al Qaeda-ism

It is a rare treat to hear someone as knowledgeable and distinguished as author Loretta Napoleoni speak to a current and complex issue, especially when one lives in a small town in southwestern Montana. Formerly a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H.Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and Rotary Scholar at the London School of Economics, she is an expert on international terrorism and presented an interesting and rarely heard perspective on the war on terror generally and the making of al Zarqawi in particular. Most provocative was the assertion that the group structure of al Qaeda, dismantled in the US led war in Afghanistan, had morphed into an unstructured but self perpetuating movement based, in Marxist fashion, on an anti-imperialistic ideology.Groups from Packistan, Yemen ,Jordan,Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, This aspect of Arab/ Muslim unrest she separated from the Islamic extremism embodied in Salafism and Waahabism and its Jihadist manifestations seen now as part of the Iraq “insurgency” or the attacks in Madrid, London and elsewhere. “Al Qaedism” envelopes those affronted by the Western (primarily American) influence in Islamic territory, from its military presence to it’s collusion with corrupt Arab governments and from imported US cultural “decadence” to its support of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. These political grievances combined with an over all sense of wounded Arab pride over loss of power and honor feed the anger and anxiety over what is seen as a modern Crusade. This movement within Islam extends from Indonesia throughout the Gulf states, into Central Asia, the Arabian peninsula and into North Africa. Just as an example,a small territory like Palestine will contain Hamas, al Aqsa Brigade, PLO, IslamicJihad , Hezballah and others.The sects within this movement vary from the reformist Muslim Brotherhood to the most radically militant.

As a Marxist I share the Arab concern over these anti-imperialist elements while at the same time I obviously cannot support either their methods or final goals. ( If we may consider a return to an 11th century caliphate a goal) This is a difficult position to explain in the current atmosphere of fear and trepidation but I believe it is entirely consistent and defensible and I have tried on this blog to do just that. From colonial exploitation through the post World War II territorial restructuring which included support for Zionism and the formation of the state of Israel, Arab lands have been pawns in the game of Great Powers, and this dis-empowerment is extended through the failure of Arab nationalism and various leftist movements to change feudal power structures or improve the lives of the masses. Oil wealth and its relationships only exacerbate these trends. Add to this the negative effects of Western consumer culture which accompany capitalist penetration and the lack of democratic representation or opportunity for self determination and it is easy to explain but not excuse the movement towards militant religious extremism. Just as alienation and exploitation lead the proletariat towards fundamentalism and the forces of reaction in developed, industrialized societies this trend is exaggerated in oppressive, authoritarian regimes such as the Monarchies of the Gulf region or Emirates of North Africa.

It is in this way a Marxist can sympathize with and even support an anti-imperialist resistance with nationalist goals while rejecting its tactics, anti-Semitic rhetoric and allies.Edward Saids’ treatment of Orientalism showed us Western involvement cannot be divorced from the historical conditions and any attempts at regime change, nation building or the spreading of democracy must be considered in the context of geopolitical competition for energy resources and past as well as continuing cold war politics. A figure like al Zarqawi could only gain status as a “revolutionary hero” through the perceived status inadvertently bestowed upon him by the Empire which uses the language of a new Crusade. Only through defeat of this empire on a global scale can there be emancipation of those oppressed by the forces of capitalism, the feudal dictatorships and religious or State totalitarianism.