DATE=4/1/97
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-36088
TITLE=ISLAM IN AFRICA PART -IV
BYLINE=HILLETEWORK MATHIAS
DATELINE=WASHINGTON D.C.
CONTENT=
UN-VOICED:
INTRO: 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. IN THE
FOURTH OF A FIVE-PART SERIES ON ISLAM IN AFRICA, V-O-A'S
HILLETEWORK MATHIAS EXAMINES THE CAUSES FOR THE RISE OF THE
MOVEMENT IN AFRICA.
TEXTS: 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.
/// OPT /// 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. /// END OPT ///
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.
// ABUKALIL ACT //
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.
// END OF ACT //
/// OPT /// 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.
// TURABI ACT //
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.
// END ACT //
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.
// NYANG ACT //
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.
// END OF ACT // END OPT ///
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.
// EL-KHAWAS ACT //
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.
// END ACT //
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.
// ABUKALIL ACT //
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.
// END OF ACT //
/// OPT /// 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.
// ABUKALIL ACT //
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.
// END ACT // END OPT ///
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. (SIGNED)
NEB/HM/RAE
01-Apr-97 2:58 PM EST (1958 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
