Hamas: Their "fascism" and ours

[Random Precision]

From Lenin's Tomb

Zizek describing Hezbollah and Hamas as "fascist" is no surprise - the flip side to his contrarianism is that, when in doubt, he just repeats liberal banalities because that's what he essentially believes. However, I encounter this sort of nonsense from people who ought to know better, and I think we all do. And after seeing this resentful yeah, well..." sort of reply from Alan Johnson to the Hamas minister Bassem Naeem, one starts to realise how the liberal theodicy of the Middle East conflict relies upon this canard. After all, Johnson is not the sort of nasty person to deny the Palestinians their rights (those being constrained to what is deemed compatible with the continuation of Israel's existence as a Zionist state). And since he is the sort of person who thinks Israel would as soon have peace as perpetual war, there must be some reason why it has so far failed to materialise. Extremists 'on both sides' obviously contribute to the impasse, but the real story is that Hamas plots genocide against the Jews. Can't trust 'em - not 'partners for peace'.

The ideology of Hamas is not obscure. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main goal of the organisation is to eventually replace Israel with an Islamic Republic on the whole of historic Palestine. Its most vociferously expressed conviction in its early years was the belief that Israel could not be won over through negotiations and concessions, and that only a military jihad could succeed. This in fact constituted a departure for the historically quietist Muslim Brothers, but in truth it was the first intifada and the way in which it was crushed that galvanised the organisation. Two key figures inspire Hamas' ideological orientation. The first is Sayyid Qutb, whose doctrinal contribution became a staple of Brotherhood ideology in the course of struggle with the Nasserist state. Qutb articulated a right-wing variant of Third Worldist discourse, rejecting both socialism and American-style capitalism. Like ideological confederates such as Mawdudi, he sought to renew Muslim societies from the weakness that had allowed them to be overwhelmed by colonial powers by resuscitating their moral power. Reacting against the chimera of a distinctly Western weltanschauung, comprising nationalism, secularism and liberal democracy (cf Mawdudi), Qutb regarded the unconditional sovereignty of God as the basis for such renewal. If you're an Anglo-American writer in need of a justification for perpetual war, the technical term for this doctrine is "Islamofascism".

Still, as Zizek himself has pointed out (on Haider v Blair), fascism is not just a bundle of elements (anti-socialism, anti-modern reflux, patriarchy, corporatism, etc), it is a particular articulation of those elements. In my view, it is far better to see Qutb's doctrine as a conservative form of anti-colonial nationalism, in which the plane of nationhood is transferred to the Umma. Realistically, Qutb's ideal state would probably not have differed that much from Nasser's, except for added religious trappings. Were it not for the failure of the Free Officers to accomodate the Muslim Brothers in the corporatist Egyptian state, indeed, Qutb would have been happy to support that state - he had himself been a supporter of the Free Officer rebellion. Mind you, the British had no problem deeming even Nasser a "fascist" when he nationalized the Suez Canal, because only a fascist would do something to annoy a declining empire. The second key figure for Hamas, is 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam, an important figure in the Palestinian resistance to the British occupation who was killed in the build-up to the 1936-9 uprising. In fact, Qassam had form as an anti-colonial fighter, which career he began when Italy invaded Libya in 1911, and continued with the Syrian revolt against the French Mandate. His contribution to the Palestinian struggle was to form 'Black Hand', an underground resistance movement which - of course - the British Empire considered a 'terrorist' outfit. The anti-colonial lineage is crucial, and this is recognised in Hamas ideology.

The Muslim Brothers emerged as a serious force in Palestine particularly after the 1967 war and during the Israeli occupation. In this time, the rising profile of religion in politics and daily life saw the number of mosques soar, particularly in Gaza, where the number rose over the first twenty years of occupation from 200 to 600. This was the main vector through which the Brothers established a presence, aside from using zakat to supply alms to the needy and so forth. When the first riots of the incipient intifada erupted in December 1987, several of the Brothers based at the Islamic Centre in Gaza met to discuss a response. They started to publish propaganda leaflets calling for action against the Israeli occupation, and formed the original nucleus for what would become known as Hamas (short for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or "Islamic Resistance Movement") in 1988. For nice liberals, this is the moment of disaster, but I actually think that hitherto quietest bourgeois Islamic nationalists throwing themselves into the resistance is a good development, not least since the PLO was increasingly bankrupt politically and militarily since its expulsion from Lebanon in 1982. In fact, it should be said that older members of the Brotherhood were quite trepidatious about getting involved in the uprising, since they still maintained that Palestinians needed to be educated in Islam before they could be ready for a full-scale rebellion - it was the younger generation who drove the evolution of Hamas into a serious organisation of resistance.

