Reclaiming radicalism
Something strange has happened to the word “radicalisation”. Schools are now officially instructed that they must police their students against being “radicalised”. It is taken for granted that “radicalisation” means a drive to slaughter civilians in the name of imposing clerical-fascist tyranny. For 200 years until recently, “radical” had a different meaning. The Oxford dictionary defines radical, in politics, as dating back to 1802: “One who holds the most advanced views of political reform on democratic lines, and thus belongs to the most extreme section of the Liberal party”. The first...