Friday, August 11, 2006

PLOTS AND SEMANTICS

Reality-challenged community torn between:
The thwarted U.K. plot
  1. was legit. 681 votes - 51 %

  2. was more drama from BushCo to keep us all afraid. 633 votes - 48 %
Let's see how that one pans out.


Have just been listening to BBC Radio 5 Live and Dotun Adebayo stated that when we speak of suicide bombers who happen to be Muslim we ought not to mention their religion.

Fair enough. "Islamic suicide bomber" is a no-go then.

But I think we ought to at least come up with an alternative to describe people who read the Quran a lot, pray to Mecca, follow the teachings of imams who are considered extremist by most Muslims and non-Muslims alike, believe America and Israel to be the Great Satan and cry "Allahu Akbar!" before blowing themselves up hoping to kill others, often civilians, in the process.

"Islamofascist suicide bombers" is a bit of a mouthful but describes the character of the kind of person who blows themselves up on a bus quite nicely. But no. Prominent Stopper Salma Yaqoob of RESPECT doesn't like the word "fascist" associated with radical Islam.

In the comments, Tomahawk lived up to his name:
Islamism isn't like fascism? Just exchange the Ummah for the volk, the Caliphate for the Reich, and believers for Aryans. We find the same hatred of Jews; the same glorification of political violence; the same murderous opposition to democracy; the same assaults on freedom of speech; the same self-pitying victimology and grievance-mongering; the same sentimental anti-rationalism; the same persecution of gays; the same desire to see women in a purely domestic role; and the same lower-middle-class social base. European fascism was racially-based, whereas Islamic fascism is religious. That's the only difference between these two types of totalitarianism.

It's no wonder Salma Yaqoob is having a hissy fit -- her ideological bedfellows are being exposed for what they are.
Ouch.

However, she seems to claim that her version of radical Islam is not Islamism so perhaps "Islamist suicide-bombers" is a go-er. But what about those who want to see the Caliphate restored, perhaps violently, to its former glory but draw the line at suicide bombing and would be just as offended and at risk of a backlash were we to use the word "Islamist" in this way? Well they can go f*ck themselves.

Yaqoob writes:
I have publicly and actively condemned terrorism, whether state sponsored or committed in the name of Islam. I vociferously defend the rights of Muslim women who choose not to wear the hijab and openly tackle reactionary cultural practices within some sections of our community. I also object to any kind of totalitarian state - whether left, right or religious.
If all that is true, what on Earth is she doing hanging out with Gorgeous and Tamimi, two men whose record on these issues can at best be described as piss-poor?

If you've not come across Sally Jacobs before, skim the Cif comments thread for the occasional tidbit amongst the dross and make your own mind up.

posted by Dan @ 3:09 am