Friday Evening, November 03, 2006Our Political Lexicon:
Exploring the Language of Post-Sept. 11, 2001
Five terms to think about regarding the Political Lexicon of Our Times
[downloaded from NPR.org. and edited by CP Farrow]
In the wake of the 9/11/01 attacks, a slew of new terms with political implications -- including jihad and Islamofascism -- entered the American Political lexicon.
Every political generation spawns a new set of terms -- ideas, words, rhetoric to help explain, simplify, advance or destroy a cause. Below, political thinkers comment on some of the terms currently being widely used today in American Politics
Term #1: Jihad: Some argue that using the term "jihad" to describe al-Qaida extremists "slanders" the theological concept of jihad and alienates many Muslims. Military historian Mary Habeck, author of Knowing Thy Enemy, says that the people who call themselves "jihadis" believe they are engaging in a just war -- and they've been successful in convincing other Muslims of this. I am not convinced of this…
Term #2: Islamofascism: Paul Berman, a prominent liberal intellectual and senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, is the author of Terror and Liberalism. He says that radical Islamists have something in common with fascist movements of the past. Islamic history professor Douglas Streusand says that there are totalitarian leanings in al-Qaida's stated goal of restoring the Caliphate. I agree with this assessment. Al-Qaeda is reactionary in their approach, just as the Italian Fascist movement was under Mussolini…
Term #3: War on Terror: Former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, a neoconservative who advocated for regime change in Iraq, says "war" is the appropriate term to use in the struggle against Islamic extremists. But many others disagree because there will always be terrorism, so to imply that this thing we got going right now is a war, in the traditional sense of the word, would also mean that we will always be at war. I disagree with this…this is not a War on Terror. We are clearly fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the rest of the activities? I don't know, maybe police work?
Term #4: Imperialism: Historian Niall Ferguson, of Harvard and Oxford, is the author of The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent Of The West. He says Americans don't like to acknowledge it, but the United States has become an empire "despite its own best wishes." Sadly I agree, nation building, including actively spreading democracy is what I would consider “imperialism.”
Term # 5: Democracy; Francis Fukuyama, an academic and author of America at the Crossroads, became famous for his idea that the end of the Cold War marked the triumph of liberal democracy. That philosophy helped underpin neoconservative arguments for a U.S. policy aimed at spreading democracy across the Mideast. But Fukuyama says he's been misunderstood.
Read on Below…itz good stuff:
The impact of Sept. 11, 2001, forced America to engage in a kind of national "cramming session." Within weeks, such terms as "jihadist" and "war on terror" entered the American English lexicon. It wasn't long before Islamic extremists became "Islamofascists," and within months, America's publicly-stated Middle East policy became one of "democracy promotion."
All of these words and terms are understood in a variety of ways, both at home and abroad. What isn't clear is the extent to which these different interpretations affect practical policy.
Take "
jihadist," for example. To most non-Muslim Westerners, a jihadist would be defined as an Islamic extremist who uses violence for religious reasons. Indeed, built into the 7th century notion of jihad is the idea of warfare. But it's not so simple, because Islam treats violent jihad as a regulated endeavor, governed by very strict laws of conduct.
Then there's the other problem:
Jihad has a multiplicity of meanings -- so many layers, in fact, that its meaning lies largely in the mouths of those who use it.
Professor Douglas Streusand says that's why U.S. officials should stop using the term altogether. Streusand is an Arabic and Farsi speaker with a doctorate from the University of Chicago. He teaches Islamic history at the Marine Corps Staff College in Quantico, Va. In a paper written for and circulated among top military brass in the Pentagon, Streusand argues that describing Islamist militants and insurgents in Iraq as "jihadists" is hurting U.S. policy.
Why? Because according to Streusand, "
for a Muslim, jihad is a good thing. It literally means striving in the path of God." By describing insurgents or terrorists as "jihadists," he argues, we imply we are fighting meritorious Muslims. To make the point clearer, he says it would be as if al-Qaida called its enemies "freedom."
His suggestion? Use Islamic legal language. The term he suggests is "hirabah" -- literally, an unjust form of warfare.
Not everyone agrees with Streusand's argument. And clearly, U.S. policymakers, including President Bush, use the word "jihadists." Yet Streusand says that changing the language ever so slightly may have a beneficial impact on public opinion in the Islamic world.
Ultimately, the use (or misuse) of language is not going resolve the conflict taking place. A resolution requires something far more substantive, whether diplomatically or militarily. But perhaps by understanding the impact of that language, we can begin to repair some of the geopolitical fractures that have come to define the beginning of the 21st century.
Consider the term "
Islamofascism," which the president and policymakers began using last fall. From their perspective, the term equates the struggle against terrorism with past struggles that pitted liberalism against totalitarianism. Indeed, in English the word "fascism" has become a synonym for something bad, rather than a description of specific ideology or form of government. The very term imparts a sense of urgency.
But Khaled Abou el Fadl, who teaches Islamic law at UCLA, believes this term is a linguistic red flag. In his view, the word combines Islam and fascism -- in effect, marking all Muslims as "the enemy." Even if there are elements common to al-Qaida and the traditional fascist movements of the 1920s and '30s, he argues that that the term "Islamofascism" is too broad to make that point. He would prefer something more specific, such as "
fascist-like al-Qaida extremists" -- a term he thinks most Muslims would accept. Such a change in language, he says, might make it easier for Muslims to see U.S. policy not as an attack on Islam, but as a struggle against a common enemy.
Remember…
Words really do matter…Charlie Farrow…Have a great weekend or a fun-filled, albeit safe next two days and I will see you on Monday!
