Productions presents for us. And for me.
In the name of God the Beneficent the merciful Salaam aleikum Peace be with you and
welcome to focus on Islam My name is
a mage in nature and I'll be your host the C.N.N.
As we focus on. This program Focus on this is designed to promote
a better understanding of Islam and Muslims and God willing I hope we are
fulfilling our commitment to you the viewer tonight we have part two of
a very interesting show we started last week talking about Islam and democracy this
week we will take case studies as the recent developments in Africa and the Middle
East are ongoing we need to take
a closer look at democracy in the Middle East and Africa tonight joining me my
special guest is Abraham Salaam aleikum brother
a very little brother Abraham hope all is the democratic experience in the Muslim
countries. Where we left off last week when we were talking about that.
In general particularly the Middle East region. Was actually carved out in divided
. By Britain and the turn of the century. And since that time.
All Middle Eastern countries with no exception almost except for Saudi Arabia. Were
colonized directly colonized and it wasn't until the in the sixty's.
One by one they started gaining their independence late fifty's and fifty's and
sixty's so at best. There's not to say that the minute they gained that
independence they became democratic countries as
a matter of fact it's quite the contrary the. Colonizing forces as they pull out
of these countries they made sure that they left behind systems entrenched they did
their own work so they don't have to spend the time and the money administer. These
regions in these countries know we will just have puppet governments there and they
will do our work for us so the reason then went from diary of colonisation
to oppressive regimes local Jeems. Intrusions often military regimes.
And it wasn't until extremely very recently that we saw people
in these countries starting to want to take over they became fed up with with
governments and systems and so on and they said we're going to take things in our
own hands we saw that for example. We saw it in Iran
yes when people were fed were fed up by the oppression and so on of the Shah and
they took things in their own hands we saw it in Sudan we saw it in the area we are
seeing it now and Turkey is just spreading throughout that people are saying this
is not to present to the governments of our aspirations and what we want to do and
we are sick and tired of being kicked and beaten and oppressed and tortured by our
own governments in the name of democracy sometimes in the name of Islam some other
times and so on so then the it is only very recently for
a few years as
a matter of fact that some of these countries not all of them but some of these
countries are starting to take things in their own hands and starting to implement
some of these processes that we're talking about well we have sort of
a contradiction in policies and maybe we can talk about
a case and study Algeria which you mentioned why is the West so unwilling to
embrace Muslim Islamic democracy been done in Algeria and willing to
support
a suppressive dictator. Of the United States has supported oppressive
dictators before yes the United States for example as I have just mentioned.
Supported the Shah of Iran for years and years and years. We also supported Somoza
of Nicaragua. We supported the Philippines we supported Marcos of the Philippines
and we continue to support oppressive regimes because again our normal democracy in
this country is local as nationalistic. In Algeria we are not necessarily saying
that the United States should support an Islamic democracy per se we are saying
that the United States in the process of exporting democracy should stick to the
same rules and should not change the rules of the game when we go from one system
to another from one government to another from one people to another the area. Just
a very brief history. Again was colonized by France in eighteen thirty gained its
independence in one thousand nine hundred sixty two that is one hundred thirty two
years later. From one nine hundred sixty two until very recently.
Several hands have changed you have taken over often they would
all form of some form of socialist governments in all of them were oppressive
governments OK. Until. Until late one thousand nine hundred eighty eight when
some process started to happen in the area actually there was there was some form
of bubbling that is starting to happen in the area you have to realize that again
that over the hundred thirty some odd years in the G.
