And cultural relativism only goes so far. You can say "it's their culture" to speak about food, or praying five times a day, etc etc...But the moment human rights are violated I think people need to intervene. Because I don't think you have a worthwhile culture if it promotes rape and abuse of women.
As a Socialist, one of the bizarre things... us Reds don't believe in Cultural Relativism, it's a very anti-Socialist concept. We clearly hold Western secular values far, far higher than other peoples cultures and value structures. The goal of Socialism is to wipe away the old world and usher in a new one based on values of enlightenment, science, atheism and cooperation. Islam has NO PLACE in a Socialist society.
Marx himself speaks of the need for the harsh criticism and eventual abolition of Religion and Religious beliefs
Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.
Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself - Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, 1843.
Yet despite this, near daily I see fellow leftists bend over for Islam and treat criticism of Islam as Islamophobic, when Socialism at a core, structural level is Islamophobic (along with generally being extremely anti-Religion).
My theory for why this is, is actually, most leftists, socialists etc are not actually Socialists but simply "Anti-American" and they flock to Socialist ideology because Socialism is seen as an Anti-American ideology. This is why huge sections of the left, support say Russia and Iran, because they're seen as "Anti-US Imperialism".
Muslims are seen as victims of American Imperialism and thus, Islam becomes a sacred cow and Islamic Terrorism is seen as "Righteous blowback" for US Imperialism. It doesn't matter than Iran or Islamists slaughter, rapes, hunt down Middle Eastern Communists, Socialists and Feminists. They're Anti-American so they're good. (Criticising Iran killing Socialists is literally a bannable offence on Leftypol)
Notice how the left will be Pro-Islam, Pro-Iran etc but anti-Saudi Arabia? Guess why? It's aligned with the US. The same with Israel, if Saudi Arabia was anti-US, much of the left would actively support it.
These people don't really give a shit about Islam, nor have any real love for it. On Islam they just conveniently project their anti-American/anti-western attitudes because Middle Eastern Muslims are victims of US imperialism. It's extremely naive and childish "Anti-Imperialism" ramped up to 100.
Honestly If I had a dollar for every time I heard "Islams problem isn't Islam, it's Imperialism" from a fellow Leftist, I would have thousands of dollars over the years.
Also Islamists know this is a weakness of much of the left and love to exploit it:
We disguised our political demands behind religion and multiculturalism, and deliberately labeled any objection to our demands as racism. Even worse, we did this to the very generation who had been socialist sympathizers in their youth, people sympathetic to charges of racism, who like [the student affairs manager] Dave Gomer were now in middle-career management posts. It is no wonder then that the authorities were unprepared to deal with politicized religion as ideological agitation; they felt racist if they tried to stop us...The default liberal position was to embrace the movement as part of multicultural sensitivity: to tell people to stop practicing their faith was imperialism in nineties clothing, a colonial hangover bordering on racism. Instead, we were embraced as a new generation of anti-colonial politicized youth. - Former Hizb ut-Tahrir member, Maajid Nawaz.
