aware of the event came out in opposition to it. The Muslim Student Group at Penn State University, for instance, said it feared "that this Islamophobic program will have hazardous consequences on the Penn State community." The Harvard Republicans have also gone on record to distance themselves from the event.
Ali Eteraz has accused speakers at the event of hypocrisy. For example, he argues that while the event claims to promote gay rights in the Muslim world, one of its speakers, Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
, refers to homosexuals as "faggots". And while the event focuses on "the oppression of women in Islam", Eteraz points out that one of its speakers has been denounced as "very anti-women" by the National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
.
Support
AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author and Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
speechwriter William Safire
William Safire
William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter....
wrote that the term fulfills a need for a term to distinguish traditional Islam from terrorists: "Islamofascism may have legs: the compound defines those terrorists who profess a religious mission while embracing totalitarian methods and helps separate them from devout Muslims who want no part of terrorist means." Christopher Hitchens has also publicly defended the term in Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
, noting along with the fact that he finds the comparison apt, that the names for other forms of religious fascism, like clerical fascism
Clerical fascism
Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition...
have a less contested existence.
Author Malise Ruthven
Malise Ruthven
Malise Ruthven is an Irish academic and writer. He was born in Dublin of Irish-British parentage. He obtained an MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, before working as a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Service, and a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs. He also gained a...
, a Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
writer and historian who focuses his work on religion and Islamic affairs, opposes redefining Islamism as `Islamofascism`, but also finds the resemblances between the two ideologies "compelling".
Michael Howard has defended the use of the term drawing parallels between Wahhabism and European Fascist ideology.
In an April 2010 article in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, historian Jeffrey Herf
Jeffrey Herf
Jeffrey Herf is a professor of history at the University of Maryland. His specialty is in 20th century European intellectual history, especially in Germany....
outlined the ideological linkage of Islamism with World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
which was broadcasted to Muslims throughout the Middle East:
- The alliance between the Nazis and the Arab and Islamist collaborators in wartime Berlin was not simply one of convenience based on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friendThe enemy of my enemy is my friendThe phrase the enemy of my enemy is my friend is a proverb that advances the concept that someone who is the enemy of your enemy is therefore your friend. It further means that because two parties have a common enemy, one can use the other to advance their goals...
. Rather, collaboration rested just as much on shared values, namely rejection of liberal democracy and, above all, hatred of the Jews and of Zionist aspirations. Though the meeting of hearts and minds in wartime Berlin was relatively short, it was an important chapter in the much longer history of political Islamism.
Examples of use
- "It is right for us to be on the offense against Islamofascism, and not wait until they attack us on our soil. Unlike any war we have ever fought in this nation, this is not a war for soil. It is a war for our soul. We will either win it or we will lose it. This nation must rally to the point where we recognize there is no compromise. There is no alternative. We must win; they must lose. Islamofascism must disappear from the face of the earth, or we will." — Mike HuckabeeMike HuckabeeMichael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
- "What we have to understand is ... this is not really a war against terrorism, this is not really a war against al Qaeda, this is a war against movements and ideologies that are jihadist, that are Islamofascists, that aim to destroy the Western world." — Clifford MayClifford MayClifford D. May is an American journalist, editor, and political activist. He is the president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a conservative policy institute created shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and the Chairman of the Policy Committee department within the Committee on the...
- "[Islamic terrorist] attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil, but not insane. Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom." — George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
See also
- ChristofascismChristofascismChristofascism is a concept in Christian theology first mentioned by Dorothee Sölle, a Christian theologian and writer, in her book Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future in 1970. To Sölle, Christofascism was caused by the embracing of authoritarian theology by the...
- Clerical fascismClerical fascismClerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition...
- Fascist (epithet)Fascist (epithet)The word fascist is sometimes used to denigrate people, institutions, or groups that would not describe themselves as ideologically fascist, and that may not fall within the formal definition of the word. The Fascist party that developed in Italy in the 1920s rigidly enforced conservative values...
- Islamic fundamentalismIslamic fundamentalismIslamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
- IslamismIslamismIslamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
- 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Its recruits were composed of Muslim Bosniaks. The Handschar division was a mountain infantry formation, the equivalent of the German "Gebirgsjäger" ...
- Islamist terrorism
- IslamophobiaIslamophobiaIslamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
- Neo-fascism and religion
- Religious police
- TalibanizationTalibanizationTalibanization is a term coined following the rise of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan referring to the process where other religious groups or movements come to follow or imitate the strict practices of the Taliban....
- TheocracyTheocracyTheocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
Further reading
- Hitchens, ChristohperChristopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
. "Defending Islamofascism It's a valid term. Here's why.", Slate.com, Oct. 22, 2007 - Ignatius, DavidDavid IgnatiusDavid R. Ignatius , is an American journalist and novelist. He is an associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post. He also co-hosts PostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues at Washingtonpost.com, with Newsweek 's Fareed Zakaria...
. "Toward a Definition of 'Islamic Fascism'", Daily Star (Lebanon)Daily Star (Lebanon)The Daily Star is a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut. It was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of the Arabic daily Al-Hayat to serve the growing number of expatriates brought by the oil industry...
, August 19, 2006 - Marty, Martin. "Irony and Islamofascism", Christian Post, August 21, 2006.
- Nunberg, Geoffrey. "Islamo-Creeps' Would Be More Accurate", L.A. Times, August 17, 2006
- Nyquist, J.R. "Islam and Fascism".
- Podhoretz, NormanNorman PodhoretzNorman B. Podhoretz is an American neoconservative pundit and writer for Commentary magazine.-Early life:The son of Julius and Helen Podhoretz, Jewish immigrants from the Central European region of Galicia, Podhoretz was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn...
. World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism. New York: Doubleday, 2007. - Pollitt, Katha. "Wrong War, Wrong Word", The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, August 24, 2006. - Scardino, Albert. "1-0 in the propaganda war", The Guardian, February 4, 2005.
- Sullivan, Andrew. 'Interview' (satire) from INDC Journal
- The Sham Islamo-fascistIslamOnline.net
External links
- Walter LaqueurWalter LaqueurWalter Zeev Laqueur is an American historian and political commentator. He was born in Breslau, Germany , to a Jewish family. In 1938, Laqueur left Germany for the British Mandate of Palestine. His parents, who were unable to leave, became victims of the Holocaust...
. The Origins of Fascism: Islamic Fascism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
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