Area of French colonization the Algerian mentality friend the French were trying to
strip these people of everything that is their. Language tradition culture
religion you name it. So it is
a very lengthy and hard and tedious process for
a period today to restore their own identity and culture and so on and it is very
very hard work when you couple that with regimes that are oppressed of that makes
that he struck showing process even that much harder so. One thousand nine hundred
ninety the. There were some municipalities Alexion so that after all of that
took nine hundred eighty eight to nine hundred ninety of people saying. This is
wrong we want to have
a hand in the process of electing our people choosing our leaders and so on
nineteen ninety in the middle of the year as
a matter of fact there were some municipality elections in Algeria. And the
Islamic Party one of the many parties in Algeria some leftist parties some to that
I'd some to the left and so on and one of those parties sanctioned by the
government was the Islamic Salvation Front. While the Islamic Salvation Front swept
the
a lot of them the simple elections they got overall they received eighty two percent
. Little more than eighty two percent of the votes. That is an overwhelming
majority that we have not even seen it in the United States or elsewhere the only
time that such
a majority existed in those countries were in that double lections that are always
ninety nine point nine nine percent ninety nine point nine nine percent we see it
in Syria we see it in Egypt we see it in everywhere and most recently we saw it in
Tunisia and Tunisia haven't I Leno changed things I owned
a little bit and just to make it look
a little more realistic he won by ninety nine point nine one instead of point nine
nine so it is
a little more realistic. So. Eighty two percent with the all in
party the party that is governing Algeria but it saved about fifteen percent of the
votes. National elections were set for
a year later for nine hundred ninety one. But in the interim what the government
did was they legislated a new
a law that new law is to change the distribution of seats. And what they did is
that they inflated the areas where they received their votes and they deflated the
areas where the Islamic Party had deceived its votes. So they changed the
demographics they changed all of the roles of the game so that they even with
fifteen percent of the votes they would look like they have the majority they have
more seats. The Islamic Salvation Front objected to that and said we are not going
to participate. In any elections until these things are resolved. As
a result of that the government jailed fifteen thousand people in the Islamic
Salvation Front namely all of its leadership was jailed detained with no due
process also so there were no trials no this no that fifteen thousand people were
jailed all the leadership all municipalities so there was no direction no
leadership for that party in the majority all together and then they said Well now
we'll have elections. Believing and feeling that now for sure without any guidance
without any leadership now the government will have the upper hand and they will
win the elections and even that didn't happen so all timidly then the
military stepped in. The army stepped in and the
outlawed party the Islamic Salvation Front they jailed more of its
members and we saw from. From one nine hundred ninety two.
The elections were supposed to happen in one thousand nine hundred two January they
were called off the military stepped in and it's
a military government so that's that's a chronology of
a very brief and crude chronology of what happened in the jury now the question is
what was that all of the West that was watching all of this happen and there was
supposedly one to make sure that democracy is. Is there to protect the democratic
process and to make sure that so long as the process is correct I mean it may not
in our real best interests that so and so is in government but if we protect the
process and if what we have is best then ultimately and eventually we will be there
or somebody who believes in what we believe and will come to their. Well that
didn't happen as
a matter of fact the France of course is always on Algeria. Immediately
also backed the military move the United States backed the military move
and the West in general backed this move that was in direct violation of the very
principle of democracy is how can you back
a system that says I'm going to outlaw elections because it looked to me that I'm
not going to win it. This is what it's all about the government in the knew that it
is not going to win the elections because it was not going to win the elections
what do we do WE ARE WE boy can we outlaw elections all together and what does the
apparent democracy what does the West do there was that preaches democracy all the
time while they say it's fine not only is it fine for you to Ben elections but
we're going to back you up we're going to make sure that the other side of the
story gets all the negative publicity and we're going to make sure that there is no
support for it in and most recently just what I about that discussion most recently
now in the Congress special committee on that region has now said that we want to
see peace. We want to see peace talks. And we want to see peace
prevail in the area there is only one kink in that and that thought. That
twist that thought and that resolution is we want to see peace and peace talks and
Geria provided that the Islamic Salvation Front or actually what they would say the
fundamentalists are not part of it. What happened to democracy and what happened
to the voice of the minority and what happens to all of what happened to all of
that. What we see is continuously
a double standard process
a process where we preach one thing in this country and then we practice something
else and we again this is the most blatant example is what happened in the area but
that's by no means is the only example that happened that illustrates this idea of
double standards selective democracy selective democracy we see it we saw it we saw
