Is That Legal?

Actually, I just had this discussion with my Historiography class, and the issue of nation is one of the places where Islamic radicalism doesn't fit the conventional definitions of fascism... except that Islam has very strong concepts of community (umma) and radical versions a territorial memory (bin Laden's call to "reconquer Andalusia") which mirror nationalism.

That said, the consensus was that the term carried too much baggage to be useful analytically or communicatively (though that baggage is indeed what makes it useful to the administration, a point my students didn't miss), and we had a brief (ran out of time) discussion of what terms might actually be useful....

Seems to me that you're confusing "race" and "nation" with "state." Adolf Hitler, circa 1923, acted without the imprimature of the German state. Had he blown up a building in France, he would have been what the Bush administration calls a "stateless actor."

Surely you aren't arguing that he only became a fascist when he took the reigns of state power, ten years later, are you?

Note that Bush, et al., generally use the term "Islamofascist," denoting the substitution of Islamic radicalism for the nationalism that has characterised fascism in the past. From what we've seen of characters like Bin Laden, al Zarkawi, etc., I'm persuaded that the world they would bring about (if they could) is one that exhalts Islam (as they see it) above the individual and stands for a centralized, autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader. Accordingly, I think the label is pretty accurate.

Note also that the left bears a good share of responsibility for the changing colloquial meaning of "fascist," in that they've been calling guys like Jerry Falwell "religious fascists" or "fundamentalist fascists" for decades (Googling "Jerry Falwell" and "fascist" yields 139,000 hits). Unless we're now strict originalists like Clarence Thomas, it's probably appropriate to acknowledge the fact that the meanings of words change--often faster than Merriam Webster can keep up.

Googling "Jerry Falwell" and "fascist" yields 139,000 hits

And Googling Eric Muller and fascism yields 70,000 hits. What's your point? (Though this is clearly good news for you, Eric. I notice you don't have a catchy slogan for your blog. Perhaps "50% less fascist than Jerry Falwell" would do?)

Regardless, the use of terms like "Islamofascist" is flawed for so many reasons, not the least of which is that its users (like the previous commenter) can only make the term useful with parenthetical phrases that indicate that, well, we're really talking about their "vision" for the world or their "intentions" if they only -- you know -- had the "capability" to bring those visions into existence. The problem with fascism in the late 1930s and 1940s was that it actually generated massive militarism, that it actually conquered territory and administered population transfers, death camps and the like, and that it was actually manifest in state apparatuses that could be addressed with the usual alternations of carrots and (as it turned out) sticks. Honestly, we don't know what kind of threat is actually posed by the gangs of murderers slopplily being termed "fascist" -- whatever threat they may pose, I fail to see what advantage (analytical or otherwise) we get from invoking the Munich analogy.

George Bush had the opportunity to mobilize that nation in response to this "fascist" threat five years ago. Instead, he told us to enjoy our tax cuts, travel to Disneyland, and let the "Decider" do his work with a minimum of public scrutiny.

ELM: This post was by guest-blogger Shertaugh, not by me.

Definitions matter, and since this is your playground I'm willing to live with yours. Just to be clear, though, am I correct in understanding you that prerequisites for a group to accurately be labled "fascist" are that they "actually generate massive militarism, actually conquer territory and administer population transfers, death camps and the like, and actually manifest in state apparatuses that canbe addressed with the usual alternations of carrots and sticks.

Fair enough. Narrowed in that way, I reckon fascism has been much less of a threat in the past century than anyone realised. No doubt Hemmingway committed suicide out of sheer embarassment over learning that he hadn't spent those years in Spain fighting real fascists after all (no conquests, no death camps, only limited control of state apparatus, etc.)

One wonders, though, whether your definition isn't still too broad. Perhaps you should include "actually ruled Germany, Italy or Japan between the years 1935 and 1944" just to make sure nobody tries to slip one over on you. Just a suggestion...

One wonders, though, whether your definition isn't still too broad. Perhaps you should include "actually ruled Germany, Italy or Japan between the years 1935 and 1944" just to make sure nobody tries to slip one over on you. Just a suggestion...

That would actually be a good idea, given that fascism was a unique historical movement and not just a synonym for "Evildoers." Show me a persuasive genealogical relationship between "Islamofascists" and fascists and they can perhaps join the club. Otherwise, you're doing the sloppy historical equivalent of, say, suggesting that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9-11.

"As far back as 1933, immediately after Hitler's accession to power, the British-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husayni, made contact with the German consul to declare his support and offer his help. After years of uncompromising struggle against the British and the Jews, the Mufti left Palestine, and with stops in Beirut, Baghdad and Tehran en route, reached Berlin in 1941. The most important of these stops was Baghdad, where in April 1941, an Iraqi politician called Rashid 'Ali al-Gaylani, with military support, seized power and established a pro-Axis regime. Despite some help from Syria, at that time still controlled by the Vichy authorities, the Axis powers were too far away to save him, and his regime was overthrown by British and British-led forces. In Syria a committee was formed to mobilize support for the Rashid 'Ali regime. This was the nucleus of what later became the Ba'ath party, rival branches of which came to govern both Syria and Iraq.

"Rashid Ali fled and later joined the Mufti in Berlin. Among the many who supported or sympathized with the Axis during the war years were some who later became famous. Nasser recorded his sympathy and his disappointment at Germany's defeat; Sadat according to his own memoirs, was a willing co-operator in German espionage. Even Rashid 'Ali has been resuscitated as a hero in Saddam Husayn's Iraq.

"At first sight, this enthusiasm for the Nazi cause seems very strange. Nazi racism cannot have had much appeal for a people who, according to Nazi pseudo-science, were themselves racial inferiors. Nazi propaganda, in so far as it was specifically anti-Jewish rather than generally anti-Semitic, had considerable support. But it was, after all, the persecution of Jews by the Nazis in Germany and their imitators elsewhere that was the driving force of Jewish migration to Palestine and the consequent strengthening of the Jewish community in that country. The Nazis not only caused this migration; they even encouraged and facilitated it until the outbreak of war, while the British, in the forlorn hope of winning Arab good will, imposed increasing restrictions. Nevertheless, significant numbers of Arabs favoured the Germans, who sent the Jews to Palestine, rather than the British, who tried to keep them out.

"The Axis powers tried in different ways to profit from this mood. First Fascist Italy and later Nazi Germany launched massive programmes of propaganda and penetration in the Arab world, with considerable impact on the new generation of political thinkers and activists. The Nazis in particular, by preaching hatred of Jews, were able to exploit a problem which they themselves had in large measure created." Bernard Lewis, The Middle East 348-9 (Scribner 1995).

I had thought the connections between Hitler, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Ba'ath Party were well known.