Religion

cbayer

(146,218 posts) Mon Jan 19, 2015, 11:09 AM Jan 2015

Egyptian President Al-Sisi is a Dictator, Not a Reformer of Islam

http://religiondispatches.org/egyptian-president-al-sisi-is-a-dictator-not-a-reformer-of-islam/

BY MOHAMAD ELMASRY JANUARY 19, 2015

It’s ironic that a number of (mostly right wing) commentators have been invoking the ideals of freedom of speech and expression while praising an authoritarian leader who has cracked down on these freedoms more than any of his nation’s authoritarian predecessors. American and European analysts on the right have called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi an Islamic “reformer” and an ally in the quest to deliver the message of Western freedom to Muslims.

The praise for Al-Sisi comes in the aftermath of his January 1, 2015 speech at Al-Azhar University, during which he called for an Islamic “religious revolution” to combat extremist thought in the Muslim-majority world. Analyses (which accelerated after the Charlie Hebdo attacks) have suggested that American leaders need to let Al-Sisi lead the charge against Islamist extremism and the Christian Post‘s Richard Land even compared his talk to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

It’s troubling that Westerners claiming to be lovers of human rights would overlook, or downplay, Al-Sisi’s policy record—which features a military coup against a democratically elected president, large-scale massacres of civilian protesters, the imprisonment of tens of thousands of people (including many journalists), the shutting down of all oppositional medial outlets, and the banning and effective elimination of key political competition, among other gross human rights violations.

Many Western writers have demonstrated a near-complete lack of contextual awareness. Read through the lens of Egypt’s political context, Al-Sisi’s talk of a “religious revolution” is about political domination, not religious reform. The 2013 military coup was not a confrontation against extremism: it was an attempt by Egypt’s “deep state” to reverse the nation’s democratic gains and to once again assume complete control over its political economic system.

more at link

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Egyptian President Al-Sisi is a Dictator, Not a Reformer of Islam (Original Post) cbayer Jan 2015 OP

So is Saudi Arabia, America's bestest buddy, suppressor of free speech, where Sen. McCain is Fred Sanders Jan 2015 #1

Peter the Great was a dictator, not a reformer of Russian Orthodoxy. Igel Jan 2015 #2

The title is in response to his recent proclamations about an Islamic revolution. cbayer Jan 2015 #3

Oh he might try to reform islam... Promethean Jan 2015 #4

Al-Sisi is just the face of the continuing army control of all Egypt's resources and power. kwassa Jan 2015 #5

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)

1. So is Saudi Arabia, America's bestest buddy, suppressor of free speech, where Sen. McCain is

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 11:30 AM

Jan 2015

even now French kissing Wahibi religious extremists in control of a prison camp nation.

Igel

(35,332 posts)

2. Peter the Great was a dictator, not a reformer of Russian Orthodoxy.

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 01:16 PM

Jan 2015

That subject line doesn't quite work. It was about political and social domination in Russia. Still, he did reform Orthodoxy. Not sure that was a good thing or not.

Al-Sisi is unlikely to reform anything. But since Islam is a deeply political beast for many, many Muslims, it'll be like the Reformation in Europe--it will be partly voluntary, partly forced; partly secular in thinking, partly religious; it will affect the structure of the state and also have far-reaching consequences for the structure of the religious organization. It will also happen slowly, in stages, and often be visible only after the fact.

There will certainly be losers and winners. Large chunks of Western society have a problem with winning or losing: We love frozen conflicts, conflict resolution, mediation, equally distributed outcomes. The most successful outcomes of conflict, however, come when there is a clear winner and the loser admits not just his loss but commits to his loss as irreversible and therefore something that he won't even try to undo. At that point the loser finds some other area in which to succeed. Unfortunately, at the individual level the losers often suffer. (Sometimes the victors do, too. Poland in some sense won WWII, but lost a huge chunk of land, had to relocate millions of people due to de facto ethnic cleansing, and itself ethnically cleansed its new western periphery. Poland suffered that Stalin might punish the Germans. More Russian hegemonistic sphere-of-influence 'we control you' thinking.)

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

3. The title is in response to his recent proclamations about an Islamic revolution.

Reply to Igel (Reply #2)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 01:19 PM

Jan 2015

He appeared to be taking a stand against extremism, but it looks like it could have been hot air and pure politics.

You seem to believe that it will happen, although it will be difficult.

I hope you are correct.

Promethean

(468 posts)

4. Oh he might try to reform islam...

Reply to cbayer (Reply #3)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 11:12 PM

Jan 2015

but I doubt he'll do it in an ethical way. He won't eliminate theocratic laws and promote freedom of speech. He'll just declare the new rules and kill the dissenters.

kwassa

(23,340 posts)

5. Al-Sisi is just the face of the continuing army control of all Egypt's resources and power.

Reply to cbayer (Original post)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 12:17 AM

Jan 2015

Egypt is a single-party defacto military dictatorship that destroys all who oppose it. Since those that oppose it are religious, the religious will be destroyed. There is a massive ongoing purge going on there.

and even Mubarek is being rehabilitated, after being charged with corruption. The entire society runs on corruption, though.

Same as it ever was.

Reply to this discussion