it as again as I said we saw it in Iran one thousand nine hundred seventy nine. And
for from that time on until now we don't like the people who won the elections so
we're going to boycott and we're going to just claim that this is not democracy at
all so democracy is what works for us in other words not. What's best for the
people while another case and study is what's going on in Turkey today and you were
talking before the program about the recent elections there maybe can tell us
what's going on today in Turkey that is that's extremely interesting process also
to keep an eye on. Turkey Turkey was the center actually of the Muslim
empire Yeah the Muslim. Rule all together until one thousand nine hundred seventeen
or so and I don't the turn of the century I want the time. Turkey was ruled by
Camilla to talk and Camilla to talk as
a pure secular leader in Turkey who made sure that Turkey had no Islamic
identity in it at all he wanted Turkish identity and then Islamic identity and in
his A thought they were mutually exclusive you cannot be this and that at the same
time which is which is an absurd idea of its own but he succeeded
in Macon Turkey
a Turkish society with very little trace of Islam in its institutions not its
people you cannot strip people from their beliefs but he made sure that
institutions were stripped of that identity that Muslim identity while Turkey has
a unique location also correct yes it is while Turkey is Turkey is strategically
located Yes Turkey is an ally of the United States. Turkey
is in a place where it's
a bridge between Europe and the Middle East and so on and it is it is it has its
own uniqueness its has its own value. Now what essentially. The people of Turkey
are starting to see. To elect
a party and Islamic party in Turkey and the most recent victory that that
Islamic Party has seen as the election of the mayor of Istanbul. The largest
city in Turkey and suddenly a lot of flags are now going up. I mean this is
a democratic process we didn't see any flags go up when the when when the.
Presidential elections were going on and whoever wins wins no flags over to go up
until we don't like the person who is elected man or woman and when
when they saw this party now it's taken getting more and more support from the
people in Turkey and that people are voicing their opinion go to the polls and say
this is the party that I would like to see in ruling government now they are saying
that this is
a second area. They are now saying. Here come the
fundamentalists. You're a member
a while ago and it was the Russians are coming the Russians are coming when now it
seems that the Muslims are coming the Muslims are coming the funny thing is that we
in this country are to realize that it turned out when that actions did come it
turned out that we are getting along with them just fine the people who are who are
trying to put in our minds in everybody's mind tell you that actions are common
that actions are common meaning Why child would be on the look out there come your
enemy and so on we're basically trying to manipulate our own feelings and thoughts
and so on and to bias us against
a group of people that we know nothing about. The same thing is happening today the
media is trying to tell you why child the Muslims are come and the fundamentalists
are coming in. So on and my my thought my advice to you is to make sure
that you don't fall in the same trap of the Russians are coming and this time what
I would like you to do is to make sure that you yourself get to know and learn
about these Muslims these fundamentalists if you will these people who you are whom
you are told are come and learn
a little bit about him so you will know how to meet him so you know either to
defend yourself or maybe you are going to meet him with open hearts and open arms
because you will learn that they are come and not with swords not with guns not
with battle ships and planes and so on maybe they are coming being gifts to you
maybe they are coming actually with the best gift of all the gift of sharing with
you
a principle an idea and ideology that would help us maybe overcome our problems that
would help us overcome our homelessness in this country that would help us or the
overcome our. Moral dilemma moral crisis that this country is good go on through
maybe these people will just have some of the solution that we are looking for so
desperately in this country but the media is telling us the Muslims are coming in
a tone in
a connotation that means they are coming to get you they are coming to kill you and
what is really happening in reality is that we are going over to Muslims with arms
every time we go over to Muslims we go with arms we go with planes to bombard them
we go with tanks to kill them it is the other way around so what we need to do is
to get out of this mentality of war altogether and think and know that
when the media starts to raise these flags as
a matter of fact we are to be smart enough every time the media starts to throw
these flags around to us that there is something there. That I should investigate
on my own. I'm not going to take the media's word for it I'm going to investigate
it on my own and I advice you the audience of this program to keep an eye on Turkey
keep an eye on what's going on there because it is the policies of our government
here abroad that has made people so sick and tired
of our system of government. They see double again as I said what they see is
double standard. What they see is hypocrisy in what we see and what we do what they
see is the paradise on the back on one end and they shoot us on the other and they
see all of that and then the lies why should I people that have been ruled in the
Third World as we call it by the way they have they have experienced and lived
through socialism they have experienced and lived through even communism as they
have certainly experienced and lived through capitalism they have experienced all
of these forms of government and they have all consistently and continuously failed
. And all that they are saying no is we have something that's worked
before time ago. Old we want is the chance to try it.
