Egypt's new era

[Impenitent]

I had initial doubts about this story because, AFAIK, Islam's attitude to necrophilia is the same as that of Judaism and Christianity, but I clicked through several links (some quite reputable, such as the English-language Al Arabiya) which corroborated it. Didn't get as far as The Daily Beast, though.

Behoves me to spread the word amongst others who were taken in by it.

However, it doesn't negate the threat of the other legislation in the new Egyptian Parliament which aims to curtail women's rights.

[superwizard]

It comes back to the old dilemma the west has always faced in the region - do we back authoritarian regimes if they align with our interests and values, do we always back democratic processes even if we don't like the outcome, or do we do nothing and deal with whatever happens as we need to?

I admit that I had high hopes for Egypt's western-educated army officers and apparently liberal-minded urban middle class in Cairo. But the situation now seems to be either that we have a democratic Islamist government backed by the rest of the country, or another Mubarak regime. My hopes for the spread of western values in Egypt are not all that good - Islamism seems much stronger than liberal democracy in the world right now.

Hear hear.

I never really thought that the more secularist leaning moderates would win the elections. One only needs to look at the demographics to see that Egypt has has a very large number of traditional and conservative people. I do think that there is a good chance that some women's and minority's right might be taken away and that does horrify me greatly

My one glimmer of hope is the hope that egyptians will elect these conservative muslim figures and soon realize that they are no better or less corrupt than they're more secular counterparts. Once that is realized, I believe it will be much easier for more secular candidates to start winning over hearts and minds. Simply propping up an authoritarian regime only managed to make these parties more popular in the long run.

[Túrin Turambar]

LM, I had few expectations and many apprehensions of the consequences of the popular revolution in Egypt; perhaps the difference between us is that I've been jaded by my years while you have the optimism of youth (and long may you hold to it!)

I wouldn't call it youthful optimism because it has happened before, Eastern Europe in 1989 being the most obvious example. If popular revolution leads to liberal democracy in Eastern Europe (and Turkey in 1920, and in authoritarian states in East Asia in recent decades) but not in the Arab world, then there needs to be some explanation as to why.

[axordil]

You can't have a theocratic democracy. That applies to any flavor of theo- involved. Islam, like Judaism and unlike pre-Constantinian Christianity, was designed to be a state religion. Christianity, of course, mutated once it became expedient for it to BE a state religion, but the tension with its apolitical roots never went away.