
The discussion that follows was prompted by the article: Egyptian Elections: the ‘Arab Spring’ passes from hope to terror . The discussion was initiated by Fred.
Below is the discussion so far. Feel free to add your own comments!
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The discussion that follows was prompted by the article: Egyptian Elections: the ‘Arab Spring’ passes from hope to terror . The discussion was initiated by Fred.
Below is the discussion so far. Feel free to add your own comments!
Amos writes about the fear which is ruling Egypt at the present time. Fear of the army; of the Jihadists; of corruption; of Presidential powers and doubtless of the future too as democracy is shown not to work. This latter alone however should open a chink of hope for the future. Bourgeois rule no longer works. Think about that. What can we do instead?
But the Islamic Jihadists, and especially the group called Isis, are a worrying and scary phenomenon. Not just in Egypt but in England too! For what can it be about them that so appeals to the young? Is it their violence? Or is it a belief in paradise after death: and thus an apparent longing for death by young men who are prepared to die for Allah and the spread of his word? A belief in terror and summary executions as a way of dealing with those who don't have the specific and acceptable belief in Allah such as the Isis group of Jihadists propose? A belief in the coming to pass of Allah's empire - the Caliphate - in much the way that Christians once believed in the Christian Right to dominate Jerusalem and the Holy Land as it were a fabled realm?
So what is Isis?
This definition of Isis reveals her to be confused in the way the Isis jihadists may well be. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden. Well, allowing for a certain selectivity of choice Isis terrorists might say the same. She was sympathetic to the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Well this is modern Isis too. Only today's publicity conscious Isis, like all factions of the bourgeoisie, doesn't like ALL the wealthy or ALL rulers, only those who it appreciates as being on its side, and whatever it is its side believes in which includes wealth, power and a type of bourgeois dictatorship expressed through a Caliphate waiting to be built. The goddess Isis mothered Horus god of war and protection. An interesting contrast here where 'war' is conceived as 'protection'. It seems as if some kind of bourgeois dialectic is at work. By killing off all the baddies in war we will be left with only the goodies, which of course will be our own side. Is this what Isis jihadists think? What a pity they're not on the side of the working class against the rule of the bourgeoisie. Then their ideology - a mix up of myths, religion and longings for power; and death as the honorable way out, like Japanese samurai; and with the thought of myriads of eternally virgin maidens awaiting their arrival in paradise with their exquisite and heavenly virginal fruits at the disposal of the Isis brigade alone - then their misplaced and cruelly perverted ideological commitment would be changed, and truly become a fight between clarity and derangement; between the new proletarian vision and the old clapped out bourgeois disease; and for the good of humanity, not at the service of a vicious bourgeois sect. How incredibly archaic and naive the Isis jihadist ideology is: how does anyone fall for it? It's like some perverted version of a child's fairy story in which, for everything to turn out all right, torture and mass murder have to be applied and taken for granted. Yet this is the grim reality of today's decomposing bourgeois rule. It isn't just some fanatic jihadist group either, but the sordid reality of so much mayhem all round the globe. Idiocy rules.