Category Archives: Democracy

The unexpected victory of the Salafists in the Egypt and Tunisia elections has caught many by surprise, not least the Muslim Brotherhood who once thought that they would clean up, but now are faced with the prospect of having to share power with a segment they regarded as marginal. The rise of the Salafists is seen by some as the authentic reaction to the repression of Islamic practice by secular Arab despots. The Salafists regard the first century of Islamic history as the perfected state for humanity,  and now they see themselves as the real inheritors of the voice of the repressed Muslim majority. Their stake has been under-reported because attention has always been directed on the Muslim Brotherhood as the stakeholders of the Islamist vote.

The rise of the Salafists is arguably the most alarming dynamic unleashed by the Egyptian revolution.

This is Maajid Nawaz on TEDGlobal discussing why extremist organisations, whether they are far-right or of the extremist religious-right Islamist variety are succeeding in a globalised way whereas those who aspire to democratic culture are falling behind.

He frames his discussion on 4 points:

• Complacency
• Political Correctness
• Political and Economic failure
• Ideology of Resistance

This is a cross-post by Shiraz Maher from the Standpoint blog

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And again! Hizb ut Tahrir holds yet another rally in London and is, for the third consecutive time, decisively rejected by ordinary Muslims.

Al-Jazeera reports:

Several hundred people have gathered outside the Libyan embassy in Britain once more to show their support for protesters, Jacqueline Head, Al Jazeera’s online reporter in London reports. However this time a small contigent appearing to represent Hizb ut Tahrir were also rallying, calling for a sharia state to be installed in Libya. The group said they were there to show their support for the Muslims in Libya. Muftah Abdelsamad, a 57-year-old Libyan living in exile in Britain for 35 years, told Al Jazeera:

“We call them the nutters, because that’s what they are. We are Libyans. We are Muslims… but these people don’t want democracy or freedom. What do they want, dictatorship? We always lived together – Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Jews. And we’re all going to live together again.”