This text is riddled with questionable scholarship and a deeply conservative form of red-baiting.
>
> THE DOUBLE DEATH OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM
> by Philip Cunliffe
>
> In 1994, Olivier Roy, Research Director at the Paris Centre
> for National
> Scientific Research,
<<SNIP>>
Olivier Roy has written a lot of detailed and impressive material on political Islam, but he seems caught in a need to trash the left and link it to militant Islamic fundamentalism.
<<SNIP>>
> But, despite the popular images of the revival of primordial religious
> impulses, the ideology that followed the demise of Arab nationalism was
> distinct from a mere restoration of religious orthodoxy (that is the
> usual understanding of religious fundamentalism). The difference lies
> in the fact that Islamism defines Islam explicitly as a political system
> of thought, as a political basis with which to restructure modern state
> and society (rather than merely as a cultural practice).
religious fundamentalism is the "mere restoration of religious orthodoxy" only if you do your research in the tabloids. The majority trend in religious studies is to see religious fundamentalism as claiming to seek the restoration of orthodoxy but in fact creating a new and often highly politicized social movement that is a reaction to modernism but actually quite modern itself. The multi-volume University of Chicago Fundamentalisms Project makes this quite clear with a few exceptions. Also the work of Karen Armstrong.
<<SNIP>>
>
> Following the demise of Third World nationalism, Islamism in
> the 1970s
> and early 1980s fused reactionary themes of religious revivalism with
> traditional Third World themes of anti-imperialism and North-South
> opposition. Consequently, there seem to be many points of similarity
> between Islamism and traditional Third World liberation movements.
> Militant groups such as Hizbollah often adopted and 'Islamicised' the
> political vocabulary and organisation of Third World revolt. The
> 'hizb', 'shura' and 'amir' of scripture substituted for the vanguard
> party, central committee and secretary general of Leninist
> organisation,
> respectively.
Let's see, what do you call it when reactionary ideology is fused with revolutionary emotions? Why, it's called fascism!
"Reactionary concepts plus revolutionary emotion result in Fascist mentality." --Wilhelm Reich
Militant Islamic fundamentalism is better described as a form of clerical fascism than a religious form of socialist Third World liberation struggles. This is a clever way to feed red-baiting and provide a scholarly cover for the xenophobic Clash of Civilizations thesis. Capitalist Judeo-Christian West v. Socialist Islamic East.
<<SNIP>>
>
> The rise of Islamism parallels the rise of Western 'new social
> movements' (NSMs), such as environmentalism and feminism. While the
> influence of Western NSMs grew from the decline of the
> organised labour
> movement post-1970, Islamism expanded over the ruins of Third World
> nationalism. Organisationally NSMs and Islamist movements
> exhibit many
> similarities.
Yes, if you think it is of great significance that milk is white and chalk is white. Recent critiques of NSM theory point out that it is quite easily adapted by right-wing populist groups and groups in the Third World. NSM theory originally focused on NSM development on the left and in late capitalist societies. Now the NSM characteristics are seen as more broadly applicable to a wide variety of movements. It is fair to argue that some aspects of Militant Islamic fundamentalism can be analyzed using NSM theory, but the rest of the attempted analogy is very weak, and ties back into the implicit red-baiting.
For an actual left-wing analysis of militant Islamic fundamentalism as a form of clerical fascism, see:
THE SHOCK OF RECOGNITION: Looking at Hamerquist's “Fascism & Anti-Fascism” by J. Sakai http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/books/fascism/shock.html
-Chip Berlet