The Islamists: Between propaganda and the truth

In my previous article [Can the Islamists truly be democratic? Published 8/12/2011] I addressed the argument that Islamist parties are democratic and that they have not had their chance in power. I put forward examples of Islamist political parties, like the National Islamic Front in Sudan, and Hamas in Gaza, to disprove this argument. In addition to this, there is also the Khomeinist model that is ruling Iran, and Hezbollah which is part of the government in Lebanon, and others. They have all had their opportunity in power, whether they came to power via elections, as was the case with Hamas, or by forcibly taking power, as was the case with the Khomeinist Islamic revolution in Iran and the Islamic Front in Sudan. We also have proof that these “ideological” movements pretended to be democratic, but when they were in power, it was revealed that they were just another dictatorial party that rejects democracy and wants to monopolize power. However I do not mean to say that Islamist parties should not be allowed to benefit from the Arab Spring, although they were against this initially and refused to take part in the revolutions. Indeed, I will go as far as to say that there can be no real democracy in the region unless these Islamist parties are politically included, because they are a political force that cannot be ignored on the ground, and their involvement in the political process will achieve two very important goals. Firstly, this will have an immediate effect, namely ensuring stability, particularly as these Islamist parties are capable of sabotage if politically excluded. Secondly, there is a more long-term goal, namely by being involved in the political process, these Islamist parties will evolve and develop their discourse and behaviour, and become courteous political parties that truly believe in democracy, rather than political opportunism. Since the ouster of Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, many people have put forward the theory that this is the time of the Islamists, who were previously deprived of the opportunity to rule. More than this, they claim that the image of the Islamists has been distorted by the Arabs and the West to prevent them from political participation. Following the revolutions, the Islamist party leaders rushed to improve their image in the eyes of the West, issuing statements stressing that they would not prohibit bikinis from their countries beaches, or outlaw alcohol, and that they would accept a woman or Christian as leader. Of course, these speeches are nothing more than public relations, and something that can only be believed by someone ignorant of the region or the logic of religious parties. If the claim of freedom of religion is true, it expresses the opinion of only a few [religious party] leaders, as the majority of leaders and members of such groups consider “purifying” society to be their first duty, and it would not be long before they turned against those political leaders urging tolerance. Arab society is going through difficult developments that may lead to more dictatorships under the name of democracy, such as what happened in Iran. Therefore, we cannot settle for reading their intentions and believing their propaganda. If these societies, such as Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Morocco, truly want a democratic approach and want to grant an opportunity for all political forces – including the Islamist and Arab nationalist forces – to participate, they must build a state that is based on a constitution that protects rights, and an army that understands that its duty is not to rule, but to protect democratic institutions such as the judiciary and the parliament, and prevent the democratic system from being overthrown. We can see in Egypt, and from the results of the first round of elections there, how the society – military, politicians and revolutionaries – has failed to apply rules of fair competition. Although it was forbidden for competing parties to use religion and mosques for electoral purposes, they all did this, gathering millions of votes by inciting people to fear the liberals and the Copts. As a result of this, the Islamists won about 65 percent of the votes! So where is the democracy? from Asharq al-Awsat