Does American Imperialism enable Islamic Fundamentalism?
Would there be less sympathy for “fundamentalist” causes if America behaved differently than it does now? It is a question that deserves introspective thinking!
The answer to the question is obvious. By engaging in imperialism, America gives Fundamentalist Muslims a chance to escape criticism. Whenever a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, Marxists can blame the material conditions and argue that resistance is justified. 9/11 can be viewed as a manifestation of class struggle instead of primitive Jihad. If Americans stopped being imperialists but Muslims continued to display similar behavior patterns, then that argument would be destroyed. It would become obvious that the motivation is not “resistance to imperialism” but a clash in the standards of civilization.
Primitive ideology would be blamed for the relative lack of industrialization in the Middle East and aggressive behavior of individuals; not class consciousness and external conditions. To advance the interests of the civilized world, I advocate an end to imperialism. It would be easy to turn world opinion against religious fundamentalism if the cloak of imperialism was removed for justification. In addition, as someone who opposes liberal democracy and its militant advancement, I am forced to side with Theocratic Islam as a lesser evil. If America stopped its imperialism, I would no longer have to make this strategic decision.
Saddam Hussein was a futuristic and modern leader. America removed him. During the war with the Soviets, America supported Al-Qaeda which is now America’s number one enemy. America enables Islamic fundamentalism and America’s imperialism in the minds of many justifies it. It is in the long term interest of infidels to stop imperialism promptly. Today America “beefs” with Iran and Afghanistan. But America played a role in the success of both fundamentalist regimes. Taking out Saddam Hussein increased the power of Iran (which is less extreme ideologically than Afghanistan), and supporting Bin Laden against USSR allowed the Taliban / Al-Qaeda alliance to rule Afghanistan.
If America had minded its own business, Afghanistan would have been Communist (at least for longer) and Iraq would still be Ba’athist. Iran would be contained, and had America not forced the Shah into power, perhaps the tension for Islamic revolution would not have been present. America enables Islamic fundamentalism and enables non-Muslims to justify it in the name of anti-Imperialism.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Notice that I am not attacking all Islam but violent radical jihadist Islam. I’m an atheist but moderate Islam is no more unacceptable than moderate Christianity or Buddhism. Without American Imperialism, Fundamentalist Islam would weaken and world opinion of its legitimacy would drop. Fundamentalist Islam would no longer “represent” South Asia but would be seen as an outcast movement similar to Keyboard Commando Net-Nazis in America. This is already happening in Arabia, but South Asia is far behind. The more America spins the gears of imperialism, the more the Fundamentalist message is accepted internally to South Asia and viewed as legitimate outside.
If you follow the chain of dominos, death to imperialism is death to fundamentalism. The details of my articulated position can be differentiated from that of Muslims who pretend to be anti-imperialists but only because they see immediate political self-interest in it.