AMU scholar roots for Marxism

Addressing the Congress, Dr Tariq Islam, Reader, Department of Philosophy, Aligarh Muslim University, said that the 8220;lack of ideological diversification in the global population at the moment is the reason for the rise in the Islamist reaction and establishment and propagation of political Islam8221;. Dr Islam, who was presenting a paper on 8216;Political Islam and Future of Marxism8217;, went on to say that the 8220;future of Marxism depends on negotiating with these elements to provide them with alternative strategies8221;.

Dr Islam opened his discourse saying 8220;the present global financial crisis forcing retreats from the neo-liberal policies and condoning regulated economy has brought into discussion the whole debate preceding the adoption of liberal ideology8221;. He observed that 8220;Marxism is the only alternative paradigm with a possibility of universalisability.8221;

Dr Islam argued that the history of United States, which is replete with wars, is basically a perpetuated conflict between two hegemonies, 8220;one emphasising economic market forces while the other revolutionary change, each viewing

itself as the antithetical political force of incommensurable paradigm.8221;

Citing David Campbell, Dr Islam said that while the US has been trying to replace one enemy with the other to address the ideological vacuum, to be filled by conflicts. 8220;However, it now appears that the enemy has been replaced with a more tangible media image, the Islamic Cleric,8221; he said.

He added: 8220;Now there has been created a bogy of political Islam, which is to represent the developments concerning mainly the West Asian region and the related terrorism. Political Islam is primarily the resurgence of regimes or parties with an avowed programme of establishing Islamic states run on the principles contained in the Sharia or Islamic Jurisprudence. The approach to the assumed threat of Political Islam is virtually a parallel approach to Marxist Leninism.8221;

Religious revivalism is a global phenomenon and concern, which is struggling against the extreme individualism present in the current version of liberalism, said Dr Islam. 8220;Political Islam, therefore, represents a regional version of this globally religious revivalism,8221; he said.

Under this given pretext, Islam said: 8220;The future of Marxism is condemned to forgetting its political validity in Southern Africa, or in India, or indeed still in Cuba and scattered across Latin America. The argument now presented is what is called post-Marxism, which registers a theoretical shift from the historical nature of capitalism towards a morally valiant signifiers of democracy and civic life through resistant articulation of signifiers that are essentially moral, which will continue the ethos of Marxism.8221;