“ALTHOUGH SEEMINGLY REVIVALIST, CULTURAL
IDENTITY PROJECTS THAT FUEL FUNDAMENTALISM
ARE NOT AN ASSERTION OF TRADITION, RELIGION,
OR CULTURE. RATHER, THESE ARE POLITICAL
PROJECTS THAT USE ALL AVAILABLE MODERN
RESOURCES (SUCH AS LAW AND MEDIA) WHILE
USING THE LANGUAGE OF CULTURE OR RELIGION
TO SERVE ITS HEGEMONIC GOALS.”
This same report also remains critical of allegedly ‘revivalist’ projects,
saying, “Although seemingly revivalist, cultural identity projects that fuel
fundamentalism are not an assertion of tradition, religion, or culture.
Rather, these are political projects that use all available modern resources
(such as law and media) while using the language of culture or religion to
serve its hegemonic goals.”12
Feminists in the region have also analyzed the specific impact of
fundamentalisms on the bodily autonomy, sexuality, and reproductive
rights of women, girls and gender-diverse persons. In the 1990s,
Asian feminists understood “fundamentalism” to be an ideology that
“naturalises and sacralises the family and sexuality and secludes women
from the public sphere”.13
As for ‘fascism’, feminists have continuously tried to confront, in their
work and scholarship, what ‘fascism’ is made of and how it impacts our
movements.
Researcher Laila Kadiwal, who studied anti-fascist student movements
led by Indian Muslim women, writes that many scholars of fascism
have documented its shared central tenets. She writes, of these tenets,
“there is a standard technique by which democracy is undermined and
xenophobic discourse is advanced, in which hatred, apathy, and violence
become normalised. It dehumanises particular social groups, leading
to their brutal treatment, from the restraining of freedom and mass
incarceration, to eviction. In extreme situations, it can lead to genocide.”14
She further notes that fascism in the context of India “privileges the
politics based on religious and caste-based supremacy over the
constitutional ethics of equality and justice.”15
12
Ibid.
13
Jayawardena, K. & De Alwis, M. (1996). Op. cit.
14
Kadiwal L. “Feminists against Fascism: The Indian Female Muslim Protest in India”. Education Sciences. 2021;
11(12):793. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11120793
15
Ibid.
14