(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Tirza Shorr - Global left radicals ("Reds") and Islamists ("Greens") may hold vastly different beliefs, but they exhibit similarities in their respective all-encompassing ideologies and ways of political and militant action. Both feature uncompromising and enforced dogmas and both believe that their religious or political solutions will solve humanity's historical ills. The Red-Green Alliance's common enemy is the West: socialists believe the West is exploitative, oppressive, inequitable, and hegemonic. Islamists believe the West corrupts traditional morals, is overly focused on materialism, and wishes to dominate them. Aggressive practices of "revolution" and "resistance" are common to left radicals and Islamists. Both movements exploit the poor and marginalized of their societies to mobilize armed struggle. Though ideologically fierce and focused, the societies born of socialist thought and Islamism are severely flawed. Their ideologies ultimately appeal to naive followers in the West - "useful idiots" - who serve the corrupt Red-Green Alliance's metaobjective of world domination. The writer is a senior researcher and program coordinator at the Jerusalem Center.
2024-07-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive