Freedom. Such a simple word. Yet in the Arab world it is, as with everything else, complicated. Freedom and lack thereof are the stated aim and cause of the "Arab Spring" respectively. But what is freedom? What do people mean when they demand it? I can only testify to the meaning of the word in Egypt in the context of the January revolution, and the myriad, and sometimes grotesque definitions of freedom are the main reason the west fails to understand why the Arab revolutions are turning so ugly.
First there is the definition of freedom to the majority of Egyptian society. Conservative and sedentary, the critical mass in Egypt treats freedom as a quaint concept that is more often than not misused as an excuse to destroy the social order. As such freedom is to be managed, controlled, and contained. The apt regime would be able to balance a veneer of controversy and freedom with maintenance of public order. If freedom is allowed to cartwheel out of balance then society would descend into a state of chaos.
A response to the conservative view of freedom is supposed to be the revolutionary view of freedom. But the revolutionary view of freedom in Egypt is one of exclusion, witch hunts, and cataclysm. The revolutionary view of freedom is one where young untalented, inexperienced, and lazy individuals have the freedom to feel entitled to everything. And because they don't have everything, they are free to blame everyone who does have something for their failures. Freedom in this sense is not economic or cultural or religious freedom, but rather a freedom from the material necessities of success and deliverance into a domain of unjustified sense of entitlement.
But in the spectrum of demented definitions of freedom, none can compete with the Islamist understanding of the word. It's really astounding that most revolutionaries who stood randomly shouting about freedom in Tahrir Square didn't think to ask the Islamist standing next to them how they defined freedom. And when they did ask, they chose not to believe the answer. It's the same fault of Western powers who chose to believe the PR lines of the moderate MB and completely ignore what the very same organization says in Arabic. The Islamist concept of freedom is an insane bizarro world where Christians are given the freedom to convert to Islam, leave their homes without their belongings, or die. It is a freedom of men to "honor" women by beating them into submission. It is a parallel universe where the tyrant is a secular ruler who dares protect religious and cultural minorities. Freedom is the right of Sunni Muslim males to protect their sensibilities from having to be offended by anyone who deviates from the way the look, behave, or think. This is how any Islamist defines freedom, and this is something they would readily admit without any sense of irony.
Freedom is a necessary component to the advancement of any people. Not the tumorous imported freedom that has to be managed according to conservative Egyptians. And not the vengeful focus of frustration that the revolutionaries imagined. And definitely not the diseased puss filled monstrosity that the Islamists conceive. Freedom simply means freedom. To advance economically, a society has to have economic freedom: breaking up barriers to entry, and not penalising success. To prosper culturally, a society has to have cultural freedom, absolute and unfettered rights to think. To advance scientifically there must be freedom of research. And at the bottom of the list comes political freedom.
This is simple enough for most of the world to understand, but for Muslim societies it isn't. Which is why in this part of the world freedom becomes a cause of constant war rather than a vehicle of success.
First there is the definition of freedom to the majority of Egyptian society. Conservative and sedentary, the critical mass in Egypt treats freedom as a quaint concept that is more often than not misused as an excuse to destroy the social order. As such freedom is to be managed, controlled, and contained. The apt regime would be able to balance a veneer of controversy and freedom with maintenance of public order. If freedom is allowed to cartwheel out of balance then society would descend into a state of chaos.
A response to the conservative view of freedom is supposed to be the revolutionary view of freedom. But the revolutionary view of freedom in Egypt is one of exclusion, witch hunts, and cataclysm. The revolutionary view of freedom is one where young untalented, inexperienced, and lazy individuals have the freedom to feel entitled to everything. And because they don't have everything, they are free to blame everyone who does have something for their failures. Freedom in this sense is not economic or cultural or religious freedom, but rather a freedom from the material necessities of success and deliverance into a domain of unjustified sense of entitlement.
But in the spectrum of demented definitions of freedom, none can compete with the Islamist understanding of the word. It's really astounding that most revolutionaries who stood randomly shouting about freedom in Tahrir Square didn't think to ask the Islamist standing next to them how they defined freedom. And when they did ask, they chose not to believe the answer. It's the same fault of Western powers who chose to believe the PR lines of the moderate MB and completely ignore what the very same organization says in Arabic. The Islamist concept of freedom is an insane bizarro world where Christians are given the freedom to convert to Islam, leave their homes without their belongings, or die. It is a freedom of men to "honor" women by beating them into submission. It is a parallel universe where the tyrant is a secular ruler who dares protect religious and cultural minorities. Freedom is the right of Sunni Muslim males to protect their sensibilities from having to be offended by anyone who deviates from the way the look, behave, or think. This is how any Islamist defines freedom, and this is something they would readily admit without any sense of irony.
Freedom is a necessary component to the advancement of any people. Not the tumorous imported freedom that has to be managed according to conservative Egyptians. And not the vengeful focus of frustration that the revolutionaries imagined. And definitely not the diseased puss filled monstrosity that the Islamists conceive. Freedom simply means freedom. To advance economically, a society has to have economic freedom: breaking up barriers to entry, and not penalising success. To prosper culturally, a society has to have cultural freedom, absolute and unfettered rights to think. To advance scientifically there must be freedom of research. And at the bottom of the list comes political freedom.
This is simple enough for most of the world to understand, but for Muslim societies it isn't. Which is why in this part of the world freedom becomes a cause of constant war rather than a vehicle of success.
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