The Poverty of Apologism: The British Left, Feminism and the Islamic Right

This discussion seeks to understand why sections of the British Left have often uncritically allied themselves with Islamist groups which I argue have a political position on the extreme right. I consider the Historical Materialism conference in November 2015 where such views were advanced, and set this in the context of the way the 'War On Terror' has created the conditions for alliance of groupings with utterly opposed values and political approaches, other than their hostility to US foreign policy. I argue that such a political alliance is achieved through the disregard of the impact of Islamist politics on women specifically, resulting in a politics where black and Asian feminist groups which criticise religious dominance are repudiated by the erstwhile allies on the Left