Like previous times "when any form of government becomes destructive to" the people's "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and "right of the people to alter or to abolish it" comes into play, the revolutions play out the way they play out. The forces, institutions, movements, organizations, ideologies, and other tectonics, both internal and external will go into motion and the process begun in and from Tunisia, is just getting started.
For one thing, it took a while—praise The Lord!—but I inevitably ran into someone (not an Egyptian, but a Pakistani like me) who brought up Syed Qutb as the original "Shaheed" of the Egyptian Revolution. Like I said in a previous post, the revolutions happening are inevitable. But it is where they end up and where they go will be interesting. My first reaction was that that's how it starts; the process of diverting and destroying the legacy of a proud people's effort to rid themselves of oppression. It starts with people taking their own ideologies (in this case, whether pro- or anti-Ikhwan; Islamic, Islamist, or otherwise) and declaring this or that point of view the only solution. Just to use the Ikhwan's example, I am not very familiar with Egypt, but if Sidi Al Baradei is to be believed, it represents 20% of Egyptian society. In our country, their equivalents from all shades of reactionary religious thought hold about 13% of the nation's loyalties. Other points of view (in Pakistan, it is about 35%+/- Peoples', 30%+/- various Muslim Leagues, and so on). Unless we learn to be interlocutors, competing for how best to better our societies, nations and the Ummah, rather than enemies to be eliminated and done away with, we, excuse the expression, continue to be f****ed.
For one thing, it took a while—praise The Lord!—but I inevitably ran into someone (not an Egyptian, but a Pakistani like me) who brought up Syed Qutb as the original "Shaheed" of the Egyptian Revolution. Like I said in a previous post, the revolutions happening are inevitable. But it is where they end up and where they go will be interesting. My first reaction was that that's how it starts; the process of diverting and destroying the legacy of a proud people's effort to rid themselves of oppression. It starts with people taking their own ideologies (in this case, whether pro- or anti-Ikhwan; Islamic, Islamist, or otherwise) and declaring this or that point of view the only solution. Just to use the Ikhwan's example, I am not very familiar with Egypt, but if Sidi Al Baradei is to be believed, it represents 20% of Egyptian society. In our country, their equivalents from all shades of reactionary religious thought hold about 13% of the nation's loyalties. Other points of view (in Pakistan, it is about 35%+/- Peoples', 30%+/- various Muslim Leagues, and so on). Unless we learn to be interlocutors, competing for how best to better our societies, nations and the Ummah, rather than enemies to be eliminated and done away with, we, excuse the expression, continue to be f****ed.
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