In
a healthy environment we just want to try it let's see like all the other systems have
had their chance let's try it out and if the majority of the people in that
particular country will lend once to be told by this form of government
who are we in this country or anywhere else to go there until I'm no you do not
know what's best for you. Here's how you're going to be governed Here's the. Form
of Government that you're going to have and that's going to work for you whether
you have you know it or not whether you want it or not here's the democracy you're
going to have. And we've done that in several countries and consistently. It
backfires because what we end up doing we in the back and supporting oppressive
regimes. And telling sending
a message to those people in those countries that we really don't care about you.
And we preach human rights on one end but we go and support oppressive tyrant
regimes. And people cannot reconcile the two and they are having
a very difficult time reconciling what the United States preaches and the part of
the foreign policies of the United States are and they find again they find that
these two very far apart. Look at for instance also look at Bosnia.
Yes. President Clinton was elected one of his promises during the election was
that he is going to the arm. To lift the ban on the Bosnians so that they can
buy arms so that they can defend themselves. A prince and we cherish in this
country so yes exactly do you know what he called he called Bush's policy and
immoral policy not just wrong policy his Bosnia policy but in his campaign rhetoric
Clinton called Bush's policy an immoral policy he called his policy towards the
Haitians turning Haitians back he called it an immoral policy not wrong not just
wrong and moral. But Bush wasn't what he called and moral policy. Has
yet to lift the ban on the on the Bosnians Yes they he has yet for instance to
implement any different policy regarding the Haitians they are turning back still.
So his policy and this is a moral policy just like Bush's was there is
a problem of theory in practice and that's what we are looking at today look at
this is a second a second example
a third example is what has happened in the Sudan. In the Sudan the majority of the
people in the Sudan this very poor country the majority of the people in the Sudan
again haven't been ruled by
a British and by this and by that finally said listen we want to have this form of
government or all US democratically with this is what we want. What have we
done to support and to do and hence
a democratic process what we've done is that we have suffocated economically and
politically we suffocated the student. When people say we want Islamic rules total
us that's what works best for them they are not saying we want to rule you with
Islamic rules they are saying we want to be law according to our own faith.
Who are we here in this country to say no you can't live and you're on set of rules
and said the faiths and set of beliefs you know you're going to live and
a set of rules that we have devised for you whether these set of rules are alien to
you totally foreign then you cannot relate to them they mean nothing to you you
will still live under those set of rules. People then wonder we
wonder in this country people in the society wonder when they go abroad why is it
that Americans are so disliked when they go to the Middle East when they go to
Europe when they go elsewhere. And we need to stop and really think hard Why is it
that people in this country when they travel abroad. I've disliked. Knowing that
people in this country are the innocent victim of the foreign policies of the
differences things in the film government the reason is we have always tried we
have always charged our own policies and ideas and thoughts down the throat of
other people with those other people saying yes we would like these policies. Or
that over him I think you've given us some good examples and case studies and I
appreciate your advice to our audience we need to seek out who are the Muslims what
is it all about and also to look at history what was the golden era for Muslims was
the golden era for all of civilization and we are the friends of the people of the
book Christian and choose not the enemy of these people so I hope you've given us
a good advice that we will take it upon ourselves to search it out. Thank you and
thank you the viewing audience this program is for you and without you would not be
possible if you have questions if you have suggestions if you would like
information on Islam please write Please join us next week when we focus on Islam
a Salaam aleikum Peace be with you.
Hit. On.
And you see them. You see this.
Can you see they. Can see that they can you see if.
They.