Islamism

Letter: More on secularism

I agree with Hein Htet Kyaw’s main argument , but want to register a few initial queries and reservations. The USA assisted Islamist movements in Afghanistan in their battle against the Russian occupation (1979-88). But it was not “resurrecting” them, and did not have a control over them it later lost. For the US strategists, it was enough that the Islamist movements tied down and undermined Moscow. The rise of political Islam as a right-wing force channelling social rebellion in the Middle East and elsewhere was, as Hein says, “locally rooted”. It was not invented by the USA, any more than...

Why we defend Salman Rushdie

Free speech and the right to criticise are vital for a democratic society and religious leaders do not have the right to prohibit or threaten their critics.

Thirty years since The Satanic Verses

Last month [September 2018] saw the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses . Rushdie’s sprawling novel defies summary: interlinking stories meld scurrilous fantasies, dark humour and cutting political satire directed not only at Islam, but British racism and Indian immigrants’ attempts to adapt. It is an honest attempt to deal with the warping pressures of racism, religion and cultural dislocation. When it was published in September 1988 there was no spontaneous grassroots opposition. According to Kenan Malik in From Fatwa to Jihad , one early move...

The Lady of Heaven row: no to religious censorship

See also this piece by Kenan Malik. Following protests organised by right-wing Sunni Muslim groups outside cinemas showing the film The Lady of Heaven , the Cineworld chain has cancelled all screenings of it. (Read the Guardian ’s report here .) We have not yet seen the film, but this is how things look to us. The writer of The Lady of Heaven is himself a right-wing religious bigot – a Shia Muslim sectarian hostile to Sunnis. From what we understand the main purpose of the film is to promote such sectarianism. But a film having politics judged objectionable is not a justification for it being...

Tories’ "extremism" adviser airbrushes far right

Last year 22% of referrals to the government’s “Prevent” strategy for countering “extremism” concerned Islamist radicalisation; 25% concerned the white nationalist far right. (Larger numbers for “mixed, unstable or unclear ideology”; only a very few referrals for far left ideas.) Seven years ago the Islamist figure was about five times higher than the far right one (and five times higher than it is now). Of “Channel” cases concerning “radicalisation of vulnerable individuals”, 46% concerned far-right ideas and 22% Islamist ones. Some more radical Islamists engage in violence; but there have...

1971: Bangladesh's "Liberation War"

The first part of this series, ‘The origins of Bangladesh and Pakistan’s 1968’ , was published in December 2021. “Kill three million and the rest will eat out of our hands.” So Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan is said to have told his top brass in March 1971, as they prepared war against the people of East Bengal. By the time Bangladesh – “Bengal Nation” – gained its independence in December, Pakistan’s army had murdered at least several hundred thousand civilians and many more had died from disease, malnutrition, etc. These were among the worst atrocities of the 20th century, seeking to suppress...

Women's Fightback: Taliban ban women actors

The Taliban have banned dramas and soap operas which include women actors. This comes as part of newly announced directive from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The Taliban also called on women television journalists to wear the hijab when presenting. The Ministry called for banning films or programmes that were against Islamic and Afghan values, a vague formulation. “These are not rules but a religious guideline”, ministry spokesman Hakif Mohajir told AFP. Afghan television channels have offered a wide range of programmes — outside of news the most popular have...

Afghanistan, the Taliban and the British left: lessons from 2001

Everyone on the left is saying that the current disaster in Afghanistan shows that no-one should rely on US militarism to deal with the danger of Islamist militarism like the Taliban's. And that's true. No-one on the left is claiming that the Taliban taking Kabul is a victory for liberation, anti-imperialism, or self-determination. Right again: it isn't. It's a result which threatens to crush all women's rights and almost all personal liberties, let along collective civil rights, for the people of Afghanistan's cities especially. But then why did a large chunk of the left implicitly or...

Women's Fightback: Support Afghan women against the Taliban

The Taliban continues to make rapid territorial gains in Afghanistan following the announcement that almost all foreign troops will leave by September. The Taliban has captured half of the territory of Afghanistan, particularly the rural areas, and several provincial capitals. Fighting has increased around the major cities of Herat, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar. Tens of thousands of Afghans have applied for visas to leave the country, fearing Taliban reprisals. The US and Afghan government have responded by airstrikes and bombing of Taliban positions. Workers’ Liberty has never supported the US...

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