THE EMERGENCE OF WHAT WESTERN MEDIA CALL -- ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM -- IN NORTHEAST AFRICA HAS BEEN GETTING A GREAT DEAL OF ATTENTION AMONG SCHOLARS AND POLITICIANS. THIS MAY BE DUE TO A WESTERN PERCEPTION THE MOVEMENT IS BASICALLY ANTI-WESTERN AND POSES A THREAT TO THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD, ESPECIALLY THE UNITED STATES, IN THE POST-COLD-WAR ERA. THIS IS THE FOURTH OF A FIVE-PART SERIES ON ISLAM IN AFRICA, ON THE CAUSES FOR THE RISE OF THE MOVEMENT IN AFRICA.SEVERAL ISLAMIC GROUPS HAVE EMERGED IN AFRICA SINCE THE EARLY 1980'S. WHILE SOME ARE WILLING TO GAIN POLITICAL POWER THROUGH THE BALLOT, OTHERS HAVE RESORTED TO VIOLENCE. BOTH SEEK TO USE ISLAM AS A MEANS FOR POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT.
IN ALGERIA, THE ISLAMIC SALVATION FRONT WAS POISED TO WIN DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS 1991 WHEN A MILITARY COUP ENDED THE ELECTION PROCESS AND OUTLAWED THE FRONT. IN RESPONSE, A FACTION WITHIN THE FRONT RESORTED TO TERRORISM THAT HAS CLAIMED MORE THAN 40-THOUSAND LIVES. IN EGYPT, SOME MEMBERS OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND OTHER ISLAMIC MILITANT GROUPS, OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK, HAVE BEEN WAGING A CAMPAIGN OF TERROR AGAINST CITIZENS AND FOREIGN TOURISTS.
IN NEIGHBORING SUDAN, THE ISLAMIC-LED GOVERNMENT OF GENERAL OMAR HASSAN AL-BASHIR HAS OPENLY ADOPTED THE STRICT ISLAMIC LAW, SHARIA, AS THE LAW OF THE LAND. IT ALSO ALLOWED THE ONLY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT IN THE COUNTRY, THE NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT, TO SET THE COUNTRY'S POLITICAL AGENDA. OTHER ISLAMIC GROUPS DESCRIBED AS FUNDAMENTALISTS HAVE ALSO EMERGED IN OTHER PARTS OF AFRICA, INCLUDING NIGERIA, NIGER, AND SOMALIA.
SCHOLARS ATTRIBUTE THE RISE OF SO-CALLED ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM TO A SERIES OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS. SOME, LIKE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT STANSILAUS, ASAD ABUKALIL, SAY IT IS A RESPONSE TO A GROWING PERCEPTION NEITHER SOCIALISM NOR NATIONALISM HAVE SOLVED NATIONAL PROBLEMS.
MANY PEOPLE WERE LOOKING FOR A NEW SYSTEM OF IDEOLOGY THAT IS NEITHER WEST NOR EAST, AND ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM FILLED THAT VACUUM. THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT IT WILL SUCCEED EASILY IN DISPLACING ALL SYSTEMS OF BELIEF, BUT IT WILL CERTAINLY BE FOR A WHILE A MOVEMENT OF CHOICE FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN SATISFIED BY THE VARIETY OF IDEOLOGIES OF THE PAST.
SUDAN'S SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT HASSAN AL-TURABI, WHO IS REGARDED IN THE WEST AS FUNDAMENTALIST, SAYS ISLAMIC RULE OFFERS WHAT NEITHER SOCIALISM NOR CAPITALISM DOES.
CAPITALISM DOES NOT OFFER US A POLITICAL ROLE BECAUSE IT MEANS PEOPLE WHO MONOPOLIZE WEALTH WILL MONOPOLIZE POWER. SO THERE IS NO SHARED POWER BY ALL PEOPLE. SOCIALISM DID NOT HELP VERY MUCH BECAUSE THERE WOULD BE ONLY A PUBLIC SECTOR WHICH CONTROLS EVERYTHING AND THE ELITE ON BEHALF OF THE PROLETARIAT WILL BECOME A DICTATORSHIP OVER A VERY SMALL CLASS OF PEOPLE. ISLAM IS OFFERING US THE SOLUTION FOR A MODEL OF A GOVERNMENT OF ALL PEOPLE, A TRUE DEMOCRACY NOT PARTY DEMOCRACY, TRIBO-DEMOCRACY OR BUREAUCRACY, BUT A DEMOCRACY.
BUT WHILE MANY OBSERVERS SAY ISLAM STRESSES JUSTICE AND PEACE, THEY DO NOT REGARD THE ISLAMIC-LED GOVERNMENT IN KHARTOUM AS THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY. THEY SAY THE GOVERNMENT'S INTOLERANCE TO POLITICAL OPPOSITION AND ITS ATTEMPT TO IMPOSE AN ISLAMIC AGENDA ON THE MAINLY CHRISTIAN AND ANIMIST SOUTH CLEARLY DEMONSTRATES ITS AUTHORITARIAN NATURE. PROFESSOR SULEIMAN NYANG OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY SAYS DIVERSITY IS NOT EMBRACED.
