Islam y Mundo Árabe (Continuación)

An Imam reads a poem ‘For the Republique’ as a homily to French Muslims in support of the laws of the French Republique during Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Paris on 30 October 2020 in Paris, France. Photo by Kiran Ridley/Getty Images.

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Following a resurgence of Islamist terrorism over the past five years, French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the reform of Islam in France. He wants to build an ‘Islam of Enlightenment’, a project which would include training for imams that combines knowledge about Islam with the values of the Enlightenment, as well as in-depth teaching of progressive Muslim thinkers such as Averroes and Ibn Khaldun from the 12th and 14th centuries. The French government’s plan also coincides with calls for reform of the Islamic tradition in Muslim societies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Underpinning these calls is the argument that reforming Islam is necessary to fight violent extremism.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘Demonstrations against France’s supposed ‘anti-Islamic’ stance erupted in Bangladesh, Qatar, Lebanon, and other majority Muslim countries.’ A Palestinian protester with a poster of Emmanuel Macron. Photograph: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

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The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, minced no words in his recent diatribe against his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. “Macron needs mental treatment,” Erdoğan said. This blast from Ankara came in response to Macron’s announcement of a series of measures intended to “reform” the practice of Islam in France and end “Islamic separatism” – proof, to Erdoğan, that Macron had “a problem with Islam”.

Then, just five days later, on 29 October, a newly arrived Tunisian immigrant killed three Christians at prayer in Nice. France had yet again been the victim of “an Islamist terrorist attack,” Macron proclaimed. He did not need to remind his countrymen of the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty by another immigrant, this one of Chechen descent, in broad daylight two weeks earlier, or of the prior stabbing of two people outside the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.…  Seguir leyendo »

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On Sept. 15, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel formally signed the “Abraham Accords,” establishing normal diplomatic relations. Supporters like President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the agreement as an unprecedented step toward peace.

Not everyone agrees. A number of prominent public figures and civil society groups argue the move is aimed at pressuring Palestinians to accept a state without sovereignty, while granting authoritarian Arab Persian Gulf nations international legitimacy and greater access to new technologies for repression.

What do ordinary Arabs think? The 2019-2020 polling data of the Arab Opinion Index suggests that many Arabs are at odds with their governments on the question of Israel.…  Seguir leyendo »

Libertad religiosa para infieles

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Tomarte una cerveza fría en una terraza o una copa de vino en un restaurante. Comer jamón bien cortado o un mixto o un cochinillo segoviano o unos torreznos. Beber durante el día cuando es ramadán. Salir a la calle mostrando tu cabello, tus brazos. Llevar pantalones ajustados o falda corta. Amar a un hombre sin circuncidar y que no esté obligado a convertirse a la religión de tus padres para que os podáis amar. Amar sin matrimonio. Tener relaciones sexuales sin matrimonio. Escoger libremente con quién intercambiar fluidos, pasiones o afectos. Amar a una mujer. No decir “en nombre de Dios” a cada momento, olvidarte de Alá y de Mahoma.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Taliban need to spell out their ideas about the role of Islam in society and governance. Credit Hussein Sayed/Associated Press

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As the major warring parties in Afghanistan sit down for peace talks in Doha, Qatar, an old, unresolved debate is emerging as the central question: What should be the role of Islam in Afghanistan? A humid seaside resort on the Persian Gulf, where the delegates are gathered, has become the unlikely venue for a search for answers acceptable to most Afghans.

The Taliban, who fought for decades to establish an Islamic political system, struck a deal with the United States in February that calls for American troop withdrawals conditioned on the Taliban engaging in peace talks and promising not to allow the country to be used by transnational terrorists.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Es normal que los países con profundos desacuerdos de todos modos mantengan relaciones diplomáticas, mercantiles y comerciales. Sin embargo, también hay circunstancias en las que se considera que esas relaciones carecen de sentido. Por cierto, ése es el caso de la mayoría de los países frente a Corea del Norte, pero también describe la postura previa de Estados Unidos con Cuba, y ahora con Venezuela, así como la política de Israel con Irán, la de Arabia Saudita con Qatar y la de gran parte del mundo árabe con Israel.

Dada la importancia del diálogo entre los países, siempre se plantea el interrogante de cuándo perseguir o terminar relaciones normales con un actor “malo”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul on Friday. Credit Chris McGrath/Getty Images

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The recent decision by the Turkish government to reconvert the majestic Hagia Sophia, which was once the world’s greatest cathedral, from a museum back to a mosque has been bad news for Christians around the world. They include Pope Francis, who said he was “pained” by the move, and the spiritual leader of Eastern Christianity, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who said he was “saddened and shaken.” When contrasted with the joy of Turkey’s conservative Muslims, all this may seem like a new episode in an old story: Islam vs. Christianity.

But some Muslims, including myself, are not fully comfortable with this historic step, and for a good reason: forced conversion of shrines, which has occurred too many times in human history in all directions, can be questioned even from a purely Islamic point of view.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Tema

La pandemia del COVID-19 está sacudiendo a los países árabes con fuerza. Aquí se analiza el contexto regional, las respuestas de los gobiernos, las posibles implicaciones económicas y sociales, la forma en que esto puede afectar a los regímenes políticos y los riesgos para los países vecinos, así como algunas oportunidades que pueden surgir para resolver problemas y conflictos que recorren esa compleja región.

