SALAFIST ARABS AREN'T REPRESENTATIVE:

Obama unwittingly used the language of pan-Islamist radicals (Arif Mohammed Khan, 6/08/09, Rediff)

On the question of democracy, the president made it clear that no nation has the right to choose a system of governance for another nation. However, he stated that he will not dilute his commitment to the principle that governments must reflect the will of the governed and he shall welcome and support all elected and peaceful governments, provided they govern with respect for all their people.

The tremendous applause that greeted the remarks of the president on democracy is a powerful indication of the popular Arab desire to have a system of governance that is not only representative and accountable but ensures freedoms and liberties available in democratic societies.

It must be understood that the common man on the Arab streets is as keen and enthusiastic to have his say in the affairs of the State as anybody else. But political establishments tend to resist and suppress this democratic aspiration. Again, it is not very realistic to hope that the regimes, which deny the basic right to elect their own governments to their people, shall behave more generously in the case of minorities and women and concede their rights.

America is the oldest democracy and is perceived as a champion of democracy, but it is strange that it has all the non-democratic regimes in the region as its allies and close friends. This is one argument that has been used very effectively by America's detractors to make it unpopular among the Arab masses.

Since President Obama travelled all the way to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims (read Arabs) and made very positive and optimistic remarks about democracy, it is imperative that his administration formulate a new strategy to keep the goodwill and positive feelings alive.

One sure method to do this is to be seen as a friend and sympathiser of the votaries of democracy and not as an ally and protector of those who suppress popular aspirations.

The Cairo speech has been described as a promise of the dawn of a new age, but one aspect of the speech is particularly disturbing. Muslims the world over are projected as one single monolithic identity, as opposed to other religious communities which are identified by their geographical or racial denominations.

Today, Islam or Muslims are not confined to any one particular geographical region; in fact more than 80 percent Muslims belong to non-Arab lands, including the US. But in President Obama's speech, a faith like Islam and a nation-State like America are placed side by side as two equivalent entities.

On the other hand, Egyptian and Lebanese religious minorities have been described by their racial denominations such as Coptic and Maronites, and not by their Christian faith.

I do not see any design behind this idiom and terminology, but it appears that President Obama has unwittingly used the language of the pan-Islamist radicals. Right from Jamaluddin Afghani to Osama bin Laden, the ideological plank of pan-Islamists has been that Muslims are not only adherents of one common religion but they constitute one single political community.