Islam, Islamism And Islamic Activism - Sneak Preview - Part I

"The Western tendency to describe all forms of Islamic activism as a more or less unitary phenomenon whether it be labelled "Islamism", "political Islam" or "Islamic fundamentalism" and to contrast it with the practice of Islam as religious belief by "ordinary Muslims" has increased markedly since the attacks of 11th September 2001 and President George W. Bush's subsequent declaration of a "global war on terror ". Islamic activism is alleged to have mutated in an shocking way, taking the form of violent terrorist movements intent upon attacking both Western targets and non-Western targets where such attacks are thought by the attackers to be deleterious to Western or West-allied interests. While understandable such a monolithic concept is based upon flawed assumptions and leads to severely flawed policy prescriptions."