The Sweet Gale of Reason from Tunisia: Notes on the Arab Spring and Democracy

The Sweet Gale of Reason from Tunisia: Notes on the Arab Spring and Democracy

 

The Tunisian president, Moncef Marzouki, has stuck out his neck and promised a crackdown on extremist forces in Tunisia. Marzouki, in his New York Times op-ed piece also offered an eloquent and passionate defence of the Arab Spring, terming the ongoing struggle as Islam’s struggle for democracy, presenting it as Islam’s compatibility with democracy and critiquing Orientalist tropes about Islam and the Muslim world.  Marzouki also asserted that the Arab Spring was not about the west. The president also called for Arab intervention in Syria. In sum, Marzouki is making the right noises and presenting a portrait that appears to be an accurate reflection of reality. And he, in making these statements is donning the mantle that should have been adopted by the Egyptian president, Morsi.

 

All –except the crack down on the Salafists and other assorted extremists- is welcome. The Muslim world needs modern, moderate and articulate spokespersons who present a balanced and nuanced portrait of Islam and the politics of the Muslim world. This space filled by either autocrats or extremists has to be filled by centrist forces that fill the ‘missing middle’ of the politics of the Muslim world.

 

Marzouki’s set of assertions raises manifold questions. The salient of these are: Are Marzouki’s assertions in the nature of a public relations exercise? Do these constitute spin-pure and simple?  How should Salafist and other extremist forces be dealt with?  Should force and repression be the method employed to deal with them? Was the nature  and intent of the protests following the distasteful and disrespectful move, ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ indicative of the much touted ,’ Clash of Civilizations?’ Is Islam inherently anti western? Is the denouement and trajectory of the Arab Spring going to lead to hostile relations between Islam and the west?  Or will it potentially lead to the efflorescence of democracy in the Muslim world?

 

Marzouki analysis and the set of assertions that flow from it are germane and apposite. He is neither playing to the gallery nor merely saying what the world (or the west) wants to hear. The confidence undergirding this assertion is premised upon the nature, pattern and denouement of history. There is a certain discernible pattern and trajectory to history. This pattern corresponds and either moves in sync or is the driving force of history. This driving force is modernity and the major component of modernity is democracy or more accurately liberal democracy. (This insight is attributed to the scholar of scholars and the doyen of doyens , Professor Fukuyama).

 

It is a world historical trend and an overwhelming force. The tsunami of modernity and democracy overcomes all resistance and its sweep is global and appeal universal. The question for cultures and societies still caught in the warp and woof of tradition and non liberal values is how best to accommodate and adjust to this force. Resistance is futile and chimeric. This applies to the Arab and Muslim world whose politics have either been colored by and lurches between extremism and authoritarianism of various hues. The Arab Spring and its convolutions, from a grand historical perspective and sweep, is but a reflection of the teething troubles towards democratization of the Muslim world. This is how it should and has to be seen. Any other prism to view and put into perspective this revolution is flawed and jaundiced.

 

These jaundiced views are reflective of Orientalist tropes and canards about Islam, Arabs and the Muslim world. These canards were dished out by vested interests , in thrall to power , and constituted attempts to justify colonialism and the employment of crude measures to perpetuate colonial rule in the Arab Muslim world. Repetition of these tropes and justifying these from the reaction to ,’ The Innocence of Muslims’ film is gratuitous and mischievous. Freedom, liberty and the quest for rights-social, political and economic- is a universal quest and need. The Arabs and Muslims are no exception. The Orientalist myth will be debunked by the final denouement of the Arab Spring which , in the author’s view will be Islam’s tryst with democracy.

 

Reason –the bedrock of modernity and democracy- is not alien to Islam. However, over the years, on account of accretions and convolutions, reason got sidelined and other factors and themes gained salience in the world and universe of Islam. It is the tradition of the integration of faith with reason that needs to be revived. This is doable and has many precedents in the history of Islam. Integration of faith with reason will mean and lead to synthesis between Islam and democracy and give short shrift to the notion of Islam’s incompatibility with reason. The sweet gale of history will envelop the world of Islam and there will be efflorescence of democracy in the Muslim world.

 

The immediate question for the new regimes of the Muslim world is how to deal with their opponents: the extremists. Force and repression is a non starter. Both lead to disaffection and can by default provide legitimacy and support to the extremists. Driving  them underground, only adds to their mystique and aura and historically , this would then be a throwback to days of yore when authoritarian regimes would kill and harass their opponents. The best antidote and way  to deal with extremists is to co opt them. This can ameliorate them and also in some sense expose them given that their prescriptions for governance are dated and obsolete.  Association of the new regimes with the west will color both democracy and modernity and impinge upon them negatively.

 

It is this that may crystallize a broader reaction against the west and render the Clash of Civilizations real.  Islam is neither anti western nor anti modern.  It can potentially be compatible with democracy. There is no real reason for a societal or civilizational clash between Islam and the west. Prudent leadership  from both sides of the alleged divide will obviate stereotypes and misunderstandings and lead to a bold and beautiful world where all stand to benefit. It is this world that has to be brought to fruition. Moncen Marzouki’s words are then a gale of reason emanating from a sober statesman. A warm welcome and good wishes to him.