Islam and Marxism not Partners

Submitted by Marian Hennings (United States), Apr 19, 2010 at 02:10

Marx said that religion is the opium of the people, meaning that religion kept people calm and docile and hoping for a blissful hereafter rather than acting to better their lives here. Marx would have thought that Islam fit that description well in that many Muslim countries are run by autocrats like the Saudi royals, Assad and son, Muammar Ghaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, and the sheiks of the UAE. We must not forget that it is Saudi Arabia which is funding Wahhabi mosques which preach radical Islam in countries around the globe, including our own. Marxist regimes were not characterized by the blatant sexism of most Muslim countries, even though they did not live up to the sexual equality that they preached in many respects. Radical Islam seeks what Bassam Tibi termed a "backward utopia," while Marxism looked toward the future while trying to enact its "workers' paradise." I cannot agree that the proletariat in western countries has become increasingly well-off; economically workers were better off in the 1960s and 1970s than they are now. The rich are the ones who are better off, not the workers, under modern western capitalism. This IS one way in which the Muslim countries and the West ARE similar. It is silly of modern leftists to ally themselves with the activist Muslims just because they both agree on disliking U.S. foreign policy. It is just as foolish as the former U.S. policy of backing dictators just because they were anticommunist. The left does not seem to realize that we are not playing the same game on the international scene as we were 30 years ago and the rules are different.

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