The ideologues, theologians and leaders of Islamism/Jihadism – both Sunni and Shia – have for decades constantly literally declared war on non-Muslims and secular governments of Islamdom. They mean war when they incite war. There is no real dividing line between Islamism and Jihadism. Most Islamist leaders are Jihadists although that is not necessarily true of their adherents. Nearly all Jihadists are Islamists although there are exceptions such as Palestinian Fatah Jihadists of the al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who are not Islamists.
More and more European countries recognize that Islamism is a potent threat to all civilizations. This is the new totalitarianism, it is not new but it is new in the sense that it is the new totalitarian threat, the global totalitarian threat of the 21st century. The governments in some Muslim countries such as Egypt recognize the enormity of the threat and suppress Islamism and Jihadism altogether.
It is time to realize that all totalitarianism and in our time Islamism are an implacable foe of all peoples, religions, societies, nations and civilizations. It is time to pick up the gauntlet and wage a global struggle, primarily by means of soft power, to thoroughly discredit Jihadism and Islamism among Muslims in Islamdom and around the world. That’s how we pick up the gauntlet and win the global struggle, Muslims and non-Muslims side by side together in solidarity for a common cause of a shared humanity.