The idea that the Palestinian people have only been able to persist because of their religion is ridiculous to me. They are resisting because colonialism, apartheid and genocide are very bad things to which nobody would want to be subjected, not because of Islam. If Palestinians were atheists, is he suggesting that they wouldn’t have the strength or the will to resist? Would their lack of a belief in the supernatural turn them into doormats for Isn’treal?

I like Hakim’s content, but his position on religion is quite frustrating. He is a Muslim first and a Marxist second. Also, Joram van Klaveren is still a right-winger.

  • @doccitrus
    9•6 months ago

    The first time I read this comment, I started to write a reply but then realized that I’m not totally sure what you mean in some places, and I figured it would be better to ask than just assume.

    Islam in this context is a material force, precisely because it is imbedded in the people - the colonized and the working classes, in their decision-making and power. It becomes entrenched in the material base.

    What do you have in mind with the notion of ‘entrenchment’ here?

    It is in the masjid where muslims congregate and form communal bonds. It is in the masjid where people recieve their political and cultural education.

    How does this distinguish the masjid from superstructural institutions generally, like schools or mass media?

    It is in the masjid grounds in which people partake in the political economy.

    What does this mean? That the masjid is an employer? That it’s a marketplace? Or just that it carries out the functions of the state in Islamic societies?

    Why is it when state secularism and athiesm is mentioned, we only mention those in AES, like the conditions of the ummah is somehow exactly one-on-one the same as that of China or the USSR?

    To be clear here, ‘the’ ummah extends to everywhere Islam is believed or practiced? Or does it mean instead something more like ‘Muslim countries’?

    Islam is the form that the anti-imperialist essence of the ummah takes.

    To make sure I understand what you mean here, Is this a fair (equivalent) restatement or does it miss some things?

    in the ummah, anti-imperialism takes the form of Islam

    • relayEnglish
      1•5 months ago

      I don’t know if Islam is a material force per se, because it is a super-structural phenomena. But looking at it from the Palestinians perspective, materially, the Christian Zionists and the Jewish Zionists are colonizing them materially. However there are Palestinians that are not Muslim. There are Palestinians that are Jewish or Christian that are subjected to the same horrors as the Muslims.

      However it seems that if the Islamic countries united under one banner geopolitically, ban foreign capital from influencing them, that would materially undermine imperialism. Quadaffi tried to do something like this and we’ll see if someone there can manage to do this again. Just make sure that if one develops nukes, keep them to protect your people.