THE ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST PEOPLE, OR PEOPLE WE CALL POLITICAL ISLAMISTS, DO NOT REALLY HAVE ANY TOLERANCE IN MY VIEW FOR OTHER GROUPS IN TERMS OF SHARING POWER THE WAY WE TALK ABOUT SHARING POWER IN THE SECULAR DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES AS IN THE UNITED STATES, OR IN ENGLAND, OR SOME OTHER PLACES. THAT IS WHY WE HAVE A PROBLEM. BECAUSE IF THEY WANT TO INSIST, LIKE THEY ARE DOING IN SUDAN, THAT THEY WANT TO HAVE FULL CONTROL OF THE STATE AND AT THE SAME TIME RELEGATE THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THEIR RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY, YOU CREATE THE SITUATION FOR SECESSION LIKE THE SOUTHERN SUDANESE HAVE BEEN DOING SINCE THE INDEPENDENCE OF SUDAN.
OTHER OBSERVERS SAY THE FUNDAMENTALISTS' CORE ARGUMENT IS RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL. THEY SAY ISLAMIC MILITANTS BLAME SECULAR GOVERNMENTS FOR ALLOWING WESTERN CULTURE TO PENETRATE MUSLIM SOCIETIES AND UNDERMINE ISLAMIC VALUES AND TRADITIONS. EGYPTIAN-BORN MOHAMMED EL-KHAWAS IS A PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN HISTORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN WASHINGTON. HE SAYS FUNDAMENTALISTS VIEW ISLAM AS A DEFENSE AGAINST WHAT THEY SAY IS THE ENCROACHMENT OF WESTERN DECAY.
WELL, THEY (THE FUNDAMENTALISTS) FEEL THAT WESTERN CULTURE IS STRANGE TO MUSLIM SOCIETIES. THEY PREACH THAT SOME OF THE WESTERN MOVIES, VIDEOS, AND SONGS ARE NOT REALLY FIT TO THE ISLAMIC POPULATION AND THAT THEY SEEM TO BE INJECTING ALIEN ELEMENTS INTO THE ISLAMIC CULTURE. THEIR MAIN GOAL IS TO TRY TO CONVINCE THE MASSES THAT -- ISLAM IS THE SOLUTION -- TO SOME OF THEIR PROBLEMS AND THE ONLY WAY IT COULD BE DONE IS BY ALLOWING THESE ISLAMIST GROUPS TO COME TO POWER AND TRY TO FOLLOW THE STRICT RELIGION.
BUT SOME ANALYSTS SAY THE SLOGAN -- ISLAM IS THE SOLUTION -- IS DELIBERATELY COINED TO ATTRACT THE WORKING AND MIDDLE CLASSES WHO ARE FRUSTRATED BY ECONOMIC HARDSHIP AND ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO RADICAL MESSAGES. POLITICAL SCIENTIST ABUKALIL ARGUES THE SLOGAN DOES NOT SOLVE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.
TODAY WHEN PEOPLE RAISE THE SLOGAN -- ISLAM IS THE SOLUTION -- IT MIGHT SEEM QUITE SATISFACTORY BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE DEFINITELY LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS. HOWEVER, IF ISLAM REACHES POWER IN ALGERIA, OR EGYPT OR IN SUDAN AS HAS BEEN THE CASE AS WE KNOW IT, THEY (THE PEOPLE) WANT MORE CONCRETE ANSWERS. I MEAN THEY WANT BETTER EDUCATION, THEY WANT CLOTHING FOR THEIR CHILDREN, THEY WANT A RESOLVE TO PROBLEMS OF VIOLENCE, THEY WANT LESS INTRUSION BY THE STATE IN THEIR LIFE, AND IT HAS NOT BEEN PROVED THAT ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS IN POWER, WHETHER IN IRAN OR SUDAN, HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ADDRESS ALL THOSE PROBLEMS.
IF ISLAMIC REGIMES FAILED TO RESOLVE MODERN NATION-STATE PROBLEMS BY RESORTING TO ISLAM, HOW DID SOME OF THEM MANAGE TO RALLY MUSLIMS AROUND THEM? PROFESSOR ABUKALIL SAYS THE MILITANTS' POPULARITY STEMS FROM THEIR ABILITY TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE WITH AVERAGE PEOPLE.
ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM HAS A SPECIAL APPEAL, BECAUSE IT IS ANTI-WEST, BECAUSE IT HAS A LEVEL OF AUTHENTICITY, AND BECAUSE IT SPEAKS A LANGUAGE ALL PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND. IT IS NOT A LANGUAGE OF THE ELITE. IT IS IS NOT A LANGUAGE THAT IS SPOKEN BY THOSE AFRICAN GRADUATES OF THE SORBONNE IN THE CAFE'S OF PARIS.
OTHERS SAY FUNDAMENTALISTS OFTEN SPEAK ABOUT THE POOR, THE OSTENTATIOUS LIFESTYLE OF THE RICH, AND ABOUT CORRUPTION. THEY PREACH SOCIAL JUSTICE, A PLACE FOR GOD AT HOME AND IN SCHOOLS. ABOVE ALL, THEY INSIST ON THE RETURN TO ISLAM AND ITS MORAL VALUES. ONE OBSERVER SAID, TO THIS EXTENT, THEY SOUND LIKE THEIR CONSERVATIVE COUNTERPARTS IN AMERICA WHO PREACH GOD, COUNTRY, AND FAMILY.
WHETHER MUSLIMS REGARDED AS FUNDAMENTALISTS POSE A THREAT TO THE WEST WILL BE EXAMINED IN THE NEXT AND FINAL PART OF OUR SERIES ON ISLAM IN AFRICA.
01-Apr-97
Source: Voice of America