[Clunlippibe]

Written BY an Arab woman and published in the Arab media, at least twice:
http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2...30/174441.html
http://www.daralhayat.com/portalarticlendah/323408
From news article:
While the West speaks of the necessity of accepting the results of the democratic process, in terms of Islamists coming to power in the Arab region, there are increased suspicions regarding the goals pursued by the West in its new policy of rapprochement with the Islamist movement, in what is a striking effort at undermining modern, secular and liberal movements. The three North African countries in which revolutions of change have taken place, are witnessing a transitional process that is noteworthy, not just in domestic and local terms, but also in terms of the roles played by foreign forces, both regional and international.

The obsession of some Westerners with the so-called “Turkish model” of “moderate Islam,” able to rule with discipline and democracy, seems naïve, essentially because of its assumption that such a model can automatically be applied on the Arab scene, without carefully considering the different background and conditions that exist in Turkey and the Arab countries. There is also some naivety in assuming than the “Iranian model” of religious autocratic rule that oppresses people, forbids pluralism and turns power into tyranny, can be excluded as a possibility.

Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian judge, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, addressed the women of the Arab awakening at the Women’s Forum in Deauville, France, and said: Do not repeat our mistake. She said that the separation of religion and state is the only guarantee of democracy, not because the flaw lies in the Sharia itself, but because it can be interpreted by men who want more domination, and who view democracy as an enemy of their monopoly, one that takes away powers they have hijacked and purposely kept women away from.

At the same conference, the Yemeni participant, a friend of Tawakel Karman, the first Arab woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said that Tawakel is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and that, compared to the “Salafists,” this group represents moderation itself, as well as salvation. This is an opinion which seems to have been embraced by the West, strengthened and driven forward amid the applause of Islamist movements that present themselves as the alternative moderation, blocking the way for movements of modernity by mounting the steed of democracy, most likely on a single path from which there is no return. They are inflating themselves and their size, and entering into a temporary marriage with the West – which in their opinion is naïve – a marriage of convenience that is to their benefit as long as it breaks the back of secularists and modernists. In truth, the Democratic US Administration is not the only one encouraging Islamist movements to take such a course, as there are also some Republicans like Senator John McCain. McCain made sure to address Islamists from the rostrum of the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea during a seminar on the American-Arab relationship, calling for respecting their rights to power, and thereby sending two messages: one to Islamists under the headline “we are with you,” and the other to the modernists under the headline “we do not care about you.”

[Zdmlscid]

These Islamic states will be disappointing to the golly-gee blunder heads of the so-called Western Democracies. Democracy, of any variety, will never set root; social evolution is doomed to failure. Bloodletting from revolution to revolution will only replace one despot with another, then another.

[Dxwlxqvg]

These Islamic states will be disappointing to the golly-gee blunder heads of the so-called Western Democracies. Democracy, of any variety, will never set root; social evolution is doomed to failure. Bloodletting from revolution to revolution will only replace one despot with another, then another.

And with every change there will be yet another swarm of refugees to house, feed and employ. A plague of arab locusts is on our house.

[yarita]

Damn if Enoch Powell didn't get it right in 1968:

The (infamous) "Rivers of Blood" speech.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3...od-speech.html


Can you imagine a politician today making a speech with an allusion to Virgils' Aenid?

[nemoforone]

And with every change there will be yet another swarm of refugees to house, feed and employ. A plague of arab locusts is on our house.

Well said, numerous locusts are here, already. Undoubtedly, others are on their way; so that they can whinge, calling us intolerant. Next is an attempting to destroy our democratic way of life, which is already happening; thanks in a major part because of their ongoing endeavors and our spineless politicos.

[wpFWNoIt]

If, just if, these people came into our societies with open minds and an honest spirit, willing to assimilate into our communities and ACCEPT US as we are expected to accept them, things would be so very different.
The problem is that they want it to be just like home and resent us because we are not like them and their new host country is not home. There is a huge difference between a refugee and an opportunist but our leaders seem ignorant of the difference.
Prophets are not always divinely inspired and more often than not they are shunned or rideculed by the rest of society because they rarely bring good news. Enoch Powel was rather like many who can see that the Palestinians are the terrorists not the Israelis, and he was screaming into the deaf ears of fools who had already carved their opinions in stone. He held a viewpoint which was classed as extreme and so this attracted extremists who were violent and racist by nature, ie. skinheads, hence his demise.
There is nothing wrong with extremism as long as logic and truth still reside.

[selayeffethy]

Funny, I just mentioned ol' Enoch in another post, replying to you, farmboy; before I read this fully. Not much to add but agreement. I know of one Muslim family that has fully assimilated. Their children have married outside of their faith and the parents are happy with the childrens' choices. They obviously are an anomaly... most would choose another path - we know what that would be.