In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Fear Factor" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/opinion/the-fear-factor.html), Friedman explains what Egypt's newly elected president, Mohamed Morsi, must do in order to "forge a workable social contract" to allow Egyptians to govern themselves. Tom writes:
"It is incumbent on the Muslim Brotherhood to now authentically reach out to the other 50 percent of Egypt — the secular, liberal, Salafist and Christian elements — and assure them that not only will they not be harmed, but that their views and aspirations will be balanced alongside the Brotherhood’s. That is going to require, over time, a revolution in thinking by the Muslim Brotherhood leadership and rank-and-file to actually embrace religious and political pluralism as they move from opposition to governance."
Yeah, right. Given that 95% of Egyptian Muslims believe it is "good" that Islam plays a large role in politics, and given that some 84% of Egyptian Muslims believe that those abandoning Islam should be executed (see: http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/), you can be certain that Morsi will soon be seeking new modes of cooperation with Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.
With tourism down (see: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/04/13/Number-of-Egyptian-tourists-down-in-2012/UPI-99871334347061/) and population growth unchecked (its current population of 80 million is expected to double by 2050), Egypt is headed for unmitigated disaster, and no one - not the US, not the EU - will be able to save it.
I really do not understand why we are getting our knickers in a twist. The Egyptians choose their government, and that is democracy. After all, there is a large number of people in our "democracy" that wishes our government to be based on Christianity.
ReplyDeleteYes, my ex-friend who is now in some neo-Nazi camp babbled about democracy in Egypt similarly.
ReplyDeleteMy historically minded (and well educated) stomach, which knows better, reminds me of German democracy of 1933 and of evil of sloganeering. Slogans are good (even those of "democracy"), but then there is reality - not only historical reality of Muslem Brotherhood (why do think about Nazi Germany again?), but the reality of present day Egypt. Our charming anonymous conveniently forgets that "democracy" requires educated (in democracy too) population and firm democratic structures and mechanisms able to deal with political corruption, political "prostitution" etc.
A couple of months ago, I had a chance encounter with a war photographer between her trips to Egypt. Why our charming anonymous doesn't talk to her about the possibility of democracy in Egypt...
Again, platitudes are good, reality is better (or rather worse)