• Home
  • About MESH
  • Members
  • Papers
  • Contact

Middle East Strategy at Harvard

John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies :: Harvard University

Feed on
Posts
Comments

Anarchism and Al Qaeda

Dec 23rd, 2007 by MESH

From Walter Laqueur

In a recent address, UCLA historian James Gelvin compares Al Qaeda with historical anarchism (1880-1920) and, like some other recent writers, finds great significance in their common features. Such exercises are seldom wholly in vain, but how helpful are they for a better understanding of at least one of the sides in the comparison?

Gelvin dismisses the Islamofascism label as mere propaganda, and I do not think much of it either. But while comparisons between the jihadists on one hand and Nazi Germany and fascist Italy are indeed of little use, there are astonishing similarities between jihadists and some of the smaller fascist groups such as, for instance, the Romanian Legion of the Archangel Michael (also called the Iron Guard, Garda de Fier). This group, quite powerful at one time, was deeply religious in inspiration, populist and anti-capitalist in its politics, propagated a cult of death and suicide terrorism, and was second to none in denouncing corruption and the liberal West. If they still existed, they would be intensely anti-globalist. An in-depth study of the similarities between this group and the jihadists would be very illuminating and should be undertaken.

In the same way, similarities between Al Qaeda and certain anarchist factions could be found. A leading anarchist about to be executed announced that “there are no innocents,” just as the well-known Al Jazeera TV sheikh has done. Bakunin (and after him Nietzsche—not a card-carrying anarchist) declared that the passion for destruction was a creative passion.

However, on the whole, such comparisons do not take us very far, for two reasons.

First, anarchism was anything but monolithic. There were basic differences not only between anarchists at various times and places but also within each group. Some believed in terrorism, others were pacifists. There were extremists among them but they were not a majority.

Second, anarchists were not “nihilists” (an unfortunate term made popular by Turgenev’s famous novel). They did not negate all values but deeply believed in freedom. Whatever the fundamental beliefs and aims of the jihadists (who are not nihilists either), the struggle for the realm of freedom on earth is not among them. In view of such a basic difference in outlook, how much new light can be shed by comparisons between them and the anarchists?

There are two related distinctions which deserve to be explored. Gelvin comes close but does not pursue them. He believes that both anarchism and jihadism were essentially defensive in character. Territories formerly under Muslim rule, now lost as the result of a Western assault, had to be regained. If this were the sum of jihadist ideology, the obvious parallel would be with the Brezhnev doctrine. From the 1960s, it proclaimed that countries under communist rule must not be surrendered on any account, and that any retreat from this political order must be resisted by military force. By this time, the Soviet Union had given up dreams of world revolution, and its strategy was therefore “defensive.” Have jihadists really given up their hope that their beliefs will eventually prevail all over the globe, and their conviction that they are duty-bound to promote this aim? Their strategy seems to be rather more ambitious than the Brezhnev doctrine—but this certainly warrants further exploration.

There is a second crucial distinction. Nineteenth-century anarchism and terrorism adhered to a certain code of honor. There was a code of chivalry (treuga dei and pax dei) in European medieval warfare (and also in medieval Islam), not to attack and harm monks, women, children, elderly people and the poor in general. The targets of terrorist attacks were leading figures such as kings, ministers, generals, and police chiefs considered personally responsible for repression and crimes. Great care was taken not to hurt the innocent; if a Russian Grand Duke appeared unexpectedly together with his family, the attackers would abstain from throwing their bombs even if, by acting so, they endangered their own lives. More often than not, the attackers considered themselves sinners for taking a human life; it was unthinkable that they would boast of dancing on the graves of their victims or express the wish to drink their blood. There are no known cases of sadism among nineteenth-century anarchists. The indiscriminate murder which has become the rule in our days did occur but was rare and mostly unplanned.

In contrast, incidents of sadism have been frequently reported in our time—for instance, in the Algerian civil war, or in the case of Zarqawi, who was upbraided by some of his followers for cutting throats too quickly. The enemy not only has to be destroyed, he (or she) also has to suffer torment. The barbarisation of terrorism has not been limited to the jihadists, but they have been its most frequent practitioners by far. How do we account for these changes in the theory and practice of terrorism compared with the age of the anarchist militants? This seems to me a central issue which has yet to be addressed.

