Sunday, January 22, 2012
Irony: Liberals Sweep the Streets for Islamists
Western pundits and governments said it would not happen. They believed that that liberals, who led the street revolts that swept Mubarek from power, represented the popular view. But, as the video above illustrates, election results are clear. Liberals make up only 7% of the Egyptian electorate. The street revolt cleared a path for Islamist ascendancy. This cannot be good. If Egypt was a real democracy I could be more optimistic, as democracies are, in the long run, self correcting. But I strongly suspect that we've seen the last displays of democracy in Egypt, as a dictator [Mubarek] was replaced with a group of jihadi dictators. Minority rights will continue to deteriorate: watch the fate of Coptic Christians in Egypt for a taste of the future. [B]
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3 comments:
Unfortunately in international Democracy, even when the results are not popular or even understood in America, majority opinion still rules. I keep reading that we are lamenting the tide in the MidEast, and berating Obama for trying to include these factions in dialogue, but I also keep reading that the results keep falling in the direction of the Islamists. These results are certainly not a good thing from our perspective but our diplomacy better be based on reality instead of all the complaining and "what ifs".
Just like Bush's foolish push for Palestinian elections [resulting in Gaza mayhem], Obama repeated the Bush mistake. Egypt didn't need an election, it needed a transition government and time for a national debate [not to mention giving liberal groups time to organize themselves into cohesive groupings]. Democracy is ill defined by elections; rather democracy is when you can speak in a public square without getting your head cut off or your church burned down.
I do not claim to understand what foments this desire for Islamist extremism but wishing it away or believing that "if only" something was handled differently would have changed anything is just wishful thinking. Comparing pushing Palestinian elections is not accurate with encouraging Egyptian democracy though it is similar to the mistake in believing that free elections in Iraq would solve anything. While it is true that we learned MidEast democracy is not what we think of here in the US, our Presidents, whether Obama or whoever is in power (unless it is Ron Paul) will no doubt pressure oppressive governments to stop killing their own people. Where that lands is up to the citizenry---not America. Thinking we can control these things is what has helped shape the MidEast against US interests.
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