an Afro-Asianevent,alongwithlonefigures like[Josip
Broz]TitofromYugoslavia.Theterm“tricontinental”
arosein revolutionaryCuba andwasa particular favour-
ite of Che[Guevara], to connotea fundamental unityof
LatinAmerica,AfricaandAsiaas victimsof colonialism
andimperialism. Thetermwaspopularisedthroughre-
volutionarypublications, international conferences, etc.
I do sometimes usethe term“Third World”, simplybe-
causeit is veryfamiliarfor a lot of people, but I dislike its
Frenchjournalistic origins.I preferthe term“Tricontin-
ent”because of its revolutionary originandCubanassoci-
ation.
COMMERCIALISATIONOFRELIGION
Manythoughtthatwithmodernityandthe“passingof
time”,religionwouldretreatfrom thepublicsphereand
thatit wouldbelessimportantformodernmanwith
progressin scienceandrationality.Butcontraryto that,
religiosityis growingsignificantlyall overtheworld.
Howwouldyouexplainthisgrowingreligiosity?
Thetruthof Europemustalwaysbe viewed fromthe
standpointof its victims. Secularism,in thesenseof a
formalseparationbetweenChurch andstate,certainly
got institutedin mostWesterncountries,but religiondid
notdisappearfrompublic life.In his essay“TheJewish
Question”,Marxdemonstrates brilliantlyhowthe formal
privatisationof religionin the U.S.madeit all the more
sancrosanct by placingit beyondthereachof thestate.
Anti-Semitismremaineda featureof all Western societ-
ies,to lesseror greater degree, untilit reacheditsfinal
orgiastic crescendoin the Naziextermination of Jews.
EdwardSaiddocumentedat lengthhowold,punc-
tualandineradicablehasbeenEurope’shatredof Islam.
Thereis muchtruthin [TheodorW.]Adorno’ssardonic
commentthatinsteadof disappearing religion justgot
commercialised andthatthe onlythingthatremained of
theChristianfaithwasits hatredof theneighbour.Is-
lamophobiais the newnamefor an old disease. It is true,
though, thatthisdiseasehasbeenshowingverylethal
newsymptoms overthepasttwodecadesor so as the
Westhas wageda brutalwaragainstMuslimpopulations
overa vastexpansefromthe RedSeaandthe Levantto
NorthandWest Africa.
In ourpartof theworld,increasingreligiosityis
amongthe manyformsof right-wing ascendancyin our
time,andit is structurallyconnectedto the defeat and/or
retreatof the Left.Secular nationalismandcommunism
werethedominantpoliticaltrendsin a hostof Muslim
countries suchas Indonesia,Iran,Iraq, Egypt,Sudan,
etc.,preciselywhere Islamismis nowdominant,includ-
ing in its Salafiandjehadiforms.Roughly the samecould
be saidaboutIndiaif youcomparetoday’sIndiawiththe
Indiaof 50 yearsago.Thisis by no meansjusta local
development.Imperialismfoughtas hardagainstsecular
nationalismas it foughtagainstcommunismbecause
bothposeda greatthreatto imperialinterests. Right-
wingforcesof all stripes gained immeasurably from
thoseimperialist offensives.
Islamistpoliticsis beingplayedoutin differentformsin
differentcountries.Whatis thehistoryandgrowthof
politicalIslam?HowdoIslamistpoliticsand
Islamophobia reinforceeachother?
Political Islam,as we nowknowit in many variants,
wasfirst confectedsome70 yearsagoin keepingwiththe
TrumanDoctrine,whichpostulatedthatIslam—the
WahhabiIslam of Saudi ArabiaandtheSalafiIslamof
the Muslim Brotherhood—wasthe mostreliablebulwark
againstcommunismin theMiddleEast[WestAsia].
And,the Westneededto controlthe MiddleEastbecause
it alsohappenedto be the placewherethe largest reserves
of theindustrialworld’smostimportant strategicraw
materials, petroleumandnaturalgas,werelocated.The
U.S.intelligenceandcounter-insurgencynetworks cul-
tivated as wellas created Islamicextremistsaroundthe
world veryextensively.
As soonas a progressive,communist-orientedgov-
ernmentarosein Afghanistan, theU.S.managedto as-
semble an anti-communist force comprising CIA
[CentralIntelligenceAgency]-paid—andSaudi-paid—
Mujahideendrawnfromsome40 countriesfor the Is-
lamiccrusadeagainstthosegodlessanti-imperialists.
Leaders of the MuslimBrotherhood werefirst received in
the WhiteHouseby President [DwightD.]Eisenhower.
Thecoreleadersof thisnewgangof Mujahideenwere
received in the White houseby Ronald Reagan.Beforehe
turned againsttheU.S.,OsamaBinLadenwasa CIA
asset.As the U.S.andits allieslaunchedmoreandmore
wars against Muslim countries, every independent
journalistandscholarwarned thattheseinvasionswould
necessarily create a whole new breedof anti-West
terrorists.
TheU.S.,however, knewwhatit wasdoing. It has
beenremarkablysuccessful in keepingjehaditerror out
of the Westerncountries,withthe exceptionof abouthalf
a dozen mostlyminorevents overalmosttwodecades,
whileit condemned millionsto death, destructionand
homelessness.Againstthisbackdropof endlesswars
againstentirepopulations,theU.S.playsa complex
game withvarious jehadioutfits,fightingthosewho
threatenits interestsbutalsokeeping many of themin
reserveto unleashthemin various partsof the worldas
andwhenrequired,in LibyaandSyriaalreadyandvery
probablyin CentralAsianMuslim-majorityrepublicsas
wellas the Muslim-majorityzonesof Chinain the fore-
seeablefuture.VeryfewWesterners havebeenkilledby
jehadi terror,but thisterrorhas killedhundredsof thou-
sandsof Muslimsacrosscountriesandcontinents. These
games of empire,in theseparticular forms, arealso
amongthe morbidsymptoms of ourtime. $Jipson JohnandJitheeshP.M.arefellows at
Tricontinental: InstituteforSocialResearchand
contributeto variousnational andinternational
publications includingTheHindu,TheCaravan,The
WireandMonthlyReview.Thewriters canbe reached
[email protected]
[email protected].