Democratize but Stabilize

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

No one can any longer deny that there is a real and serious need for a concerted well-coordinated multilateral approach to the processes of development, modernization and democratization in the Broader Middle Eat and North Africa Region. Quick fixes are indeed impossible, but a need to shake the status quo is, nonetheless, quite urgent. If the UNDP reports of 2002-4 have served to elucidate anything, it is the necessity of drastic changes in policies in the region, but few of the existing leaders seem willing and/or capable of this. National interest considerations are not at stake here for them, it is their parochial interests, and, in typical cynical human fashion, they tend to override all other considerations. Continue reading “Democratize but Stabilize” →

Asking all the wrong questions

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

Ever since the Danish Cartoon Controversy, a spate of alarmist articles and reports on Islam and the Muslim communities in western societies appeared in various newspapers and journals across the world, all warning against the danger posed by Islam as such and all asserting that Islam as a faith is inherently violence. Continue reading “Asking all the wrong questions” →

Death by Sect

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

Indeed, and as this article by Lee Smith illustrates, we need to focus on the real issues in our beleaguered part of the world, namely: the problems and challenges posed by our intricate ethnic and religious diversity and the enduing communal modes of belonging and organization in our midst. The potential for violence posed by our continuing neglect to seriously address these issues is rising by the day as more and more radical forces rush to fill in the vacuum left by the reticence of the moderates. The chances for peacebuilding development and enlightenment are practically non-existing in this climate and this could only spell disaster sooner than we’d like to think.

Dissent Within the NSF?

Let me take some time to clarify this issue of alleged schisms within the NSF:

There were, in fact, two participants in the foundational conference who opted at the last minute not to join the Front. That’s about it really. Now, I leave it up to you to decide whether the two figures opted out because they were not selected as members of the 11-member General Secretariat, or whether they had some lofty moral principle that was somehow violated in the process. Albeit, I have to admit that the other guy who opted out, Abdulhamid Haj Khodr, is actually a very decent fellow armed with an explosive temperament. Continue reading “Dissent Within the NSF?” →