Mohammed.Amin.comFresh thinking from a British Muslim
Summary
30 March 2010
Over 60 years ago, writing only a year after the defeat of Nazi Germany, George Orwell pointed out in "Politics and the English Language" that “The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable.’” The term Islamism appears to have gone the same way if it can be used to describe both Osama bin Laden and the democratically elected AKP government in Turkey.
Andrew Gilligan's series “Islamist Blogpost of the Day”, posted on the Telegraph website has provided a certain amount of entertainment for readers, but I am left wondering where it gets us. I also think Mr Gilligan should perhaps worry about some of his more enthusiastic fans, when they start to adopt pseudonyms such as "juliusstreicher" (See footnote)
Fascism at least started in a particular time and space in Italy, so it had a meaning before losing it through overstretch. However with Islamism I cannot even find agreement on when it is supposed to have started. The word was once used by French writers as an exact substitute for Islam but somewhere along the way changed its meaning.
As the examples of Osama bin Laden and the AKP show, once one cannot tell what a person classified as an Islamist believes or intends to do, then the description has no merit. However, the repercussions of using this word stretch far beyond its lack of semantic use. The average “Muslim in the street” is not a philologist or a political scientist. When they hear politicians or journalists attacking "Islamism", they often do not get past the first five letters. While Mr Gilligan may regard this failure to read the last three letters as the fault of the reader, it becomes more understandable when you reflect that today organisations such as the English Defence League proudly proclaim on their website that they aim to save England from Islamism but have no objection to Islam. Their professed non-objection to Islam in Britain needs to be taken with a pinch of salt given that the English Defence League wants to prohibit the building of any more mosques.
Muslims are right to cry foul when they are accused of religiously based politics.
In Germany and Italy we have political parties which openly call themselves Christian Democrats. However, I would expect an Islamic Democratic party in the UK to be greeted with howls of protest. The reality is that no politician can leave his religious principles in the umbrella stand before he enters the House of Commons; they are an integral part of who you are. Perhaps Mr Gilligan would like to do a series attacking “political Roman Catholicism” on the grounds that Roman Catholic members of Parliament often vote against abortion and other policies on religious grounds?
It would be much more sensible if we could all agree exactly what we are against.
My own position is very simple. Nobody has the right to impose their religious or moral principles on other people. Accordingly, I equally oppose religious people who persecute homosexuals and antivivisectionists who vandalise research laboratories and threaten researchers with violence.
If we can agree on this, perhaps Mr Gilligan can move onto a new target?
Mohammed Amin
Julius Streicher was the editor of the newspaper of Nazi Germany, Der Sturmer, and was executed after the Nuremberg trials in 1946.
‘juliusstreicher' was the online login name used by a commenter on Mr Gilligan’s ‘Islamists in power: key council sympathiser under pressure.’
His comment read as follows:
juliusstreicher on Mar 15th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Andrew Gilligan may be a geek but he sure is a good investigative journalist.
But I fear we may be missing the wider point here.
Tower Hamlets has been turned into an utter sh1thole by mass Islamic immigration.
It is a veritable Augean Stables.
and we all know what happened to those.
It’s the only answer. The place is too far gone.
Like necrosis.
The article was originally posted on the My Telegraph website but my blogging there has been discontinued since I created my own website.
Each of us changes the world every day. We can choose to make it a better place.
