A Tale of Two Extremes: Islamist Extremism & Far-Right Fascism
Author: Mohamed Hineidi - Director at EMAN Network
EMAN’s stated mission and vision is to combat hate speech and radicalisation by exposing extremists of all creeds, religions and ideologies. On our website, people can find fascists from all the three major monotheistic faiths, in addition to a handful of Hindu nationalists and non-religious extremists and fascists -- primarily far-right, neo-fascist and White supremacist organisations.
In this blog, we will focus on the two most dangerous forms of extremism and radicalism prevalent today: global Islamist extremism, and far-right fascism in the Western world. Although EMAN will continue exposing hate preachers and extremists belonging to all faiths and ideologies, Islamist extremists and far-right fascists pose the greatest danger today due to their transnational networks, their role in domestic politics, impact on certain regional geopolitical shifts, large follower base, and the trajectory at which these two ideologies are heading. Yes, Hindutva terrorism is a major problem, but this issue remains confined in India and has not yet become a transnational problem. The same logic applies to Jewish extremism and Buddhist extremism. Jewish extremism today is primarily confined in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, while a small number of obscure Buddhist extremists - albeit with a large follower base -- operate in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Islamist extremism and far-right western fascism, however, are formidable ideologies prevalent across today’s world, with the latter becoming a growing problem across much of the Western World. Both ideologies have millions of adherents across the world, and both ideologies have resulted in terrorism, carnage, failed states, anti-government violence - and at times - genocide. While the most radicalised elements of Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish elements also call for the genocide of Muslims, Christians and other minorities in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Israel-Palestine; their hate speech, rhetoric and actions cannot be compared in terms of magnitude to extremist Islamist and far-right ideologues.
Transnational far-right White Supremacist organisations believe that western countries face a collective and common global existential threat from various minorities. The most regularly targeted minorities by far-right extremists in the western world today are Muslims, Jews and other minorities. Some far-right extremists, white supremacists and fascists, however, have adopted a “Judeo-Christian” philosophy that seeks to vilify only Muslims. Others have continued the centuries-old tradition of only targeting Jews. Far-right extremists and hate preachers have also targeted women, the LGBTQIA+ community, individuals and organisations they consider ‘left-wing’, and governments. These transnational White supremacist groups believe that the “West” is a monolith facing invasions by refugees seeking to import medieval mentalities to destroy their way of life and that this “White Christian identity is being sold out by political elites committed to multiculturalism”. Many Western far-right extremist individuals and organisations have also adopted a Christian identity for political purposes, with some doing so loosely as a further justification to their argument that to defend the West is to defend Christianity.
Extremist Islamist individuals and organisations have an identical modus operandi to Western far-right elements and movements. They also leverage their transnational loyalties and connections to preach, recruit and finance extremist Islamist causes by making similar arguments - that a “crusade” led by non-Muslim countries with the backing of some Muslim countries is being waged, and that the only way to fight against Muslim oppression is to take up arms and fight. Islamist extremism, however, has manifested itself in deadlier ways - with entire cities and countries falling to extremist Islamist terrorist organisations.
In Syria, an entire province continues to be controlled by Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham, the supersized successor of the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Al Nusra. A significant portion of Yemeni territory, including its capital Sana’a, remains controlled by the Houthis -- a radical militant Islamist organisation that has dragged that country back decades and has allowed Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to flourish in areas under its control. Afghanistan presents itself as the best case in point in how Islamist radicalism can manifest, and what that ideology can lead to. In under three weeks in August 2021, the entire country fell to the Taliban, and while EMAN does not seek to answer questions regarding intelligence failures or how the international community underestimated the Taliban’s strength and resolve, we seek to shed light on the fact that the entire country is now in the hands of a radical Islamist organisation that is currently fighting a turf war with an even more extremist group - Daesh.
As an acronym, Daesh contains the word “State”, emphasising the magnitude and reach of radical violent militancy that we have collectively witnessed within extremist Islamism. This ideology however stems from an older ideology, political Islamism. Despite being far less violent than Salafi-Jihadist organisations like Daesh, political Islamism - epitomised in the last century by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Arab World and beyond - sought to exploit existing political structures to wrest control of Muslim-majority countries from leaders who they saw as incompetent. While disagreeing with the competency of any ruling party or leadership anywhere in the world is natural; political Islamists have sought to exploit religion to galvanise people by claiming that incumbent leaders across the Muslim World were not “Muslim” enough and that the solution to any problem can only be accomplished when Islamists assume power and enact certain ‘sacred’ changes.
Fascism, extremism and radicalism exist across all religions and creeds. Today, we are seeing extremism manifest itself so widely due to internet access, the ease at which disinformation can be shared, the appeal of conspiracy theories, and the austere brevity of online self-radicalisation. Challenging social media platforms that are accused of not doing enough to stymie extremist content remains an arduous and daunting task for many governments around the world. And while this battle continues to compel tech giants to take a tougher approach to online content on their platforms, the main war EMAN is fighting is exposing and combatting hate speech and incitement that has directly or indirectly affected the lives of millions of people around the world -- whether it is verbal incitement against minorities by an obscure hate preacher on live television interview to whole countries falling to the hands of extremist terrorist organisations.
