Paz on 13/2/2006 at 03:45
No no, that got definite laughs :D
Chimpy Chompy on 13/2/2006 at 18:11
Quote Posted by Paz
Yes, they may have been surrounded with the language of religion - but at heart, are they not political actions?
I dunno. I'm sure there are some EVIL PUPPET MASTERS with political agendas, but it also seems to me the average al-qaeda bomber has "fight enemies of my faith!" far closer to his heart than the average IRA dude did. Also even if the PUPPET MASTERS are after some kind of political sea change, it would most likely be to a lovely theocratic state of affairs.
Tho I suppose there is room in places like Iraq for it all to get mixed up (ex-baathists, al-qaeda and just generally disgruntled guys on a joint bomb-a-thon?).
[edit]I'm in full agreement with the notion that integration is the way forward. Let's open a great big can of worms and ask how much "multi-culturalism" helps that! Or let's not.
Stitch on 13/2/2006 at 22:35
I think it's clear that this issue can only be settled with a third thread.
SubJeff on 13/2/2006 at 22:59
Or even some people making posts that aren't just "olol commentary".
SubJeff on 13/2/2006 at 23:22
Well done that man!
But you would have served yourself better if you had posted the actual post (as opposed to this commentary) first.
TheGreatGodPan on 13/2/2006 at 23:26
The I.R.A is way different. The bulk of the people who started the movement were Protestants, and the I.R.A became an officially Marxist organization that viewed the Catholic church itself as opressors. They didn't have much support from Catholic non-Irish, which is why nobody would really care what Italian-American Catholics think of it. With Islam there are organizations that are (officially) secular and usually Marxist-nationalist like Fatah (although they've drifted toward Hamas territory because they're more popular), but a lot of the movements transcend national boundaries. Al-Qaeda is possibly the best example. They recruit Arabs, Berbers, Chechens, Africans, Indonesians and anybody else they can get their hands on. The unifying factor is their strain of Islam.
Paz on 14/2/2006 at 00:31
Quote Posted by TheGreatGodPan
the I.R.A became an officially Marxist organization
The IRA didn't become anything. Sinn Féin split in the late 60s over issues of Marxism, and one half of that split became the "Sinn Féin Workers Party" (amongst other things).
The non-Marxist element (who are the Sinn Féin we know and love today) are completely different.
Both are political parties. Neither of them are 'the IRA' - which is a paramilitary group.
(Also, I can't quite tell - but are you suggesting Islamic terrorist groups are taking a cue from the infamously religion-friendly Karl Marx? Maybe they, like many supporters and critics of Marxism, haven't actually read any?)
Wyclef on 14/2/2006 at 01:10
There was also a split between the orthodox Marxist Official IRA and the Provos in the 60s. I'm not sure the former is even still around.
Quote:
Also, I can't quite tell - but are you suggesting Islamic terrorist groups are taking a cue from the infamously religion-friendly Karl Marx?
That would be a strange claim indeed. The only organization I can think of that might be said to blend le Marxisme and Islamism is <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujahedin-e_Khalq">People's Mujahedin</a>, but I don't think they really have a coherent ideology. The rise of Islamism coincided with the failure of the various secular, putatively socialistic nationalisms (Ba'athism, Nasserism, etc.)
There's a sort of weird, Manichaeistic right-wing tendency to link their various ideological enemies into one vast network. Hopefully tggp isn't afflicted.
Paz on 14/2/2006 at 01:35
You would say that, you filthy Homoslamic Libraxist.