Posted in Qaeda, Terminology, Terrorism, Walter Laqueur | No Comments

Comments are closed.

  • This Site

    Middle East Strategy at Harvard (MESH) is a project of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University.
    • Read about MESH
    • MESH blog
    • Download entire blog (pdf)
  • Last Post

    • MESH in hibernation
  • Subscribe

    Subscribe to MESH by email Posts+Comments
    Feed Posts+Comments
    Twitter Posts+Comments
    Posts+Comments
    AddThis Feed Button
  • Search MESH

  • Posts by Category

    • Administration (5)
    • Announcements (24)
    • Countries (248)
      • Afghanistan (11)
      • Arab Gulf (11)
      • Bahrain (1)
      • Caucasus (5)
      • Central Asia (2)
      • China (3)
      • Egypt (25)
      • France (2)
      • India (1)
      • Iran (79)
      • Iraq (36)
      • Israel (95)
      • Jordan (9)
      • Lebanon (28)
      • Pakistan (8)
      • Palestinians (52)
      • Qatar (1)
      • Russia (13)
      • Saudi Arabia (14)
      • Syria (18)
      • Turkey (15)
      • United Kingdom (3)
      • Yemen (5)
    • Members (270)
      • Adam Garfinkle (22)
      • Alan Dowty (19)
      • Andrew Exum (11)
      • Barry Rubin (14)
      • Bernard Haykel (9)
      • Bruce Jentleson (6)
      • Charles Hill (3)
      • Chuck Freilich (15)
      • Daniel Byman (17)
      • David Schenker (16)
      • Gal Luft (9)
      • Harvey Sicherman (11)
      • Hillel Fradkin (8)
      • J. Scott Carpenter (15)
      • Jacqueline Newmyer (6)
      • Jon Alterman (13)
      • Josef Joffe (17)
      • Joshua Muravchik (10)
      • Mark N. Katz (22)
      • Mark T. Clark (15)
      • Mark T. Kimmitt (6)
      • Martin Kramer (25)
      • Matthew Levitt (15)
      • Michael Doran (4)
      • Michael Horowitz (9)
      • Michael Mandelbaum (12)
      • Michael Reynolds (14)
      • Michael Rubin (8)
      • Michael Young (16)
      • Michele Dunne (16)
      • Philip Carl Salzman (32)
      • Raymond Tanter (17)
      • Robert O. Freedman (20)
      • Robert Satloff (17)
      • Soner Cagaptay (4)
      • Stephen Peter Rosen (13)
      • Steven A. Cook (14)
      • Tamara Cofman Wittes (18)
      • Walter Laqueur (21)
      • Walter Reich (11)
    • Subjects (274)
      • Academe (4)
      • Books (40)
      • Counterinsurgency (14)
      • Culture (21)
      • Democracy (16)
      • Demography (5)
      • Diplomacy (20)
      • Economics (1)
      • European Union (3)
      • Geopolitics (42)
      • Hamas (21)
      • Hezbollah (25)
      • Intelligence (10)
      • Islam in West (5)
      • Islamism (16)
      • Maps (27)
      • Media (5)
      • Military (19)
      • Nuclear (27)
      • Oil and Gas (14)
      • Public Diplomacy (10)
      • Qaeda (23)
      • Sanctions (8)
      • Taliban (3)
      • Technology (2)
      • Terminology (9)
      • Terrorism (30)
      • United Nations (7)
  • Archives

    • December 2009 (5)
    • November 2009 (13)
    • October 2009 (8)
    • September 2009 (9)
    • August 2009 (9)
    • July 2009 (9)
    • June 2009 (12)
    • May 2009 (16)
    • April 2009 (11)
    • March 2009 (16)
    • February 2009 (11)
    • January 2009 (10)
    • December 2008 (12)
    • November 2008 (11)
    • October 2008 (19)
    • September 2008 (15)
    • August 2008 (17)
    • July 2008 (18)
    • June 2008 (12)
    • May 2008 (17)
    • April 2008 (20)
    • March 2008 (27)
    • February 2008 (19)
    • January 2008 (18)
    • December 2007 (19)
  • Harvard Events

    Check upcoming events from the calendars of...
    • Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
    • Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
    • Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
  • Rights

    Copyright © 2007-2009 President and Fellows of Harvard College
    Site Meter

Theme: MistyLook by Sadish


Protected by Akismet • Blog with WordPress