The alliance between Islamists and elements of the Left is not new. Many writers have documented far-left politicians in Europe who support Hamas or Tehran. Others have struggled to understand why al-Jazeera broadcasts English-language documentaries praising support for transgender rights while, in Arabic, it finds it acceptable for men to beat their wives.
Simpson commits to “expose the agenda” of this bewildering collaboration. But he does not in fact write about the Red-Green axis to any significant degree. Instead, his book concerns the role left-leaning organizations have played in subverting U.S. immigration discussions and policies.
The Marxist Red and Islamic Green axis is of particular concern in the United States. During the Trump presidency, many American Islamic organizations close to global Islamist movements have consolidated partnerships with the Left. They jointly organize rallies and marches, file legal challenges to administration policies, run candidates for state and federal offices, and manage sophisticated media campaigns.
Simpson does well on the tactics of the Left and packs an astonishing amount of detail into a concise monograph. He exposes who is manipulating immigration politics and how. But his analysis is weakened by a few too many cherry-picked examples, appeals to the virtues of a “true Christian,” and several unnecessary anecdotes.
Aside from passing references to theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Islamist apologist Linda Sarsour, the author does not discuss the role of Islamic organizations in the first hundred pages at all. He briefly discusses CAIR and the Islamist umbrella organization known as the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations but mislabels Salafi and obscure Bangladeshi Islamist members as “Muslim Brotherhood fronts.” A multitude of unsourced pronouncements include the conspiratorial claim that the Obama administration’s “Countering Violent Extremism” program was entirely the result of “an influence operation conducted by Muslim Brotherhood and other similarly disposed Islamic supremacists.”
At no point does Simpson examine the most interesting questions about this axis: the motives for theocratic organizations embracing far-left causes; why “Islamophobia” is so central to the Red narrative; or the current heated debate among America’s Islamist movements over the partnership with the Left and resulting intra-Islamic splits.
Simpson leaves the reader with a much better understanding of how elements of the Left have successfully contrived to use immigration as a bandwagon for political upheaval. But the reader is left uninformed about the make-up and extent of the Red-Green axis and miseducated about the few Islamist groups mentioned. Simpson produces a strong conclusion, offering bold ideas to challenge the Left’s immigration dogma. If only they bore some relevance to the book that readers were promised.
