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March 15, 2005
Kifaya!
Here's a must-read piece on progress in the Middle East (link via ALDaily): The slogan for this nascent people's revolt has become "Kifaya," which means "enough." It's a word that is both emphatic and vague enough to be all-encompassing yet effective: enough of autocrats, enough corruption, enough occupation, enough repression. It has acquired magical and perhaps lasting power. I always remember my intro. sociology professor's unflinching position that moral relativism is very often 'a subtle form of racism.' When people have told me in the past that democracy is a Western value and can't be 'imposed' elsewhere I would ask if it was the brown skin that made the difference. Here's hoping subtle racists everywhere come around and accept that freedom knows neither geography nor race. posted by Dennis on 03.15.05 at 09:57 AM |
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I dearly hope that the mid-east gets democracy. They should have the freedom to choose a government, and some probably will over the next several years. However, this does not mean freedom leads to a jeffersonian democracy as we know it, or anything resembling our form of democracy at all. 'Freedom' is much more difficult to give than driving a whale to the sea and yelling "jump, willy, jump".
The basic fact is that as the U.S. government topples dictatorships, it is also actively stabilizing those that give us favors... Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, the Shah of Iran, Saddam, just to name a few. By supporting these regimes we have made a bad name for ourselves in the mid-east. Our name is so bad there, that Osama bin Laden is seen as a freedom fighter by attacking the controller of the despots. Which tells us two things 1)that we really have to stop helping dictatorships 2) if Osama is seen as a 'freedom fighter', exactly what 'freedoms' some nations will gravitate towards.
If these nations become FREE, will they also have FREEDOM of religion? Will these nations be FREE to not follow Muslim law? Will women be FREE to vote, wear what they want and marry who they want? Will people be free to critize or reject the Koran? Will they fund terrorist organizations?
The problem with the middle-east is not skin-color, or religion (per-se); it's that the middle-east is surrounded by both despots, and those that weild the Koran for power. Giving a nation freedom from despots does not free the minds of the populace (although it is a noble gesture). Or prevent future despots from taking the throne.
However, I think if a nation such as Iraq, or Syria, or Afghanistan manage to truly achieve some basic democracy with some basic infastructure/industry these societies will become more in tune with the western world.
These countries still have a long way to go. Just give it another 15 years.