I was listening to this very interesting and this very important podcast yesterday and it struck me how very profound this statement from Ayaan Hirsi Ali is that it only takes a small group of very determined individuals to change the world.
Here is the Winston Marshall podcast with Ayaan Hirsi Ali it is a very inciteful discussion. And it reminded me of the rebuttal that Brigitte Gabriel gave to a Muslim apologist in 2014. An exceptional 'off the cuff' response that never gets old.
In a nutshell, just like the rise of nazism, fascism and communism in the middle of the 20th century it is not the majority we need to fear but the small groups of fanatical ideologists because they create the narrative, they steer the conversation, enforce the doctrine and change the opinions of the majority through coercion, division, fear and violence.
So when we hear the phrase 'oh, it's just a small minority' and 'most of this and that community think this and that' we should remember what Brigitte said and realize that this is completely irrelevant.
If we look at Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and Mussolini, they began as leaders of small fanatical, extremist groups that at first attracted the warped deviants found in all societies to their cause, then the disaffected, then the angry, as they got larger the political opportunists joined, then the establishment invited them in the misguided belief that they could control them and utilize their popularity for their own gain and then.... and then its over because they are in and just like that, they are in charge. At which point they use the power of the state to shut down dissent, destroy any opposition, radicalize the population and terrorize anyone who is left after that.
At every stage there was and is an opportunity to take action to arrest this chain of events but it takes courage and leadership and it gets harder after each missed opportunity. You might say the cost to the society increases the later you start. As you get further down the stages it means you are going to have to make increased compromises with your societal ideals and beliefs. Further still and you may have to sacrifice those beliefs altogether and descend into ruthlessness and ultimately, violence.
There is an excellent paper here about the correlations between Nazism, Marxism and Islamism. Radical Islamism and Totalitarian Ideology: a Comparison of Sayyid Qutb's Islamism with Marxism and National Socialism.
Read it and draw your own conclusions but my biggest take from it is why these concepts are so appealing - and why we are seeing a collusion between radical Islam and the extreme left wing in modern western societies. In its most basic form its because they share the narrative of the 'oppressed' and the 'oppressor'. They offer a promise of liberation from it and a vision of Utopia.
They also equate the western democracies with materialism and moral decay, elements that are antithetical to radical Islamic values and mirror the dissatisfaction expressed by proponents of Marxism and National Socialism towards capitalist and bourgeois societies.
Specifically, radical Islamism, like Marxism and National Socialism, appeals to those who feel oppressed (or persuaded they are so) or marginalized by the current global order, apportioning blame to those societies they live in, promising them liberation and importantly a significant role in the historical process of their demise.
This is a familiar trope. It basically says 'You are a victim, you are the oppressed and your future has been stolen from you by these people here, the oppressors, this is unfair and you have the divine right to to take it back by any means necessary because you are the good and they are the evil.' This ideological appeal is extremely powerful to the young people, making seductive promises of a radically different societal order in which they can play a significant part - and importantly that not only do they have the right to do this but that it is virtuous and that alone justifies any means required to achieve it.
Hence the marches 'for Gaza' (but are in fact no such thing) that are becoming more radical and more intimidating.
But Ayaan's point is that the small and determined few have already changed the world.
Our young people have been radicalized in the Universities and the Mosques. These places are the modern equivalent of the Munich beer halls, they have provided the infrastructure for radicalization and have gone unchecked and unquestioned. They are now hotbeds for extreme philosophies, employing what should be learned and educated people - tutors and imams - but are the very people who are stoking the fires of injustice and utilizing the passion of youth with its susceptibility to radical ideas and violent solutions to incite them to over-throw our liberal, tolerant societies.
I think we have just crossed 1930 Weimar republic Germany in where we are with Islam and the Extreme left in 2024. This is no time for appeasement. This is no time for pygmy politicians to grandstand about human rights, to cower before wokeism and prostrate themselves at the alter of islamophobia and racism. The fringe has turned into the mainstream. Make no mistake, do not be fooled, this is now an existential fight for our survival and the way we live.
We must enforce the laws that we have to their fullest extent right now, otherwise, like the national debt, the cost to defeat this threat our society increases month on month.
That is assuming of course we actually have the the stomach and will to defend what we have, what our forefathers toiled to build and the sacrifices they made to preserve and pass onto us.
This article can also be found on Medium
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