Where do you stand in the new culture wars?

As the rise of Islamism challenges the old assumptions of left and right, new cultural fault lines are emerging. Take our quiz to see which side you are on
Sarah Baxter

Where do you stand in the culture wars debate? ost your !iews in the feedback bo" at the bottom of this story Take our culture wars quiz A glorious culture clash took place in Iran recently that made me laugh out loud. The children of Che ue!ara" the re!olutionary pin#up" had $een in!ited to Tehran %ni!ersity to commemorate the &'th anni!ersary of their father(s death and cele$rate the growing solidarity $etween )the left and re!olutionary Islam* at a conference partly paid for $y +ugo Cha!ez" the ,enezuelan president. There were fraternal greetings and smiles all round as America(s )earth#de!ouring am$itions* were denounced. But then one of the speakers" +a-- Saeed .assemi" the co#ordinator of the Association of ,olunteers for Suicide#/artyrdom 0who presuma$ly remains selflessly ali!e for the cause1" re!ealed that Che was a )truly religious man who $elie!ed in od and hated communism and the So!iet %nion*. Che(s daughter Aleida wondered if something might ha!e $een lost in translation. )/y father ne!er mentioned od"* she said" to the consternation of the audience. )+e ne!er met od.* 2uring the commotion" Aleida and her $rother were led swiftly out of the hall and escorted $ack to their hotel. )By the end of the day" the two ue!aras had $ecome non#persons. The state# controlled media suddenly forgot their existence"* the Iranian writer Amir Taheri noted. After their departure" .assemi went on to claim that 3idel Castro" the )supreme guide* of ue!ara" was also a man of od. )The So!iet %nion is gone"* he affirmed. )The leadership of the downtrodden has passed to our Islamic repu$lic. Those who wish to destroy America must understand the reality and not $e cle!er with words.* 2on(t say you ha!en(t $een warned" comrade" when you flirt with )re!olutionary Islam* as if it were a mild form of li$eration theology. But it is time" too" for Che to lose his secular halo. If he were still li!ing" the chances are he would $e another dictator like Castro" who has ruled Cu$a with an iron fist for half a century $ut gets a pass from li$erals $ecause he pro!ides a modest health ser!ice.

There used to $e a clear di!iding line $etween conser!ati!es and li$erals. It defined the culture wars of the late 4'th century" which pitted reactionary fuddy#duddies against tolerant" enlightened types" who $elie!ed in equal rights for women" minorities and gays. That fault line is $ecoming as dated as the flower power of the 567's. By the time Terry 8agleton" a /arxist professor of literature 9 how quaint and old#fashioned that sounds 9 is laying into /artin Amis" the /r Cool of British fiction" for remarks on Islam that supposedly make the son as racist as his father" :ingsley" )an antisemitic $oor" a drink#sodden" self#hating re!iler of women" gays and li$erals*" it is o$!ious we are into a wholly different culture war" $etween phoney and real progressi!es. ;asn(t one of Amis fils(s main complaints a$out Islamic militants that they were )antisemites" psychotic misogynists and homopho$es*< Confused< =ou are not the only one. /y own test for spotting a phoney li$eral is as follows. If you think Bush is a fascist and Castro is a progressi!e" you are not a democrat. If you think cultural traditions can trump women(s rights" you are not a feminist. And if you think antisemitic rants are simply an expression of frustration with American and Israeli policy" you ha!e learnt nothing from history. It is no longer possi$le to tell at a glance which side people are on. /y hus$and" a photographer" has long hair and wears T#shirts and cargo pants. ;e li!e in stuffy ;ashington" where almost e!ery$ody wears a suit and tie $ut secretly longs to $e artistic and hip. >n the school run" nice lawyers confide to him that they hate eorge Bush" despise the Iraq war and are not as reactionary as they look. They are completely thrown if he tells them he dislikes Islamo#fascism more than Bush" is glad to see the $ack of Saddam +ussein" supports ?ato against the Tali$an and thinks the Iranian mullahs should ne!er $e trusted with a nuclear $om$. +e considers himself an antifascist who $elie!es in the secular !alues of the 8nlightenment and human rights. There is nothing radical a$out $eing tolerant of the intolerant" he says. >n the other side of the looking glass" -eans#clad leftists are horrified that one of their own could possi$ly ha!e anything in common with the dreaded neocons. Christopher +itchens is a rock star among atheists" most of whom oppose the Iraq war. @ast weekend" he tra!elled to ;isconsin to recei!e an award from the 3reedom from Aeligion conference for his $ook od Is ?ot reat. )In my acceptance speech I up$raided the audience $y saying I could easily ha!e got the impression that they thought the only threat to our society came from the Christian Coalition and possi$ly the odd Israeli settler"* he says. )=ou would not ha!e known from anything on sale" any T#shirt" any peaked cap" any $ook or pamphlet" that there was such a thing as Islamic fundamentalism.* They didn(t like it. )I got the usual lame and $leating replies that" to the extent that if there was such a thing" it(s $een created $y us"* +itchens says. >ne of the most indulgent forms of western narcissism is that e!erything is )all a$out me* 9 or" in this case" the ;est. /yopic li$erals find it impossi$le to $elie!e that radical Islam may ha!e a dynamic of its own that threatens their !alues. )=ou cannot stand for multiculturalism if you represent a group that wants to kill all the Bews and +indus. Shouldn(t that $e o$!ious<* +itchens asks. )/artin CAmisD was saying" E@ook" there(s a real pro$lem here(" and good for him.

