Islamism functionally substituted for liberal democracy as opposition to Muslim authoritarianism

Evidence

What is unique about the dystopia in Children of Men is that it is specific to late capitalism. This isn’t the familiar totalitarian scenario routinely trotted out in cinematic dystopias (see, for example, James McTeigue’s 2005 V for Vendetta). In the PD. James novel on which the film is based, democracy is suspended and the country is ruled over by a self-appointed Warden, but, wisely, the film downplays all this. For all that we know, the authoritarian measures that are everywhere in place could have been implemented within a political structure that remains, notionally, democratic. The War on Terror has prepared us for such a development: the normalization of crisis produces a situation in which the repealing of measures brought in to deal with an emergency becomes unimaginable (when will the war be over?) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 7 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamism rose as the left’s demise left Muslim rage with no other outlet — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1439; Authoritarian measures can persist within nominally democratic structures via normalized crisis — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 7; Islamists dominated Muslim opposition because liberal and leftist alternatives had collapsed (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Authoritarian measures can persist within nominally democratic structures via normalized crisis #complicates (0.74) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 7