Islamists vs Democrats in the Arab Spring and the Debate Is Just Beginning

I suppose it’s safe to say that Europeans and Americans are nervous about current happenings in the Arab Spring countries.

Tunisia has imposed a curfew in Sidi, the city where the young man set fire to himself and started the Arab Spring. The curfew was put in place because Sidi residents are unhappy about the outcome of last weekend’s parliamentary elections and took to the streets to show it, burning the islamist party headquarters in the process.

Their complaints are that the islamist party was so well-organized and funded that others didn’t have a chance. They do not want an islamic state and worry that the parliament, whose major group will be the islamist party, will move in that direction, making laws that eliminate civic freedoms, especially for women, and turning Tunisia into a religious state. Tunisia has been a moderate Muslim nation, where bikinis are seen on the beaches and women can choose to wear veils or not. Religion is not forced on Tunisians and charia law is not the established law of the country.

The discomfort in the West is heightened by events in Libya, where the UN and its NATO military allies actually helped the Libyan freedom fighters win. Now, the National Transition Council has announced that charia law will be the basis of Libyan law. The NTC is trying to calm fears by saying it wants to establish a laic state with democratic freedoms guaranteed to all citizens.

We might add that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood looks set to be a major winner in the upcoming Egyptian parliamentary elections. The Brotherhood, outlawed by Mubarak’s regime, favors an islamic state but insists that it also would opt for a moderate laic government with democratic freedoms protected.

Last May 13, I wrote a blog about the Arab Spring needing time to get itself organized and seek those democratic principles and structures that make sense in a Muslim culture. That is even more true today.

But, the very fact that Tunisians have taken once again to the streets to defend their hard-won freedom, the fact that the Libyan NTC is making a real effort to calm fears about its motives and saying it wants a moderate government, the fact that Yemeni women recently burned their veils (American women burned bras to be heard, in Yemen it’s veils that make a strong statement) to show their support for reform and giving democratic freedoms to everyone - these are all positive signs.

So, let’s give the Arab Spring some time, vocal support and a show of interest in their real problems instead of jumping of the first conservative religious issue that surfaces, because I still find it hard to believe that the people who broke the back of dictatorships with their blood and lives will allow the victory to be stolen from them without a fight.

Tunisia is again leading the way. The question now being debated by Tunisians is whether to join a coalition with the islamist party or to stand in strong parliamentary opposition as a united group of moderates, laics, and democrats. That is progress and it’s beginning to sound like practical politics may be taking root. Patience is the word as we watch and do what we can to help.