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Islamist politics or American fears?
By Dean K. Lieberman
One of most prominent questions facing international commentators today: are Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya (if Qaddafi falls) going to become the new Irans? Professor Samer Shehata, this week's guest on The God Vote with Sally Quinn and Jacques Berlinerblau, asserts Egypt is not going the way of theocracy. The year 1979, he says, is a false analogy to what just transpired in Egypt. Why? Islamist parties have emerged into new entities in recent years. Shehata points to their acceptance of the idea of citizenship as one example of this process of embracing modernity.
Shehata's argument underscores the case that many analysts have made: We must move away from a monolithic view of protests in the Middle East. Unfortunately, this one-size-fits-all view is far too common. When comparing today to the Iranian revolution, for example, the particulars of the 21st century must not be ignored.
In this vein, Olivier Roy, a prominent European scholar on Islam, has said that these protests cannot be deemed fully "Islamist" because the young generation fueling the movements are not flying the religious flag. He finds the young generation to be better educated and more pluralistic than their predecessors. He sees a weak connection to Iran and little need for concern.
By generalizing the causes and effects of each individual protest movement, we overlook the particulars at our own peril. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is distinct from the al-Nahda party in Tunisia, which has quite different aspirations than the Muslim leaders in Libya calling for a removal of Colonel Qaddafi based on humanitarian grounds. And the role Islam plays in these countries is in contrast to Bahrain, where intra-Muslim (Sunni/Shia) tensions have emerged. While all these countries do share many unifying factors, commentators such as Shehata carefully distinguish between them. Political Islam is bound to enter into a give-and-take with each of the countries' political systems--with highly varied results. Acknowledgement of this multiplicity, these experts say, is key.
While the question of whether political Islam will be a force for or against genuine democracy is still undetermined, it is clear that Islam will, at least, be one force of many. So, as we watch the events unfold in real time, beyond the headlines is a constant tug-of-war between liberalism and conservatism, new and old, between East and West, secularism and Islam, and more.
Are fears about the role of religion in these revolts well-founded? Or do Americans need to re-interpret these events through a fresh lens?
Dean K. Lieberman is a student in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He serves as the Scripting Director for The God Vote.
By Dean K. Lieberman |
February 23, 2011; 10:52 AM ET
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Posted by: abrahamhab1 | February 25, 2011 7:05 AM
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Latest killings in Iraq: http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
Feb 01-02: National Intelligence Service officer shot dead in car near Taji Details Razzaq Qasem Ali / Razzaq Qasim Ali Male; Intelligence officer.
Recent events
Wednesday 23 February: 4 killed
Baghdad: 3 killed in separate incidents.
Halabja: 1 policeman by gunfire during protest.
Posted by: YEAL9 | February 25, 2011 1:04 AM
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Posted by: iamamerican | February 24, 2011 4:52 PM
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Iraqi civilians killed as of 2/24/2011 http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Body_Count_project
"According to Jonathan Steele, writing in The Guardian, IBC "is widely considered as the most reliable database of Iraqi civilian deaths".
Posted by: YEAL9 | February 24, 2011 8:35 AM
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Yeal 8:
Here is an example of christian violence:
1991-2010, over 1.5 million iraqis killed through dprivation of medicines, clean water, and bombings.
No need to go on further
Posted by: Kingofkings1 | February 24, 2011 2:07 AM
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Why all citizens of the world should be concerned about the revolutions in the Islamic Middle East:
Just some of the acts of koranic-driven terror and horror:
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops killed in action, 3,481 and 924 died in non-combat98,691 – 107,707
Iraqi civilians killed as of 11/9/2010, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8. UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
10) - Afghanistan: US troops 1,116 killed in action, 902 killed in non-combat situations as of 08/10/2010. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror
11) The killing of 13 citizen soldiers at Ft. Hood by a follower of the koran.
12) 38 Russian citizens killed on March 29, 2010 by Muslim women suicide bombers.
13) The May 28, 2010 attack on a Islamic religious minority in Pakistan, which have left 98 dead,
14) Lockerbie is known internationally as the site where, on 21 December 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed as a result of a terrorist bomb. In the United Kingdom the event is referred to as the Lockerbie disaster, the Lockerbie bombing, or simply Lockerbie. Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, destroying several houses and leaving a huge crater, with debris causing damage to a number of buildings nearby. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) were citizens of 21 nations.
15) Followed by the daily suicide and/or roadside and/or mosque bombings every day in the terror world of Islam.
16) Bombs sent from Yemen by followers of the koran which fortunately were discovered before the bombs were detonated.
17) The killing of 58 Christians in a Catholic church in one of the latest acts of horror and terror in Iraq.
18) Moscow airport suicide bombing: 35 dead, 130 injured. January 25, 2011.
Posted by: YEAL9 | February 23, 2011 11:43 AM
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The more connected the young Muslim population with the rest of the world the more tolerant and pluralistic they become. It seems that the dynamos behind the present unrest in the Middle East are the technological savvy young people who are part of the world’s information web. The fear is that some of the more organized established Islamist groups hijack the revolution by pretending to change their colors.