'No True Democracy Yet in Egypt': I'm Shocked!

by Darris McNeely

Submitted December 15, 2011

Source: iStockphoto

So says a headline in today's edition of USA Today. A blogger has been sentenced to two years in prison because of a piece he wrote criticizing the military. 

Whether it is military rule or the likely Islamist-leaning coalition that is shaping up, no one should expect the months-long uprising in Egypt to result in democratic freedoms we in the West take for granted.

The article goes on to show that Amnesty International reports abusive tactics on women held in custody. They undergo strip searches, electric shocks and "virginity checks." More than 12,000 protestors have been detained since January. It seems not much has changed since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Recent parliamentary elections resulted in the conservative religious movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, gaining seats that could lead to their considerable influence over the shape of the new ruling constitution. Egypt becoming an Islamist state would seriously change the balance of politics in the region. But seriously, anyone looking for a Western-style democracy to evolve in Egypt is fantasizing.

The January/February 2012 issue of The Good News magazine ( available online in January ) contains several articles on the religion of Islam and its relentless quest to push its religious view within the world. You will get a much different perspective on this world religion than what is printed in much of the mainstream media. The tenets of Islam, when applied literally, leave little room for Western-style freedoms. And "literally" is the only applicaton of Islam that conservative Islam promotes. It is why we see the clashes we do at the flash points created by its incursion into the modern society.