Egyptian waves
Morsi and his Islamic Brotherhood remain determined to press ahead with constitutional change, which would define this crucial document in more ‘Islamic’ terms. Liberals, led by Ahmed Said of the National Salvation Front, fiercely oppose the vote set for the 15th of this month and demand a redrafting ahead of this. Pro-Morsi figures, of course, demand that the vote should go ahead.
The situation remains tense. Opinion has been pushed into two camps. It is also becoming obvious that the liberals fear the organisational power of the Islamists. The struggle against dictatorship was won on the streets in Egypt. But what the country does not need is a regular resort to street action. That would result in destabilisation. A way needs to be found to unite the country, to accept differences amongst people and not use force to impose controversial measures. The crucial need for Egypt, at present, is to develop consensus and a united vision for the future. Without this, the possibility of further trouble will remain a constant threat with riots being employed to settle matters. This will do nothing for stability in a nation that still needs to find a footing on the democratic turf so that it can move towards a stable future for the sake of its own people as well as for the region as a whole, given Egypt’s central role in the affairs of the entire Middle East.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2012.
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Bottomline: Islam and democracy don't go hand in hand. Either a country has secular ideals and considers all people equal, or becomes a islamic theocracy and considers Muslims to be a superior people.
Egypt is just going thru the catharsis in deciding what exactly they are? A islamic theocracy or a secular nation. I suspect, they'll end up being Islamic theocracy as not many Islamic countries have found support from its own people to be secular.
@Editorial
Your editorial has stirred in me the following train of thought .
The happenings in Egypt should enable us to see a consistent political pattern unfolding in the Arab , in fact , the entire Muslim world . The liberal educated classes initiate a movement against the neo-colonial authoritarian regimes , but in the end lose the game to the better organised religio-fascist parties . This describes what happened in Iran ( ani- Shah movement ) . in Tunisia Libya or nearer home in the Bhutto episode . Short interlude of Bhutto regime gave birth to the Nizam-e-Mustafa movement and Islamist Zia, and then unending darkness . This is happening in Egypt now . Reason ?
Why the liberals are losing to the religious outfits ? Why Pakistan of par excellence liberal Jinnah lost its bearings right in 1949 when Objectives Resolution was passed . Because religious outfits have an ideology , howsoever archaic, which binds them to the masses and gives them a sense of direction . Liberals are weak , unorganised because they havee no ideology to organise themselves or integrate themselves with the masses . The pattern will continue as long as liberals of the Mulim world remain souless and mindless.
One man, one vote, once? Islamistic democracy like in Iran and Gaza?