[lbo-talk] Re: Identity wars, was fartback

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Mon Jul 18 16:23:02 PDT 2005


Leigh Meyers wrote, in answer to the question, 'if Al Qaeda is a blow against repression, why are the bombers mostly educated western or Saudi muslims' (I paraphrase):


>Why was the Cuban revolution led by a Columbia educated
>lawyer, and a dentist(...in his homeland that's "doctor").

It is a bad comparison. The Cuban revolution was popular, and its military struggle was popular, too. By contrast, the London bombings have been condemned by every Islamic group in Britain, and many outside. Pew Research finds in Islamic countries that fundamentalism is seen as a big problem and support for AQ a small minority. In Leeds, Muslims held demonstrations against the bombers.

The ideology of fundamentalism (that finds an echo in some Wahhabi and Deobandi commentaries) excoriates the Islamic states *and masses* as corrupt, dehumanising them the better to wage war against them.

Some people might take opposition to the Iraq war as support for Al Qaeda's aims, but that seems a bit barking to me. Al Qaeda does not want to see democratic self government in Iraq, but opposes the occupation only insofar as it is an exemplar of man-made law, which is an affront to God's law.

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