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Failing to Confront Islamism, the Left Betrays Itself
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Originally published under the title, "The Left has
Failed to Confront Islamism"
As the world struggles to understand and cope with the rise of
pan-Islamism and international jihadi terrorism within Western countries,
one thing is becoming increasingly clear - the success of the Islamists
is partly due to what I believe is a grand betrayal of civil society by
the political left in Western democracies. Instead of leading the fight
against the fanatics' religious obscurantism, they have embraced it.
The refusal of social democrats, liberals and leftists to stand up to
Islamofascism in the democracies of Europe, North America, India and
South Africa, has also had an unintended consequence. It has paved the
way for an anti-immigrant backlash against all non-whites, in which the
left are portrayed as apologists for religious fanaticism. An unnecessary
rise of xenophobia that could have been avoided, had the left led the
struggle against Islamofascism, is now entrenched.
The success of Islamists is partly
due to a grand betrayal of civil society by the political left in
Western democracies.
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Imagine if Labour in the UK, Democrats in the U.S., the Congress and
CPM in India, socialists in France and the left in Canada had not catered
to Islamists, but instead drawn a line in the sand on such issues as
gender apartheid. Think how different things would be today. Instead
we've had more than a decade of appeasement.
Last week I sat down with a few surviving friends on the left from the
1960s, who are fortunately in Canada now. "What is wrong with the
left today?" we asked ourselves.
Back in 1965, fresh into college, I was first exposed to the
phenomenon of pan-Islamism when India and Pakistan went to war.
Millions marched chanting, "Allah O Akbar", "Death to
Hindus", "Islam Zindabad" (Long live Islam) as we followed
the mobs burning American and Indian flags and, for some reason that
escapes me now, attacking the local offices of KLM.
In the following weeks I would meet the first influential leftists in
my life. They were senior students at my college who distributed leaflets
saying "beware of religious fanaticism" and, "We want
peace, not war".
I was flabbergasted at the thought a Muslim would not want to wage
jihad against Islam's enemies and engaged in a heated debate with a med
student. What followed was weeks of missed classes, late-night debates
under dim streetlights and the opening of a new world to me — that of
politics.
Religion was not the answer, science and reason were, these senior
students convinced me.
I read Bertrand Russell's Why I am Not a Christian, Maxim
Gorky's The Mother and John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the
World.
I read Lenin, including one of his first works, Draft Theses on
National and Colonial Questions, which he had presented to the second
Congress of the Communist International — the Comintern.
This is what Lenin said about what he labelled as states, "in
which feudal or patriarchal relations predominate." Leftists who
today excuse, defend, and even support the Islamists should pay
attention:
It is particularly important to bear in
mind: The need for a struggle against the clergy and other influential
reactionary and medieval elements in backward countries; … the need to
combat Pan-Islamism and similar trends, which strive to combine
the liberation movement against European and American imperialism with an
attempt to strengthen the positions of the khans, landowners, mullahs,
etc.
I detest what communism ended up doing, but Lenin's wisdom on this
point left an imprint on this Muslim's mind forever.
The left's betrayal will not be forgotten.
Tarek
Fatah is a founder of the Muslim
Canadian Congress, a columnist at the Toronto Sun, host of a
Sunday afternoon talk show on Toronto's NewsTalk1010 AM Radio, and a
Robert J. and Abby B. Levine Fellow at the Middle East Forum. He is the
author of two award-winning books: Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State
and The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths that Fuel
Muslim Anti-Semitism.
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