Why Egypt 2011 is not Iran 1979 | Informed Comment

I like this blog, forwarded to me by one of my students. Obviously, among post-secularists, the specter of religious governance structures is of considerable interest, not only in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, but in the US as well. However, at least in the US, where there is reasonable transparency and religious freedom (ask the Coptics in Egypt about religious freedom), the rise of the religious right has been a well-known, publicized, public, and, for all of this, fairly terrifying process. In Egypt, where Muslims with extreme views have been subject to brutal state action, and whose voices have been deliberately silenced in the press and at the polls, there is good reason to wonder how accurate polling data can be in the first place, but also whether, once granted the kinds of freedoms they deserve, Muslims holding more extreme views might not view the Disneyland overlay tourists have placed on pyramids and other pre-, non-, or anti-Islamic theme parks is not worth the revenues they it generates. Faithfulness, I am led to believe, might not in all instances be inclined to bow to the great dollar.

This said, we might want to engage in a well-informed, eyes-open, discussion of the range of possible futures for Egypt and the Middle East and ask ourselves whether the indeterminacy generated by revolution—because we really do not know where revolution leads—means that we should act to suppress all revolutions (siding always with the devil we know), or whether even the possibility of greater emancipation is worth the price paid.

As of this hour, the US appears to be siding with the devil it knows. So, if this is not 1979, is it 1848 in Egypt? Or 1917? Or . . .