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Oslo massacre exposes the nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing extremism

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Abdus-Sattar Ghazali
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Can you name ONE country where multiculturalism is successful where Islam is involved? The only historical example is the society without a welfare state with only non-Muslim minorities (U.S.)" (page 7)

We have selected the Vienna School of Thought as the ideological basis. This implies opposition to multiculturalism and Islamization (on cultural grounds). All ideological arguments based on anti-racism. This has proven to be very successful which explains why the modern cultural conservative movement / parties that use the Vienna School of Thought is so successful: the Progress Party, Geert Wilders, document and many others"(page 13)

I consider the future consolidation of the cultural conservative forces on all seven fronts as the most important in Norway and in all Western European countries. It is essential that we work to ensure that all these 7 fronts using the Vienna school of thought, or at least parts of the grunlag for 20-70 year-struggle that lies in front of us.

To sums up the Vienna school of thought: Cultural Conservatism (anti-multiculturalism); Against Islamization; Anti-racist; Anti-authoritarian (resistance to all authoritarian ideologies of hate); Pro-Israel/against non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries; Defender of the cultural aspects of Christianity; To reveal the Eurabia project and the Frankfurt School (ny-marxisme/kulturmarxisme/multikulturalisme)

Breivik's right-wing pro-Israel line, combined with his antipathy to Muslims, is just one example of the European far-right's ideology, exemplified by groups such as the English Defense League (EDL).  The EDL, a group Breivik praises, along with the anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, share with Breivik an admiration for Israel.

Anti-Muslim activists and right-wing Zionists share a political narrative that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a "clash of civilizations," one in which Judeo-Christian culture is under attack by Islam.  Israel, in this narrative, is the West's bulwark against the threat that Islam is posing to Europe and the United States. 

Daniel Pipes

Mondoweiss wesbsite pointed out that Breivik's admiration for the likes of Daniel Pipes is also telling, and should serve as a warning that, while it would be extremely unfair and wrong to link Pipes in any way to the massacre in Norway, Breivik's views are not so far off from some establishment neoconservative voices in the U.S.   For instance, both Pipes and Breivik share a concern with Muslim demographics in Europe.   In 1990, Pipes wrote in the National Review that "Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene. All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most."

Pipes was appointed by the Bush administration to the U.S. Institute of Peace, and sits on the same board of none other than the Obama administration's point man on the Middle East, Dennis Ross.

Pipes' and Breivik's concern about Muslim and Arab demographics also recall the remarks of Harvard Fellow Martin Kramer, who infamously told the Herzliya Conference in Israel last year that the West should "stop providing pro-natal subsidies for Palestinians with refugee status - Israel's present sanctions on Gaza have a political aim, undermine the Hamas regime, but they also break Gaza's runaway population growth and there is some evidence that they have."

Adding to the Israel/Palestine angle here is the fact that the day before the attack on the island of Utoya, a Palestine solidarity event was held there.

Mondoweiss says it remains unclear why Breivik, and his accomplices if he had any, would attack young Norwegians.   But it probably had something to do with Breivik's belief that European governments, and the Norwegian government, were run by "Marxists" allied with Islamist extremists who were bent on destroying Europe through "multiculturalism."

The treatise ends with a detailed description of the plot, ending with a note dated 12:51 p.m. on July 22: "I believe this will be my last entry."

The nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing extremism

Tellingly, reports reveal Breivik's admiration for bigoted groups such as the English Defense League and Stop the Islamization of Europe, which campaign against Muslims and the building of mosques. Similarly, Geert Wilders' Freedom Party in Holland appears to win Breivik's approval because it seeks to protect Western culture from a growing threat of so-called "Islamization." 

Mondoweiss website argues that an examination of Breivik's views, and his support for far-right European political movements, makes it clear that only by interrogating the nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing Zionism can one understand the political beliefs behind the terrorist attack.

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Author and journalist. Author of Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality; Islam in the Post-Cold War Era; Islam & Modernism; Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America. American Muslims in Politics. Islam in the 21st Century: (more...)
 

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