And a big hat tip to Eric Eric Bogomolny for the link to this one:

'Islamofascism'
Roger Scruton

The term "Islamofascism" was introduced by the French writer Maxine Rodinson (1915-2004) to describe the Iranian Revolution of 1978. Rodinson was a Marxist, who described as "fascist" any movement of which he disapproved. But we should be grateful to him for coining a word that enables people on the left to denounce our common enemy. After all, other French leftists -- Michel Foucault, for example -- had welcomed the revolution as an amusing threat to Western interests. It is only now that people on the left can acknowledge that they are just as much a target as the rest of us, in a war that has global chaos as its goal.

The word has therefore caught on, not least because it provides a convenient way of announcing that you are not against Islam but only against its perversion by the terrorists. But this prompts the question whether terrorism is really as alien to Islam as we should all like to believe. Despite his communist sympathies, Rodinson was a peaceful soul, who spent seven years teaching in a Muslim school in Lebanon and wrote a biography of Muhammad in which the prophet is portrayed as a mild-mannered campaigner for social justice. But this biography was denounced by the Egyptian authorities as an offense to Islam, was withdrawn from the curriculum of the American University in Cairo, and has ever since been banned in Muslim countries.

[Read the whole thing. It's important.]

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 19, 2006 at 08:53 PM in Bill Faith, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Zero Ponsdorf

Couldn't get to the whole article just now, but I'll stick to my general reservations about the use of the term Fascist in this context. Remember... our own liberal/left has applied the term to President Bush.

"It is only now that people on the left can acknowledge that they are just as much a target as the rest of us, in a war that has global chaos as its goal."

I consider (and have long considered) the liberal/left to be at greater risk under Sharia Law and Islamic Imperialism. If they're finally getting their heads out of the clouds that's great news.

Posted by: Zero Ponsdorf | Aug 20, 2006 1:33:09 AM