Hamas' goals, as explained in its Charter, are congruent with those of the Brotherhood, but place far more emphasis on the specific Palestinian problem, and less on reforming society along Islamic lines. The organisation certainly considers the whole of historic Palestine an Islamic waqf, or trust, but this is really a religious form of Palestinian nationalism. In fact, what was distinctive about Hamas in the 1990s was that while the PLO were retreating from the mainstays of Palestinian nationalism and popular armed struggle, Hamas conspicuously held to them. Of course, simple tactical flexibility has ensured that it has always differentiated its long-term goals from short-term aims such as establishing a state on Gaza and the West Bank. So it wasn't that weird for it to declare a willingness to arrive at a ten year truce with Israel based on a two-state settlement. Although Hamas is usually equated with suicide attacks, it has always been pragmatic about the use of force, deploying it in much the same way as secular Palestinian groups such as Fatah and the PFLP. It cooperated with the PLO over the Oslo negotiations process, for example, despite its misgivings. And though Hamas has always rejected the PLO's inherent right to lead the Palestinians, it has also opposed intra-Palestinian bloodshed and sectarianism and has, even before its velocitous rise since 2000, sought to forge a coalition with the organisation on an agreed platform.

The key point that has animated liberal critique of Hamas, aside from violence, is antisemitism. Without question, the early Hamas doctrine held that the defense of Palestine was part of a resistance not only against imperialism or Zionism but against essentialised blocs of Judaism and Christianity, who they depicted as engaged in an existential battle with Islam. They drew on claims from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to interpret their struggle as one against Jewish world domination. In a reductionist way, you could see this as the result of 'false consciousness', or a simple lack of class analysis. True enough, if your oppressors tell you that they represent the world's Jews, that they are the Jewish state, and you lack the conceptual apparatus with which to disentangle such nationalist myths - because you are subject to your own variant of such mythology - then the antisemitic conspiracy theories might be alluring. And this reductionist interpretation is certainly better than the even more reductionist take, which is that Islam is inherently antisemitic because of its dangerous proximity to Judaism which produces a narcissistic recoil (actually, in that highly culturalist assessment, Zizek might well have drawn consciously from Huntington or even Michael Ignatieff). I think there is also an element of subverting the morality through which Israel asserts its dominance, namely its claim to represent the victims of the Nazi holocaust. If Israel were the culmination of a conspiracy, there would be no need to defer to the tragic recent history of a People of the Book. As Edward Said never tired of arguing, this style of denunciation is a hateful inversion of logic. The proper way to undermine the legitimacy of Israeli oppression is to point out the structural similarity between Israel's racism and European antisemitism, between its modes of domination and those of European states. I need hardly add that the antisemitism in the Covenant is, however inexcusable, in no way equivalent to European antisemitism, which was not even remotely a reaction to oppression. Such analysis will hopefully become passe, at any rate, if Bassem Naeem's simple and straightforward repudiation of antisemitism is representative of Hamas' current direction. And what then will be left for the defenders of Israel, as its ministers draw on the metaphors of the Shoah to describe its atrocities against Palestinians? As increasing numbers of Jewish people reject Israel's claim to represent their interests? As Hamas defends Palestinian democracy and Israel and its allies attack it and undermine it?

