[Marxism] Salma Yaqoob on "Islamofascism"

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/salma_yaqoob/2006/08/not_so_bright_martin.html
An unholy alliance

Lazy accusations of fascism against 'radical Islam' play into the hands of 
US neocons and warmongers - as Martin Bright has learned.
Salma Yaqoob

Martin Bright says he feels "rather awkward" about his newfound friends. So 
he should: anybody who claims to be on the left and finds their arguments 
being championed by a bunch of warmongering neocons should pause and 
reflect how they got themselves in that position.

In Bright's case, the answer is simple. The ideological cover for the 
violent remapping of the Middle East and new imperial conquest is the 
language of the "war on terror" and tackling the evil of "radical Islam". 
All expressions of Muslim radicalism are presented as paving the way to 
"fascism" and terrorism. And as in the old cold war, the same scattergun, 
McCarthyite propaganda is applied. If Conservative and neocon commentators 
are feting Martin Bright, it is only because he is repeating their mantra.

Bright's main "discovery" is that the Foreign Office is engaged in a "love 
affair with radical Islam". The idea that the Foreign Office is appeasing 
radical Muslims is one of the most absurd notions he puts forward. If the 
invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq war, the existence of Guántanamo Bay and 
Abu Ghraib and the refusal to even criticise Israeli aggression are 
evidence of Foreign Office "courting" of Muslims, I hate to think what 
would happen if things became acrimonious.

The reality is that the Foreign Office does have a policy of appeasement - 
towards American imperialism. The events of the last few weeks have 
dramatically underlined this. While 150 countries called for an immediate 
ceasefire to end the violence in Israel and Lebanon, three countries 
opposed it: America, Israel and Britain. Indeed America speeded up its 
shipments of bombs to Israel, and bomb-laden planes were allowed to refuel 
in Britain. The overriding framework of British foreign policy could not be 
clearer.

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