Labelling ISIS fascist obscures its gang-and-franchise capitalist nature

Evidence

Badiou and Benn are in agreement about one thing, however: that ISIS can be described as fascists. While this classification is tempting, it obfuscates rather than illuminates the nature of ISIS’s malignancy and its relationship to the current (decadent and doomed) phase of capitalist domination. Badiou is closer when he characterises ISIS as gangsters: they are indeed part gang, part apocalyptic cult, part franchise. If nothing else, ISIS is a slick brand — a brand that is far more effective than anything capital can come up with at the moment in any case. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2016

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the branding and ideological-franchise analysis of Western monstrous-Muslim imagery, applying it to ISIS’s own self-presentation. — connects to: Calling ISIS fascists obscures its nature as brand and franchise; Applying the fascism label to present-day movements hinders rather than sharpens opposition to them — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 46; Capitalism differs from fascism in requiring no propaganda or subjectively assumed belief — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 29

Broader Connections

• Calling ISIS fascists obscures its nature as brand and franchise #expands (0.97)
• Applying the fascism label to present-day movements hinders rather than sharpens opposition to them #corroborates (0.78) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 46
• Capitalism differs from fascism in requiring no propaganda or subjectively assumed belief #expands (0.73) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 29