Alan Johnson has a good piece at the World Affairs Journal on the extremist counter-reaction to jihadists. It’s prompted by a recent report by International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London [PDF], which focuses on the European Counter-Jihad Movement (a notable part of which is the EDL).
We need to understand that there are certain ways of talking about Islam that segue into racism. Too many respectable commentators in the UK and elsewhere treat Islam as timeless, a monolithic system without internal development, diversity, or dialogue, and seem to believe it essentially separate and “other,” lacking any aims or values in common with us democrats, inherently violent and supportive of terrorism. This refusal to see Islam as a faith or a civilization capable of development, but only as an alien political ideology, ironically, mirrors the Islamist narrative, merely substituting a minus sign where Qutb puts a plus sign.
By treating Islam as an exotic, unassimilable and alien threat, something fixed, alien, and threatening to “us,” these writers blur the line between criticism of religious belief and racism. And that will only allow the counter-jihad movement to flourish.
I’d add a further point, not only does it allow the counter-jihad movement to flourish, it also feeds into the conspiracy theories of the jihadists and helps further their propaganda. As an aside it is also worth noting that much of the use of the term Islamophobia to silence debate issues around extremism also uses this simplistic monolithic thinking about Islam, which is why it is bankrupt as a meaningful term.