From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Mon Nov 20 2006 - 08:46:20 EST
Re: [OPE-L] Islamic Fascism?>>> So the article does not sufficiently distinguish between political movements like fascism and Pinochet's regime in Chile, which accommodated Chile's inclusion in the US sphere of influence rather than attempting to carve out an independent and competing domain. <<< Hi Ian, I agree that even if one accepts (as I do) Hossain-zadeh's claim that "Islamic fundamentalist" groups can not be considered to be fascist, the issue remains in terms of how best to comprehend them. Since you raise the issue of Pinochet's regime, let me note some essential dissimilarities: 1. the Pinochet regime was a military dictatorship which overthrew a democratically elected government. 2. The coup in Chile was paid for and planned by the largest imperialist power. In these regards, the Islamic movements in the Middle East and elsewhere today are essentially different. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of these movements is _opposition_ to US policy. This is not to say that there haven't been Chile-like coups in the Muslim world previously: e.g. the 1953 coup against Mohammad Mossadegh which brought to power Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran) was eerily similar. The problem with classifying these social movements is that they are often very different in different social formations and hence defy generalizations. For instance, the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today is significantly different from that of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Ahmadinejad government in Iran is not the same as the former Talliban government in Afghanistan. Hamas also is a better understood in terms of the history of struggles in Palestine than by simply identifying it as a Islamic fundamentalist movement. Indeed, Hamas is an example of a movement which, as it became popular, altered its original aim and orientation. Hezbollah in Lebanon shares some religious and ideological perspectives advanced by Khoumeni, but its significance and current meaning in Lebanon can not be grasped by merely noting those similarities. In other words, I think the very expression "Islamic fundamentalist groups" is misleading in that it fails to recognize the very significant diversity in political orientation of these social movements. Note that I am not claiming that any of the above are progressive social movements, but I do think they often have contradictory features. I certainly am not part of the cheering squad for Ahmadinejad led by, amongst others, Yoshie Furuhashi. Furuhashi has analogized Ahmadinejad to Chavez in Venezuela -- a comparison that I find bizarre (almost as bizarre as her claim that progressives should give up on organizing against the US war on Iraq). In solidarity, Jerry
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