Would it be better if the Left were stronger than the Islamists in Palestine? Unquestionably, if it was a Left worth its salt. If, that is, it was a Left unlike any that people like Alan Johnson or his conferes would accept. By no means do I think Hamas has the answers. As things stand, much - not all - of the Palestinian Left is taking a sectarian approach to Hamas while broadly aligning with a decrepit and corrupt nationalism that will surely bring them down with it. One would hope in the minimum for a renewed spirit of Palestinian unity, but that of course depends upon the nationalist wing evacuating itself from the imperialist camp. In the meantime, I fear that Hamas are currently the only serious resistance movement in Palestine, for all their shortcomings. The libidinised appropriation of the language of anti-fascism by liberal apologists for Israel both disgraces that tradition and helps isolate and vilify the major obstacle to Israel's successful wiping of Palestine from the map.

[Guerrilla22]

Good article, its true the western media has dubbed Hamas and other similar groups and individuals as "Islamofascist". Its doubtful they even know what exactly fascism entails. Actually, liberals and even some leftist are guilty of labelling anything they disagree with or view in a negative context as being "fascist" as well.

[black magick hustla]

I don't think it is fascist but I do think it is reactionary. But then again, I don't hold the ridicolous line of "anti-imperialism" that always ends with communists mowed down by guns with their back on the wall.

[turquino]

I think islamic FASCISM is a good description of HAMAS and their ideological forefathers in the muslim brotherhood. Their class structure is perfectly fascist: a mass organization with its base is the lower-middle class and the declassed. These are MEN who are disgusted by cosmopolitanism, and a key part of their programme is to reclaim what they feel has been denied to them: patriarchal control over the family. They HATE the big western bourgeois and their local compradors, but instead of seeking to liberate their nations and humanity, they want to take power and turn themselves into a parasitic ruling WARRIOR CASTE. And they hate socialism as much as they hate american imperialism and zionist fascism. In this regard there’s no doubt they could find a lot of common ground with the american far-right. Don’t be fooled by their ‘charity’ and tirades against globalization, their type do not possess a proletarian worldview.

I might pick up Zizek’s book, although i have found some of his previous work to be incomprehensible.

[YKTMX]

This is a good article from Seymour.

Hamas are a liberatory force with a mass base amongst the oppressed and their allies. Indeed, given the sad degeneration of the PLO and the Palestinian Left, they remain the sole force capable of liberating Palestine.

The "fascist" label is slanderous, historically abortive and has no analytical value whatsoever.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

One thing is for certain, I'd sure hate to be a worker in a Hamas-"liberated" Palestine.

[YKTMX]

You aren't and you won't be so there's nothing to worry about is there?

[NoArch]

HAMAS is a Muslim organisation and obviously holds an Islamic value system or view of the world. Muslims may be very communitarian but they are definitely not egalitarian or "communist."

The HAMAS fight against Israel and American hegemony is a noble one. Israel is artificial and imperialist; the Israelis use their military to control and impose their will upon the Palestinians and use Jewish victimology to justify themselves, an insult to historically oppressed Jews and the real oppressed Palestinians.

Any revolutionary person should whole-heartedly support the resistance in Palestine. I don't care if the Palestinians are "left" or "right," just that they are throwing countless spanners in the heart of Western capitalism and imperialism!

[Peacekeeper]

You all lay off Hamas and Hezbollah, they are the only ones who give a shit about my people, and the only ones who stand up to the Zionist Israeli child-murdering bastards!

Besides, Hezbollah is very progressive, as far as middle-eastern Muslim groups go. They support Western-style civil rights for women, etc.
Hamas, I'm not so crazy about, but I support them because they are the only group in Palestine right now with the balls to stand up to the fascist Israelis. Well, so does the Islamic Jihad, but Hamas is the most well-known in Palestine.

One thing is for certain, I'd sure hate to be a worker in a Hamas-"liberated" Palestine.

You idiot.
The Israelis have been pushing out Palestinian companies and starving their businesses of raw materials, etc., for SIX DECADES!!
No matter WHAT group finally defeats the Israeli state and establishes a Palestinian state, it will be infinitely better for Palestinian workers than it is now.

[PRC-UTE]

You all lay off Hamas and Hezbollah, they are the only ones who give a shit about my people, and the only ones who stand up to the Zionist Israeli child-murdering bastards!