)The name of the pro$lem is religion" and there is only one religion that threatens us with this kind of thing . . . There is a reason people look askance at a mosque in their neigh$ourhood" and they are not mad or cruel or stupid or selfish or $igoted to worry a$out it.* ?ick Cohen" whose $ook ;hat(s @eft< has -ust $een pu$lished in paper$ack" identifies progressi!es as antitotalitarian internationalists who su$scri$e to )some kind of uni!ersal !alues*" as he puts it. )The left are like old#style Tory imperialists" who $elie!e rights are all !ery well for western 8urope $ut not for Bohnny 3oreigner" and that the li$eration of women is essentially for white#skinned women" not $rown#skinned women"* Cohen says. A case in point is the treatment of Ayaan +irsi Ali" the Somalia#$orn author of Infidel" who has recei!ed an astounding lack of support from li$erals and the left. An article in ?ewsweek descri$ed her as a )$om$#thrower*" when it is +irsi Ali who faces death threats from real $om$# throwers merely for speaking her mind and has had to rush $ack to the ?etherlands $ecause its go!ernment will no longer pay for her $odyguards while she is a$road. ?atasha ;alter" re!iewing her $ook in The uardian" wrote $lithelyF );hat sticks in the throats of many of her readers is not her feminism" $ut her antiIslamism* # as if the two could $e separated. It was +irsi Ali(s culture that led her to $e genitally mutilated as a girl" and it was her /uslim former co#religionists who murdered her friend Theo !an ogh" the 2utch film#maker. ;hy should she remain quiet< Irshad /an-i" the Canadian /uslim feminist" is a$out to $ecome director of the new /oral Courage Gro-ect at ?ew =ork %ni!ersity. )It(s a$out de!eloping leaders who speak truth to power within their own community"* she says. )%ltimately it is a$out defeating self#censorship. )+uman $eings are $orn equal $ut cultures are not"* she $elie!es. )They are human#made and for the most part man#made. There is nothing sacred a$out cultures and nothing $lasphemous a$out reforming them.* ;hen Amis said something a little more forceful along those lines at the Cheltenham literary festi!al" he set off a new firestorm. )Some societies are -ust more e!ol!ed than others"* he said. Then last week on Channel & ?ews" he saidF )I feel morally superior to Islamists.* ?ote that he is not saying he feels morally superior to Islam # $ut to Islamists. Is it wrong to make such a -udgment" when there is nothing immuta$le a$out culture and society< /an-i saysF )I a$solutely defend his right to $elie!e that certain ci!ilisations are superior to others"* $ut adds the important riderF )In contemporary times he may $e right" $ut in the past Islam ga!e $irth to the Aenaissance.* To my mind" /an-i is a )moderate* /uslim" in that she still descri$es herself as a person of faith" $ut to many of her Islamic $rethren" she is off the scale. @i$erals ha!e $een too quick to accept as moderates /uslims who are nothing of the kind 9 except in comparison with the suicide $om$ers and theologians of Al#.aeda.

)It(s not a waste of time to search for the moderate /uslim" $ecause there is a ci!il war within Islam $etween people who do and don(t want to li!e under sharia"* says +itchens" )$ut there are a lot of counterfeits who are $eing seized on in our cultural cringe moment.* The chief cringers" he might ha!e added" are the phoney li$erals. The new culture war looks set to run and run.