Sunday, April 23, 2006

New Daniel Pipes Project: Islamist Watch

First there was Campus Watch,
a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students. Campus Watch fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds.
Now Daniel Pipes is coming out with a new project: Islamist Watch, which
combats the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries. It exposes the far-reaching goals of Islamists, works to reduce their power, and seeks to strengthen moderate Muslims.
The EU is working on ways to eliminate the phrase "Islamic Terrorism" from our vocabulary, to be replaced by 'terrorists who abusively invoke Islam'--which is a neat trick considering that the word "terrorist" is already being disappeared from our vocabulary as well. Other terms on the chopping block are "Islamist", "fundamentalist" and "jihad".

In contrast to the EU and the media manipulations, Pipe writes that:
Islamists ultimately seek hegemonic control via a worldwide caliphate that applies the Islamic law in full. Afghanistan under the Taliban offers one model of what they would establish globally.

Terrorism is one method to advance these projects but it is not the only one. Indeed, the activities of nonviolent Islamists arguably will prove a more effective tactic in the long term. For while the public intuitively understands the threat of terrorism and is mobilized by it, and while states have well-developed institutions (law enforcement, intelligence agencies, the military, the justice system) to protect and fight against it, the activities of nonviolent extremists are not alarming and institutions do not exist to deal with this problem. [emphasis added]

Pipes gives an introductory list of the types of tactics used by nonviolent Islamists thus far, including:

Pipes has already upset the applecart with Campus Watch.
Islamist Watch is going to be something to watch for, read, and link to.



Technorati Tag: and and and and and .

2 comments:

Tzvee Zahavy said...

The more you read Pipes, the less you like him. Try it.

Daled Amos said...

I've been reading him on and off for a number of years.
I'm not sure what your beef is with him.

His Campus Watch performs a useful service
and I'm hopeful that Islamist Watch will too.