Friday, October 01, 2004

Elections and the Muslim World

"When ordinary Muslims in Turkey vote for a religious alternative in politics, they do so because they have lived with militarist secularism too long, and have seen all its promises of prosperity and enlightenment betrayed by graft and repression. Turkish citizens vote for Islamic politicians for exactly the same reason that Mexicans vote for the "Catholic" party of Vicente Fox, and, for that matter, Japanese vote for the Buddhist Komeito; as an alternative to entrenched interests, to demands for bribes, to public theft and malfunction. Turkish voters do not want to be whipped into mosques, in the Saudi style, any more than Mexicans want to be forced to attend mass; but after decades of secularism turned sour, they look toward political representatives they feel are motivated to civic service by their spiritual values. Certainly, a country like ours, which has seen the rise of Christian conservative politics, should have little basis to reproach Muslims for making similar choices."

TCS: Tech Central Station - Elections and the Muslim World

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