Besides, Hezbollah is very progressive, as far as middle-eastern Muslim groups go. They support Western-style civil rights for women, etc.
Hamas, I'm not so crazy about, but I support them because they are the only group in Palestine right now with the balls to stand up to the fascist Israelis. Well, so does the Islamic Jihad, but Hamas is the most well-known in Palestine.



You idiot.
The Israelis have been pushing out Palestinian companies and starving their businesses of raw materials, etc., for SIX DECADES!!
No matter WHAT group finally defeats the Israeli state and establishes a Palestinian state, it will be infinitely better for Palestinian workers than it is now.

Why would you support them over say the PFLP?

[Peacekeeper]

Why would you support them over say the PFLP?

Because they are fucking pushovers and kowtowed to the Fatah idea of a two-state solution. Fuck that - that is Muslim land. All of it.
Also - they are secular. That's good in countries where theocracy would be anti-socialist, but Sharia supports a great deal of socialist ideals.

[eyedrop]

You all lay off Hamas and Hezbollah, they are the only ones who give a shit about my people, and the only ones who stand up to the Zionist Israeli child-murdering bastards!

Emotional feelings doesn't help and I hope you weren't refering to all Israelis as child murdering bastards.

Besides, Hezbollah is very progressive, as far as middle-eastern Muslim groups go. They support Western-style civil rights for women, etc.
Hamas, I'm not so crazy about, but I support them because they are the only group in Palestine right now with the balls to stand up to the fascist Israelis. Well, so does the Islamic Jihad, but Hamas is the most well-known in Palestine.



You idiot.
The Israelis have been pushing out Palestinian companies and starving their businesses of raw materials, etc., for SIX DECADES!!
No matter WHAT group finally defeats the Israeli state and establishes a Palestinian state, it will be infinitely better for Palestinian workers than it is now.

I agree with the rest of your post even though I must admit that I know too little about it to make a proper judgement. But yes Palestine must rule itself.

[Peacekeeper]

Emotional feelings doesn't help and I hope you weren't refering to all Israelis as child murdering bastards.
I agree with the rest of your post even though I must admit that I know too little about it to make a proper judgement. But yes Palestine must rule itself.

Well - the vast majority of Israelis have served in the IDF at some point. It's kind of the law (except Orthodox Jews, they are exempted). And the entire population can be conscripted in emergencies/times of war. So all Israelis are child-murderers or potential child-murderers. But I do not have much against, say, the anti-Zionist people who live in Israel.

[eyedrop]

Well - the vast majority of Israelis have served in the IDF at some point. It's kind of the law (except Orthodox Jews, they are exempted). And the entire population can be conscripted in emergencies/times of war. So all Israelis are child-murderers or potential child-murderers. But I do not have much against, say, the anti-Zionist people who live in Israel.

They have a 2 year mandatory draft as far as I remember. Why are ortodox jews exempt?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

No matter WHAT group finally defeats the Israeli state and establishes a Palestinian state, it will be infinitely better for Palestinian workers than it is now.

There's no question that Palestine is oppressed by Israel and imperialism. The question is whether or not religious reactionaries can pose any kind of meaningful solution for the workers and farmers of that area.

History has shown they cannot (for example, see Iran).

It has long been communist principle not to support reactionary "anti-imperialists" who actively fight against imperialist oppression in order to better the situation of the local parasites.

Communists recognize "the need to combat Pan-Islamism and similar trends, which strive to combine the liberation movement against European and American imperialism with an attempt to strengthen the positions of the khans, landowners, mullahs, etc." - Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions for the Second Congress of the Communist International

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

And btw, the question is not one of who "murders babies," or what religion one subscribes to. Communists must get to the root of things, and examine class forces. We have no interests seperate from those of our (working) class, and our every action is aimed at bringing forth a communist world.

[Ultra-Violence]

HAMAS is a Muslim organisation and obviously holds an Islamic value system or view of the world. Muslims may be very communitarian but they are definitely not egalitarian or "communist."

The HAMAS fight against Israel and American hegemony is a noble one. Israel is artificial and imperialist; the Israelis use their military to control and impose their will upon the Palestinians and use Jewish victimology to justify themselves, an insult to historically oppressed Jews and the real oppressed Palestinians.

