democracy - Page 2 of 3 - Muslims and Liberals

Gaza, Pakistan and ignoble US legacy

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Mustafa Malik

The anti-government protests now raging in Pakistan and the travails of Hamas in Palestine remind me of Nurul Amin, my mentor. He served, at different times, as prime minister of Pakistan and Bangladesh, which was then East Pakistan. In February 1972, in Rawalpindi, Amin was telling me about the political intrigues that had led to...

Modi winning India vote, losing agenda

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Mustafa Malik

Pollsters in India are predicting a big win for the Hindu nationalist Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) in the country’s three-phase general elections that began on Monday. The ruling Congress party, they say, is headed for a free fall. Entrenched, as it is, in the traditionalist and fundamentalist Hindu base, the BJP has made inroads into...

Afghans show door to blind hegemon

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Mustafa Malik

America and Iraq would have been spared the horrors of the uncalled for Iraq war if children of those who had decided to invade that country had been sent into the battlefields.

Is Hindu nationalism mellowing?

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Mustafa Malik

NEW DELHI – India’s Hindu nationalists gloated as Nancy Powell, the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi, went to meet Norendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of their Bharatya Janata Party. Indian media described the meeting as America’s “cave-in” and “about face” to the chief minister of Gujarat state. Nine years ago Modi was banned from...

The Hindus outrage Hindus

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Mustafa Malik

"Enlightenment liberalism, as all other ideologies, has emerged from a particular set of historical circumstances of particular societies. It came about mainly a reaction to the omnipresent church’s rigorous rules suppressing the desires, expressions and creativity of everyday Christians. It wasn’t much of a surprise, then, that the ideologues and activists of the Enlightenment avenged the harsh religious repression by banishing religion from the public space."

Liberal counterrevolution

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Mustafa Malik

The Islamic movements that have been storming much of the Muslim world since the late 1970s is a revolution in progress. I call it Muslim spring.

Let EU rein in Egypt’s military junta

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Mustafa Malik

The Obama administration has become the butt of jokes around the world for playing with words to avoid describing Mursi’s ouster by the military as a coup.

Pulling US chestnuts out of Egypt fire

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Mustafa Malik

The Muslim Brotherhood will be rejuvenated by its confrontation with Egypt's ruling military junta.

Don’t write Brotherhood off too soon

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Mustafa Malik

(Published in The Daily Star, Lebanon, July 16, 2013) Alejandro Jodorowsy said, “Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.” The French filmmaker’s remark was resoundingly vindicated by Egypt’s liberal elites. They led massive crowds against President Muhammad Mursi and succeeded in getting the all-too-willing army to overthrow his year-old democratically elected government....

Egyptians, unite to rescue democracy!

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Mustafa Malik

My hats off to Egypt’s secular and Islamist revolutionaries for the courage and spirit of freedom they demonstrated when they bundled out Hosni Mubarak’s monstrous dictatorship. Over the decades I have developed an interest in Egyptian society and politics. I cherish my friendship with Egyptians in Egypt and the United States. I understand Egyptian secularists’...