The Commentariat went into paroxysms of joy when Egypt revolted against Hosni Mubarak. At last, the people were speaking out. Elections would be held that would turn Egypt into a modern democracy and where the "will of the people" would produce a "Western style" democracy, where Egypt looked and acted like the Auckland City Council. The ignorance and naivety of our chattering classes left us laughing and breathless.
It has become clear what we expected all along. Parties which are consistently and seriously Islamic hold the clear majority. Eventually, a democratically elected government (if allowed to form and exist by Egypt's military) will take authoritarian control of that country. Here is a briefing on what is emerging at the grass roots of Egypt's polity:
Egypt’s Hardline Islamist Future: Watch The Salafists
Peter Schweizer
Egypt’s recent parlimentary elections were a clear-cut victory for Islamist parties.
The Muslim Brotherhood one the most votes in the first road. But second place went to an even more hardline Islamist Salafist group, al-Nour. This group is better funded and better organized than the Muslim Brotherhood.
How hardline are they? Leaders of this group are loath to even speak to women, and they want to introduce Sharia law into the country. The Salafists have been at war with Egypt’s Coptic Christians, and accused those more secular elements of the revolution against Hosni Mubarak of being “whores and Zionists.” Free elections, they have said in the past, are “un-Islamic.” When party members appear on Egyptian television, they have demanded that a physical barrier be set up between themselves as female guests.
If the movement has its way, Egypt’s tourism industry will soon be in tatters. They want to ban all alcohol sales, even to foreigners. And they want to shut down beaches where women wear bikinis. They propose offering camel rides and ski lessons on sand dunes as an alternative way to get tourist dollars. That will bring the money in, for sure. As tourism dries up, expect the economy to tumble even further.
The Salafists are heavily funded by Saudi Arabia, which reportedly has provided $100 million in campaign funds to the group. Their rules on clothing are strict: beards for men and a face veil for women. As Sheik Fawzi puts it,” We must simply apply the Koran and Sharia to heal our country, just as it was commanded by God.”
You can read more about situation in Egypt here, from Germany’s Der Spiegel.
Even a child could work out that the Achilles Heel all democratic forms of government is who does the voting, and what, therefore, the majority will want to see imposed by law--for it is the nature of all government that law is imposed. In an Islamic society, it being so obvious that it barely warrants stating that Islamist ideals, standards, beliefs, and practices will be imposed when Islamic people vote themselves a government.
But, it will have this kicker: Islam is an authoritarian religion; it does not have a doctrine of conversion through divine regeneration of the inner man. It is not a religion based upon liberty of conscience. It is not a faith that respects the equal ultimacy (and therefore the careful balancing) of church, state, family, and the invididual. Islam's doctrine of conversion is submission to external force and demand. Therefore, in Islam the imposition of law will be from the top-down, by force. That is what the people want. That is the heart of Islam.
We expect, amongst other things, that as a consequence Coptic Christians will be hounded out of Egypt--just as Christians have been out of Iraq in recent years, since Hussein's overthrow.
Western liberals are a vacuous bunch.
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