From: pvh-AT-wfeet.za.net (Peter van Heusden)
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 07:32:03 +0200
Subject: Re: AUT: Re: Antiterrorism = development of terror againstourstruggles


On 16 Dec 2001 at 9:42, Harald Beyer-Arnesen wrote:

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Amiri K. Barksdale <abarksdale-AT-mail.thenation.com>
> Date: 14. desember 2001 7:10
> Subject: Re: AUT: Re: Antiterrorism = development of terror
> againstourstruggles
> 
> 
> >Harald:
> >
> >I still dont understand why you think there is something so
> >especially important about Islamism, when concrete history shows it
> >to be a result of the failures of the working class struggles from
> >late 60s early 70s, like cults, gangsterism, and lumpenism in
> >general-- ..........
> 
> I think this "why" might be one of the things I might need better time
> to express clearly, as for me it so obvious. The degree of importance
> I am however uncertain enough, also since I am not as updated on the
> subject as I would have liked to be. I find your analysis odd. My
> question is for instance, why did the ovethrow of the Shah result in a
> theocratic regime? 

[etc, snipped]

Very interesting questions. I hadn't thought about things in exactly this 
way before.

For me one of the most interesting aspects of Islam is its material 
practice. Muslims in Cape Town are very much practically involved in 
charitable work - 40 000 meals got dished out on Eid, for instance. 
One of my comrades in Tafelsig is only able to survive, in part, 
because of support from the community of his mosque. As I argued 
recently, Islam exists as a material reality which appears to be very 
much allied with the underdog in Cape Town. Now, in this it is hardly 
unique - churches, for instance, play something of the same role 
elsewhere. But there is something peculiar about the material practice 
of Islam in Cape Town, and maybe elsewhere, that makes it stand out 
and be much more politically visible.

This poses a challenge for people used to Marxist analysis, because to 
understand the material practice of Islam purely through economic 
catagories is to miss something important. In fact, I think what we're 
dealing with here is an excellent example of where autonomists' style 
of analysis, focussing on how social relations arise / are imposed 
continually (as opposed to once, in some distant primitive 
accumulation moment) through material practice. Unfortunately, I feel 
rather at a loss in terms of material to study this phenomenon, so I'm 
relatively powerless in posing some developed alternative in contrast 
to the old abstractions.

On the question, why not South America - I'd be interested if anyone 
has knowledge of how the church operates in various areas of South 
America. I know, for instance, that the Catholic church has been very 
visible in Chiapas, in a way that seems somehow influenced by 
liberation theology. Why turn to the 'leftism' of liberation theology 
rather than some ultra-orthodox condemnation of secular authority as 
corrupt, and in need of replacement by theocracy?

Peter--
Peter van Heusden                     pvh-AT-wfeet.za.net
Tel: +27 (0)83 256 0457


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