Any revolutionary person should whole-heartedly support the resistance in Palestine. I don't care if the Palestinians are "left" or "right," just that they are throwing countless spanners in the heart of Western capitalism and imperialism!

^^^^^^^^^^
QOETING FOR ITS AWSOME TRUTH!
SUPPORT THE STRUGGLE WORLD WIDE!

[Kami]

So all Israelis are child-murderers or potential child-murderers.

So are all people, full stop. That doesn't mean that they're going to murder children, would ever consider murdering children, or have child sandwhich in their lunch boxes. I'm pretty darn certain at least somone in israel would stand up to a draft, and that's all that's needed to proove that statement nationalist bullshit.

In regards to the original question, though, Muslim groups, or nationalist groups, should certainly not be supported; sometimes we forget that the enemy of our enemy might well be OUR enemy as well.

Israel has its working class as well; unless your posing that the land their is somehow "owned" more by the palestinians than the israelis, shouldn't any solution be on behalf of both of the peoples, rather than one or the other?

[Destroy capitalism]

The Palestinian people are the best judges of who they want to lead and defend them. As an Irish Republican I am a sworn ally of the Palestinian people. Period.
I myself do not console myself with any religion as I have no belief in religion however some politicised African Americans and many others find solace and unity in Islam, some Africans and white Rasta's believe in Ras Tafari, from my experience of Rastas in London I wouldn't like to be a woman in their culture. I am currently reading Nawal al Saadawi who has studied all three monotheistic religions. We recently had a discussion here about Buddhism. Nobody called the Dalai Lama a CIA stooge. We all live in countries where the majority accept some sort of supernatural power (I don't know how true this is of former Soviet bloc or China). It's racist to single out Islam to be opposed to. oppose all religions by all means if you want to, I myself would like to see secular schools compulsory worldwide. I've seen the survivors of the Irish troubles console themselves they'll meet the heroes of Ireland in heaven -it GETS THEM THROUGH THE UNBEARABLE .who are we in the safety of our computer stations to take that away from ANYBODY. The plain fact of the matter is that NOWHERE are the masses ready to abandon the supernatural.Islamophobia is being carefully cultivated, it is a feature of the current dominant ideology serving the capitalist imperialist desire to despoil Arabia and Africa of wealth. Fascism was a Christian phenomenon. To a Zionist I'm a goyim or shiksa or whatever their racist term for pagan is, just like to a Loyalist I'm a Mick or a Teague. Since religions exist, are legal, have billions of adherents it's entirely unreasonable to select one form of 'magic in the sky' and single it out for abuse.I tell Muslims I meet that the despoiler will perish upon the sword of his own perfidy and greed, whatever I can do to hasten that day I will do.

[Kami]

The Palestinian people are the best judges of who they want to lead and defend them

Again, as I asked in the last post, why only the palistinian people?

As an Irish Republican I am a sworn ally of the Palestinian people. Period.

Glad to see the thought you've put into it.

I myself do not console myself with any religion as I have no belief in religion however some politicised African Americans and many others find solace and unity in Islam,

Thias does not make it a good thing.

We all live in countries where the majority accept some sort of supernatural power

[citation needed]

It's racist to single out Islam to be opposed to.

No it isn't -.- could people stop throwing "racist" around? it really lessens the impact in its proper use. I could think of many reasons one might single out islam; personal experience, it being predominant in a particular society; likely the reasons that atheists et al single out Christianity in the west.

I've seen the survivors of the Irish troubles console themselves they'll meet the heroes of Ireland in heaven -it GETS THEM THROUGH THE UNBEARABLE .who are we in the safety of our computer stations to take that away from ANYBODY.

Stop treating them like children; why should they be forbidden any knowledge the rest of us possess?

The plain fact of the matter is that NOWHERE are the masses ready to abandon the supernatural

again, stop treating people like idiots. Why are some more able to abandon it than others?

Islamophobia is being carefully cultivated, it is a feature of the current dominant ideology serving the capitalist imperialist desire to despoil Arabia and Africa of wealth.

Even where this true, it would be no reason to support Islam.

Fascism was a Christian phenomenon

Pardon?