Dori's Book Recommendation

    I would like to recommend a new book by Robin Wright, veteran foreign correspondent, entitled "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World."  This is an especially timely book, considering all the current upheaval in Islamic countries, with the question as to what this will all lead to:  democracy, chaos, or a fizzle.

    A lot may depend on how the West (U.S. and Israel) chooses to designate the different factions at work here:  secular, Islamist (including the Muslim Brotherhood) and Salafist (very conservative).  Will these factions be allowed to sort themselves out*, or will the U.S. impose itself in the decision?  For example, the U.S. designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization has played havoc in the quest for unity with Fatah, and peace with Israel.  If the U.S. (and our media) does the somewhat the same thing in Egypt, for example, what will be the result?

    Islamist parties are currently winning in Libya and Morocco.  The U.S., if it uses a radical definition of Islamist, could portray this as alarming.  According to Robin Wright though, Islamists are moderate Muslims who have " ... a backlash against jihad and militant Islam, but at the same time, they do not wish to abandon Islam and sharia law."  Islamists are disillusioned " ... with the Western model, which failed to deliver; yet, militant Islam failed to deliver also."  (p.52) 

    "Islam will almost certainly play a major role in transitions.  In most Muslim countries, large numbers share conservative values, even as they push for democratic freedoms of speech, press, politics, and public assembly.  The right to human dignity, Muslims believe, is God-given.  The values of their religion are a new starting point for all other aspects of life."  (P.239)

    “For the majority of Muslims today, the central issue is not a clash with other civilizations. It is instead a struggle within the faith itself to rescue Islam’s central values from a small but virulent minority,” she writes. “The new confrontation is effectively a jihad against the Jihad.

    *"Egypt's divide: Islamist vs. liberal: Ultraconservative seeks to bridge gap," Post 11-26-11, p. A1;

    *"Egypt's military rule exposes divisions," WashPost, 11-26-01, p.A10.

Mike, the following is from a Google report.  Instead of including it in the blog, you might suggest that readers Google this topic. 

The Arab world is poised for an era of political and cultural renewal. In dramatic succession, popular uprisings have toppled long-reigning dictators even as others cling to power. Amid these momentous events, scholars, journalists and politicians are scrambling to explain how these revolutions came about after years of political stagnation and dashed attempts at reform.

ROCK THE CASBAH

Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World

By Robin Wright

307 pp. Simon & Schuster. $26.99.

Related

• Excerpt: ‘Rock the Casbah’ (August 2, 2011)

• Books of The Times: ‘Rock the Casbah’ by Robin Wright (August 2, 2011)

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HAMSA

A comic book about Martin Luther King Jr. inspired an Egyptian blogger.

Robin Wright’s “Rock the Casbah,” though it was mainly reported before this year’s convulsions, tackles these questions directly. Wright, a veteran foreign correspondent, argues that the Arab world’s younger generation is at the vanguard of a sweeping and seductive cultural revolution. Setting out to challenge the lazy trope that Islam is incompatible with modernity and democracy, she traveled across the Middle East — with forays into the wider Muslim world — to profile hip-hop artists, poets, playwrights, feminists, human rights activists, TV imams, comic book creators and comedians. Wright contends that these reformers are working toward a “counter-jihad” to reclaim Islam from militants who crave perpetual holy war. “For the majority of Muslims today, the central issue is not a clash with other civilizations. It is instead a struggle within the faith itself to rescue Islam’s central values from a small but virulent minority,” she writes. “The new confrontation is effectively a jihad against the Jihad