The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria discussed their vision- a nation where its citizens are not discriminated against because of their race, religion or political leanings, where men and women are equal, all citizens have duties towards the state as well as rights from it, and where all citizens have the right to reach to the highest political positions based on a meritocratic political system. This speech was not only too good to be true, but never before has any other Islamic political group been so forward and so direct, crossing all boundaries and red lines.
Even though, doubting the credibility of such a speech is legitimate, it cannot be the sole focus of our attention. With the rise of Islamism in almost every other Arab nation, remembering that we cannot defend the current oppressive regimes out of spite or fear of Islamic groups is crucial.
The important question remains of how we can preserve the ideals of citizenship and democracy as suggested by the Muslim Brotherhood in this recent speech.
The answer is to allow the creation of intellectual and religious diversification; because the only thing that protects democracy is healthy competition. All that can be done is to encourage leftists, liberals and nationalists to come up with ideas and electoral programmes to challenge the ones proposed by the Muslim Brotherhood and compete to win the hearts and minds of the Arab nations.
As long as there this inability to create a healthy diverse political scene only a dictatorship is bound to rule, whether it is the Muslim Brotherhood or any other type…
To read my article in full please click here.
