All true, but clerical fascism was neither Italian fascism nor German fascism. It appeared in Lithuania (Grey Wolves), Croatia (Ustashi), Hungary (Arrow Cross--at the very end after toppling the Horthy regime) and in a weird way in Romania (Iron Guard).
-Chip Berlet
-----Original Message----- From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Grant Lee Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 10:45 PM To: LBO-Talk Subject: RE: Islamism is a fascism? (was "Herman responds")
Briefly, it seems to me that the crucial difference between present day Islamists and (say) the Italian and German fascists of the 1920s and 30s, is that the latter managed to: (1) hit enough populist notes with a substantial proportion of the masses, prior to taking power; while also (2) winking at the (then) dominant layers of international capital (e.g. heavy industry, FIRE, etc.), as shown by their relations with GM, IBM, German cartels, Swiss banks etc.
Islamists have achieved (1), at least to the extent of becoming rulers in a few semi-industrialised states and powerbrokers in many more. However (and in spite of Bin Laden's own family background), their relationship with capital in general seems uneasy, at least as long as Islamists maintain their traditional antipathy to usury, etc.