So earlier this week David Cameron (British Prime Minister) took a trip to Indonesia and stated (among many other things) that: “What Indonesia shows is that in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, it is possible to reject this extremist threat and prove that democracy and Islam can flourish alongside each other.” Which in someways makes sense.
 |
| This guy |
 |
| not this guy |
But the Guardian was quick to counter point and critique Cameron, claiming that he left out a few convient facts. Like that confessing monotheistic belief is required, or that the president is a military general, or that in many ways Indonesia is an oligarchy. Which all may very well be true, however what raised my ire was when Indonesia's problems were compared along side and claimed as the most likely potential of the Arab Spring: "In fact, Indonesia's trajectory might suggest a rather different message – and likely outcome"
 |
| sigh...okay lets unpack this |
It may very well be true that both Egypt and Indonesia are both Islamic, and it may very well be true these democracies were born out of the violent overthrow of a (EUROPEAN IMPOSED) military dictatorship. But that does not, DOES NOT, mean that they are the same Guardian. I'm mean for fuck's sake this is exactly what I was talking about last post. The west has a catastrophic assumption that Islam contains within it a dangerous bias (or even extremist intolerance) against everything that isn't Islam. The Guardian is taking these structural problems of a post colonialist system and blaming them solely as the responsibility and consequence of Islam. They are forgetting to take into account that many of these problems were caused by European Colonialism in the region, in the first place. Corruption, oligarchy, and other issues in Indonesia may be in someways supported by certain interpretations of Islam but that doesn't inherently mean that what has occurred in Indonesia will happen in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, or anywhere else in the Arab spring because they allow Islam to participate in their democratic process.
 |
| GAHHHHhhhhhHHHHhhhHHh |
And people wonder why I'm angry all the time....Gods.
Till next time
Jacob
Articles mentioned
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17686174
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/12/indonesian-democracy-scrutiny-david-cameron?newsfeed=true
http://dawn.com/2012/04/12/cameron-praises-indonesia-as-model-of-democracy-and-islam/
No comments:
Post a Comment