What is "Islamofascism"?

[muslim_beta]

Salaam,

What is "Islamofascism"?

"Islamofascism" is used as a politcal pejorative referring to certain groups, people or phenomenon in the Muslim communities around the world. It is a vacuous and overarching term which fallaciously seeks to identify various Islamic groups, people and phenomenon as fascist in nature. Very often it is used to refer to a single islamic conspiricy involving totally opposite personalities like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, in a unique conspiricy to spread Islam over the world. It is also universally used to discredit the groups who do not conform to the accusers views. Hence the Iraqi resistance, Palestinian resistance, Islam itself or other Islamic phenomenon which the right-wing (the principle proponents of this theory) are opposed to are cynically termed "islamofascist" when these groups or phenomenon have nothing to do with fascism. The definition of "islamofascist" according to most proponents of the term is that of a Muslim person or group whose actions whether directly or indirectly, is seeking to impose Islam on others, in other words, imposing Islam in a fascist nature.

A cursory examination of the issues/phenomenon labelled as "Islamofascist" would reveal the fact that none of these issues conform to the definition of the word. An Iraqi fighting to defend his or her homeland is not seen as a resistance fighter according to these delusional people, rather the Iraqi resistance is described as an attempt to impose Islam, the same is exactly true when they refer to the Palestinian resistance, or the Chechen resistance, even the suffering in Darfur is a manifestation of "islamofascism", or in fact any Muslim who sympathises with Muslim issues which the right-wing opposes.

In short, "islamofascism" is a vacuous term because it is subject to the whimsical interpretations of political extremists. The very definition of "islamofascism" shows that it cannot be applied to any of the phenomenon in the Muslim Ummah, as nothing conform to the meaning. It is always used as a cynical attempt to slander certain personalities or movements which the right-wing opposes, as such "Islamofascism" as a phenonemon should not be afforded the luxury of acceptance by Muslims because it is a myth used to discredit issues which the Muslim community supports.

Wasalaam

Ps. I hope some of the administrators use the points raised here to produce an article on the MPACUK frontpage refuting "islamofascism". Feel free to use this post entirely if you want to.

[muslim_beta]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1405605,00.html

1-0 in the propaganda war

How the right played the fascism card against Islam

Albert Scardino
Friday February 4, 2005
The Guardian

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 all the elements into one image: suicide bombs, kidnappings and the Qur'an; the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan; Iranian clerics and Hitler.
The term seems to have appeared first in the Washington Times in a reference to Islamist fundamentalists. Coined by Khalid Duran, a Muslim scholar seeking to explain Islam to Jews, the word was meant as a criticism of hyper-traditionalist clerics - who in turn denounced Duran as a traitor to the faith.

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 - look for it soon in the title of a neo-conservative think tank conference.

For the left, the term "fascist" lost its power in the 1970s, when it was sprayed on every authority figure in sight, from the Nixon-Kissinger White House to university provosts to the neighbourhood cop.

To make Bush-Hitler comparisons work requires more nuanced historical references - to the night of the long knives, for example, as Sidney Blumenthal did about the dismissal of Colin Powell. Unfortunately for liberals, those references don't work as efficiently as islamofascism does for the right, because to imagine the appropriately creepy picture requires a familiarity with German history of the 1920s and 30s. Nazism is better known for its death camps than for Leni Riefenstahl or the Reichstag fire, so analogies between the Nazis' early years and current Republican party behaviour seem hollow, no matter how strong some parallels might be.

Christopher Hitchens, a former socialist who now sits on the other end of the political see-saw, sprinkles islamofascism about like paprika. He and Andrew Sullivan, a voice of the right, both wrongly receive credit in some quarters for coining the term.

Long before September 11 2001, Duran was commissioned by the American Jewish Committee to produce one side of an interfaith project. Duran responded to attacks on his book, Children of Abraham, by deriding those who sought "to impose religious orthodoxy on the state and the citizenry". In that sense, he said, extreme islamism is "islamofascism."

It took a couple of years for the word to seep into frequent usage. By then its meaning had expanded. Last year, Sullivan cited "five elements that make it particularly dangerous", including the "broken, medieval societies" that foster it, the "unquenchable extremism" of its motivation, and "the destructive technology" its adherents seek.

Use of the term to describe Muslim clerics and stateless terrorists has neatly pre-empted any chance of labelling Bush a fascist - no matter how many suspects are kidnapped by the US authorities and tortured; no matter how impervious the border; no matter how effective the use of propaganda to destroy the opposition; no matter how many countries are invaded on false pretenses; no matter how strongly a minority religion may become a mark of guilt.

[Raashid]

The triumvirate of US, UK and Israel have made WWII the standard of good versus evil, so every bad guy they want to bash is compared to Hitler and by extension, their ideology to fascism. Crude really, but it appeals to the simple masses as much as the use of terms such as freedom, tyranny etc.

[PresidentWPM]

The triumvirate of US, UK and Israel have made WWII the standard of good versus evil, so every bad guy they want to bash is compared to Hitler and by extension, their ideology to fascism. Crude really, but it appeals to the simple masses as much as the use of terms such as freedom, tyranny etc.
I think that that this trend is coming to an end after the Iraq war where the US and the UK ignored their people, ignored international law, and based their invasion of Iraq on non-Existant WMDs.

They will use similar lies to legitimise an illegal attack on Iran, then Syria, then North Korea, then ... well destabilise the third world particularly Muslim countries. At least the world will become aware that that America is the "Evil Empire" while it's led by Zionists; and that we're living at the mercy of the Zionists who are the most racist and evil people on earth.

It came as a shock when my MP informed me that Isarel didn't sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which enables the UN to inspect nuclear facilities. It looks as if though Israel is using UN inspection reports to determine which nuclear facilities to destroy ... remember they infiltrate any organisation and they're a bunch of thieves.

In fact, Zionists infiltrate organisation whether they are private or public sector and particularly Government agencies. The fact that they're showing great concern at the success of MPACUK (around 30 members of staff for the whole of the UK) implies that the management are effective at spotting infiltraters or effective at eliminating Zionist bias.

So join an effective organisation today.

The Pres.