Islamofascism

Islamofascism is a phrase used by pro-war commentators to demonise Islamic groups and encourage support for military intervention in the middle east. The phrase invokes the collective memory of the Second World War, suggesting Western militarism to be benevolent and heroic and its Islamist enemies as utterly wicked and implacable. It serves an important function in ridiculing peace activists because of the negative reputation of appeasement in Western political culture.

The use of the Second World War mythology can be seen in other elite discourses and pro-war propaganda such as the portrayal of the Kosovo conflict in the run up to the NATO bombings, or the designation of the aggressors in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq as "the allies".

Origins of the phrase

Articles using the phrase in Major World Newspapers

A Lexis Nexis search suggests that the phrase was coined by Khalid Duran, who used it in an article in The Washington Times, discussing a book he had written for the American Jewish Committee (AJC) interfaith project called Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Islam for Jews.

Media use of the phrase

Although popular in the 'blogosphere' the phrase does not appear to have made a particularly siginifcant impact on major media. As the graph on the right shows, mentions in the Lexis Nexis World Newspapers Group since the genesis of the phrase peaked with just over 200 articles in 2006.

Other notable examples

Neoconservative ideologue Norman Podhoretz published a book in 2007 called World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism. Interestingly Podhoretz is also affiliated to the American Jewish Committee. He is a former editor of the AJC's inhouse publication, Commentary.