It wasn't a trick question. If something doesn't apply to you, then don't apply it to yourself and get on a high horse. The message wasn't written to piss Chip B off, since I assumed you already had satisified yourself that you and I weren't going to agree. Sheesh. And I'm the one told to lighten up and grow a sense of humor.
I believe the strength of a term like 'clerical fascism' should be that it help explains something without oversimplifying.
You write:
>Both fascists and totalitarians denounce democracy, Ben Bella embraces it
within
a religious tradition. So he is neither a fascist or a totalitarian.
Well Hitler embraced liberal democracy and its terminology when it served his purposes. Most of the analysis didn't start til Germany was occupied and the bodies got counted (or didn't).
What have been called totalitarian states have gone out of their way to incorporate the word 'democracy' in their titles.
More interestingly, Ben Bella uses the some of the same language as OBL and the Taliban: Where Ben Bella says, ' Yes, Islamic, but under the sign of the choura, or consultation of the population commonly known as democracy.' Well, gosh, OBL is at pains to stress this too--'consultation' being the key term. And perhaps with his collaborators he is quite consultative and democratic. Certainly some find his thoughts coherent and appealing, and perhaps they are no more irrational in what they choose to believe than sociologists from North America.
So, by their language, Ben Bella and OBL might want something of the same thing. Perhaps the key to understanding OBL and his appeal starts with people like Ben Bella. Or, Ben Bella's liberation struggle could be the same as OBL's, only something has gone terribly wrong. Or Naipual could be quite right. I don't know. I wasn't baiting you with Naipaul, because I couldn't care less whether or not those on the left like him or not. He may well have a point about Islam in the converted countries being more a problem than a solution. I'm trying to revise and complicate my views here.
Charles Jannuzi