kiwitt
07-10-2005, 23:40
A denial of democratic freedoms in the Middle East has fuelled Muslim extremism and helped foster terrorism in the world today, says Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui.
The Islamic scholar and former Algerian MP, who is fighting Government moves to deport him as a security risk, was commenting in a lecture on the roots of religious extremism at Victoria University last week.
Mr Zaoui said an inspirational figure for many Muslim extremists was Say yid Qutb, who was imprisoned, tortured and ultimately hanged by the Egyptian authorities in 1996.
Qutb was convinced the West was spiritually and morally bankrupt. He was also critical of nominally Muslim authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.
His ideas inspired those who read his books to hate and blame society.
He provided the intellectual foundations for jihad and Qutb's brother was a teacher and mentor to Osama bin Laden.
"Unfortunately, the young are particularly vulnerable to Qutb's message – not so much for its content but because of the persecution and eventual fate of the author."
His persecution fostered his extremist ideology as well as giving him the credibility and aura of a political victim. The repercussions of this were still being felt today, Mr Zaoui said.
"By denying Qutb normal democratic freedoms in the name of cracking down on Islamic extremists, the regime has unwittingly fostered the extremism of generations of Qutb's followers.
"This link between the denial of democratic freedoms and the fostering of extremism can be seen in many cases and is, I would suggest, the main cause of extremism and its expression in violence in modern society."
The grassroots fervour for change in the Muslim world was blocked by a lack of democracy in repressive regimes.
In some cases extremism was encouraged by authoritarian Muslim governments to justify the continuation of their power, with the support of the West.
"For too long the West has cooperated and supported anti-democratic regimes in the interests of stability in the Middle East.
"The events of the past few years must be proof enough that the pursuit of stability at the expense of democracy is foolish and counter productive."
Mr Zaoui rejected the argument that Islamic extremists would come to power if political life was opened up.
"Extremist ideologies only carry weight when proponents are seen to be marginalised and persecuted. Exposed to the full glare of public scrutiny and debate, extremist ideologies tend to be moderated and absorbed into the system in the interests of pragmatic political compromise." LINK (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3340913a10,00.html)
There may some truth to this one. We should be encouraging full democratic freedoms not just stability.
The Islamic scholar and former Algerian MP, who is fighting Government moves to deport him as a security risk, was commenting in a lecture on the roots of religious extremism at Victoria University last week.
Mr Zaoui said an inspirational figure for many Muslim extremists was Say yid Qutb, who was imprisoned, tortured and ultimately hanged by the Egyptian authorities in 1996.
Qutb was convinced the West was spiritually and morally bankrupt. He was also critical of nominally Muslim authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.
His ideas inspired those who read his books to hate and blame society.
He provided the intellectual foundations for jihad and Qutb's brother was a teacher and mentor to Osama bin Laden.
"Unfortunately, the young are particularly vulnerable to Qutb's message – not so much for its content but because of the persecution and eventual fate of the author."
His persecution fostered his extremist ideology as well as giving him the credibility and aura of a political victim. The repercussions of this were still being felt today, Mr Zaoui said.
"By denying Qutb normal democratic freedoms in the name of cracking down on Islamic extremists, the regime has unwittingly fostered the extremism of generations of Qutb's followers.
"This link between the denial of democratic freedoms and the fostering of extremism can be seen in many cases and is, I would suggest, the main cause of extremism and its expression in violence in modern society."
The grassroots fervour for change in the Muslim world was blocked by a lack of democracy in repressive regimes.
In some cases extremism was encouraged by authoritarian Muslim governments to justify the continuation of their power, with the support of the West.
"For too long the West has cooperated and supported anti-democratic regimes in the interests of stability in the Middle East.
"The events of the past few years must be proof enough that the pursuit of stability at the expense of democracy is foolish and counter productive."
Mr Zaoui rejected the argument that Islamic extremists would come to power if political life was opened up.
"Extremist ideologies only carry weight when proponents are seen to be marginalised and persecuted. Exposed to the full glare of public scrutiny and debate, extremist ideologies tend to be moderated and absorbed into the system in the interests of pragmatic political compromise." LINK (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3340913a10,00.html)
There may some truth to this one. We should be encouraging full democratic freedoms not just stability.