Non-Violent Moderates

We should have all heard about the Civil Rights Activists (the non violent moderates) fighting for their lives in North Africa and the Middle East. The North African country of Tunisia inspired pro-democracy rebellions in the surrounding countries.

Tunisia has deposed its authoritarian government with the fall of President Ben Ali, on October 23rd, they had their first free election (90% of the voters turned out) and an assembly will rewrite its constitution. Time magazine reported that Morocco announced constitutional reforms in response to protests. Algeria has raised the pay of many state workers and is stabilizing the price of food and President Bouteflika has promised constitutional reforms.

On October 18^th, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, made an unannounced visit to meet with the new rebellion leaders of Libya, their freedom fighters and college students as they’re Libya’s future. She told them the US is committed for the long haul. Americans want to see the new government unify the people and get them on a road to democracy. On October 20^th (after Moammar Gadhafi was wounded when his convoy was bombed) the Libyans, after a hard 8 months struggle, shot Gadhafi; one of his sons was also killed. It’s being said that Gadhafi had billions to hold off the rebels; some money has been found, assets have been frozen, but a fortune is still missing. It was discovered that shoulder firing missiles were left unguarded and are missing. NATO announced their mission will end October 31, 2011. It’s felt that the Libyans have the resources to rebuild their country so we’re not expecting to provide a lot of funds. On October 27^th ABC News reported that US officials are scrambling to find the estimated 10,000 missing shoulder firing missiles; the other 10,000 were moved to a secure site today. There are about 30 US personnel on the ground trying to keep the missiles out of the wrong hands. Libya’s interim government, on October 31^st, confirmed the presence of chemical weapons.

Oman, in the Middle East, has had a military cooperation agreement with the US since 1980 (revised in 2000) and has long been active in efforts to achieve peace and as I said before has spent more than a third of its budget on defense due to continuous support of the US initiated anti-terrorism crusade. In August the Arab nations joined the international condemnation of Syrian protesters and President Obama asked President Bashar Al-Assad to step down. The Saudi Arabian King has announced social and economic reforms totaling at least $100 billion and the possibility that women may be able to vote and run for office soon. Saudi Arabian women know that no matter what religion you believe in, your religious text was created long before cars were created and therefore couldn’t address such a situation (they’re the only women in the world not allowed to drive); the King stopped the lashing of a woman who was driving. Jordan’s King Abdullah II announced a fund for job creation and health insurance in rural areas. Bahrain’s Shiite minority are protesting in an attempt to get democratic reforms.  In mid October the UN condemned Yemen’s President Saleh’s violent crackdown on protesters and has asked him to step down seeking to end his 33 year autocratic rule. The Gulf Council has offered Saleh immunity if he transfers power within 30 days.

All of the countries I’ve mentioned above want or are at least making an effort for democratic reform and they all have Muslim residents. Bruce Feiler says 1 in 7 human beings are Muslim under age 30 and that history has shown that it’s the young that makes change. He calls the Middle East protesters Generation Freedom as they want a better life. He also believes that the story of Moses was the first fight for freedom and I tend to agree. This seems like a double edged sword. I know we can’t tell an extremist from a moderate Muslim but FDR wanted our freedoms for the world and said our strength is in our unity of purpose and Martin Luther King said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I say we cannot, if we believe in our Constitution, fail to treat these people fairly.

We can only have world peace if Ms. Khan is right in saying that in the theology of Islam, God clearly says, I have created you into nations and tribes so you can get to know each other. We all need to make an attempt to do as God wishes.