Semi-connected thoughts
Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf
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This item was originally posted 2006.08.04.18:16.
Under the weather here, and somewhat medicated, but on occasion some synaptic
activity rises above of the fog, I think (hope?).
I'm still troubled by the term FASCIST when talking about Islamic
governments.
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy,
movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often
race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic
government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social
regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
That definition could reasonably be used to describe any and every
non-democratic government extant, or that ever existed.
So, yeah, it fits well enough, but misses the mark when describing the threat
to the west.
Internal politics may be ugly, but it takes the added dimension of
IMPERIALISM to generate a threat.
2 : the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power
and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by
gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas;
broadly : the extension or imposition of power, authority, or
influence <union imperialism>
North Korea, for instance, may be fascist, but has severely limited imperial
ambitions. Cuba has both a fascist government AND imperial ambitions, but still
practically limited - it's unlikely Castro will attack Houston directly.
Islamic imperialism, however, is the greatest single threat since the USSR
dissolved.
Said another way; if Iran wishes to live as a fascist state, so be it! I
would prefer it didn't. but it's not a threat to me and mine.
Islamic Imperialism perfectly describes the threat.
It's of note (but a bit of a side issue) that historically those countries
and cultures that have fallen to Islamic Imperialism have NOT been converted to
Islam by force, but dealt with as Dhimmis.
From Dhimmi Watch
Dhimmitude is the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for
non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians. Dhimmis, "protected people," are
free to practice their religion in a Sharia regime, but are made subject to
a number of humiliating regulations designed to enforce the Qur'an's
command that they "feel themselves subdued" (Sura 9:29). This denial of
equality of rights and dignity remains part of the Sharia, and, as such, is
part of the law that global jihadists are laboring to impose everywhere,
ultimately on the entire human race.
There were times in this country where we had a democracy but women and
blacks couldn't vote. We could easily have a form of government that was a
democracy, but non Muslims couldn't vote.
From Wikipedia: Spain under
Islam.
Spanish society under Muslim rule became increasingly complex, partly
because Islamic conquest did not involve the systematic conversion of the
conquered population to
Islam. At the
same time,
Christians and Jews
were recognized under Islam as
"peoples of the book", and so given
dhimmi
status.
Christianity and
Judaism
shared with Islam the
tradition
of the
Old
Testament, and
Islam considered
Jesus
Christ a major prophet. Most importantly, the Islamic Berber and Arab
invaders were a small minority, ruling over a few million Christians. Thus,
Christians and Jews were free to practice their religion, but they had to pay
a prescribed poll tax. They were not permitted to build new churches or
synagogues, and clothing conventions were used to mark them out. Conversion to
Islam proceeded slowly at first but then at a steadily increasing pace, as it
offered social and economic advantages and an escape from the humiliations of
dhimmi status. Merchants, nobles, large landowners, and other local elites
were usually the first to convert. By the eleventh century
Muslims
outnumbered Christians in Al-Andalus.
The
Roman Catholic Church in Muslim Spain continued to function, although it
lost contact with religious reforms in
Rome. Muslim
Spain came to include a growing number of Mozarabic Christians, people who
adopted Arabic script and culture and preserved the old Christian rites from
Visigothic times, that differed from the newer rites in Rome. Under some
Muslim rulers, many Jews held prominent positions in commerce and the
professions, and sometimes even positions in government.
The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social
tensions. From the beginning, the
Berber
tribespeople of
North
Africa, who had provided the bulk of the soldiers, clashed with the
Arabs of the
Middle
East, who formed the ruling elite. The
Berbers, who
were comparatively recent converts to Islam, accounted for the majority of
Moors in Spain and they resented the sophistication and aristocratic
pretensions of the Arab elite. They soon gave up attempting to settle the
harsh lands of the northern reaches of the
Meseta Central handed to them by the Arab elite, and, complaining of Arab
duplicity, many returned to Africa during a Berber uprising against Arab rule.
Over time the relatively tiny number of Moors gradually increased with
immigration and cross marraiges. Large Moorish populations grew in the south,
especially in the Quadalquivir river valley, the narrow but fertile
Mediterranean coastal plain and in the Ebro river valley, south of Barcelona.
Like most parallels it isn't exact, but is useful because it offers a view of
what we might expect. Imagine Islam laid over an existing democracy? Moorish
Spain was NOT a fascist state.
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