Resumen

La pandemia del COVID-19 se ha extendido por el mundo en un momento en el que la región árabe se encuentra sometida a grandes presiones de diversa índole. Las respuestas de los Estados árabes ante la amenaza del nuevo coronavirus, sumadas al contexto internacional que está generando la pandemia, tienen el potencial de acentuar algunos de los problemas ya existentes, convirtiendo retos socioeconómicos en crisis políticas y agudizando las demandas de cambio que se extienden por diversos países de Oriente Medio y el Magreb.…  Seguir leyendo »

A sign says “Racism Kills” during a march in Hanau, Germany, after a gunman killed nine people there on Feb. 19. Credit Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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We live in a time of Islamophobia.

In February, two violent attacks on Muslims in Europe, one in Hanau in Germany, the other in London, took place within 24 hours of each other. Though the circumstances were different — the attacker in Hanau left a “manifesto” full of far-right conspiracy theories, while the motivations of the London attacker were less certain — the target was the same: Muslims.

The two events add to a growing list of violent attacks on Muslims across Europe. In 2018 alone, France saw an increase of 52 percent of Islamophobic incidents; in Austria there was a rise of approximately 74 percent, with 540 cases.…  Seguir leyendo »

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This week is a test for peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban have an historic opportunity to show that they have the will and the ability to reduce violence. This would pave the way for negotiations among Afghans for a comprehensive peace agreement.

NATO fully supports the efforts of the United States to find a peaceful solution. These efforts have brought us closer than ever before to an end to decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

Our engagement in Afghanistan is the direct consequence of 9/11, when we triggered our collective defense clause, Article 5, for the first time in history -- in support of the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Que sont les islamistes devenus ? Ont-ils été victimes de la tempête contre-révolutionnaire lancée contre ceux qui, il y a un peu moins de dix ans, avaient eu l’impertinence de rafler la mise des premiers scrutins libres du « printemps arabe » ? Ou ont-ils été discrédités par les excroissances djihadistes que la répression a contribué à faire sortir de leurs rangs ? A en croire les voix les plus sonores, les adeptes d’Hassan Al-Banna, le fondateur des Frères musulmans en 1928, seraient défaits militairement en Egypte, invisibles dans le Hirak algérien, phagocytés en Tunisie par leur proximité du pouvoir ou leur crainte paradoxale de l’exercer.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Depuis la guerre d’octobre 1973 – « du Kippour » ou « du Ramadan » –, la région Moyen-Orient et Afrique du Nord s’était insérée dans le système international d’une manière dramatique. Avec l’embargo sur les livraisons d’hydrocarbures aux Occidentaux soutenant l’Etat hébreu, le roi Fayçal d’Arabie saoudite, afin de venir en aide à l’Egypte et à la Syrie, fit soudainement du pétrole une arme inouïe. Israël stoppa – sur ordre de Washington – son blitzkrieg, consacrant la victoire du monarque saoudien. Quadruplant les prix du brut par raréfaction de l’offre, le royaume avait survalorisé une ressource concentrée autour du golfe Persique, où ses coûts d’exploitation étaient les plus bas de la planète.…  Seguir leyendo »

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C’est une jeune femme, vêtue d’un jean et d’un pull, les cheveux mi-courts, qui grimpe sur une grille et se met à haranguer la foule à Tunis, le 8 janvier 2011 ; c’est une dame d’un certain âge qui parle à un militaire à un barrage dans le centre de Beyrouth, et le houspille comme elle le ferait pour ses propres enfants, aux premiers jours de la révolution d’octobre 2019 ; c’est une femme frappée et dénudée par les forces de sécurité dans les rues du Caire, le 17 décembre 2011, et dont le soutien-gorge bleu devient le symbole des violences faites aux femmes ; ce sont les ouvrières de la société Filature et tissage d’Egypte qui se mettent en grève et sont soutenues par les jeunes révolutionnaires ; ce sont les mères qui ouvrent la série des mobilisations de rue en Libye en 2011, ces mères de milliers de prisonniers morts en détention venues se poster devant le tribunal de Benghazi avec les portraits de leurs fils ; ce sont, à l’évidence, les femmes irakiennes sorties en des dizaines de manifestations le 13 février sous le mot d’ordre « Banatek ya watan » (Tes filles, oh pays !).…  Seguir leyendo »

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Le monde arabe reste parcouru, en ce début d’année 2020, par une série de mouvements de protestation avec pour dénominateur commun une demande citoyenne proche de celle qui avait déjà précipité les « printemps arabes » de 2011. D’Alger au Caire, de Beyrouth à Bagdad, et dans bien d’autres lieux, cet appel à la citoyenneté vise un ensemble de systèmes et d’institutions ayant échoué, dans l’ensemble, à assurer une vie décente et acceptable à leurs gouvernés. Ailleurs, comme à Tunis, cet appel se veut certes plus sourd actuellement, mais il reste encore bien présent. Etouffé dans des pays en situation de guerre civile tels la Libye, la Syrie ou encore le Yémen, ce mouvement citoyen réapparaîtra nécessairement avec force sur le devant de la scène.…  Seguir leyendo »

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The past year’s uprisings shook countries – Sudan, Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon – that their predecessors had passed by, showing a continuity in roots and purpose. They have in common their anti-establishment sentiment and anger at elites incapable of meeting citizens’ basic needs. But each has its own internal focus and dynamic.

In Algeria, people converged on urban squares when an aging and ailing president announced he would pursue a fifth term in office. In a move to prevent a popular movement from bringing down not just the leader but the entire regime, the military stepped in, replacing the president, targeting some particularly corrupt figures in his entourage, appointing an interim government and organising presidential elections.…  Seguir leyendo »

Antirracismo machista

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Las mujeres nos dimos cuenta muy pronto de la diferencia abismal que existe entre la sociedad marroquí de la que procedemos y las sociedades europeas a las que nos fuimos incorporando. Aunque se tratara de un país como España, que no hacía tanto que había dejado atrás una dictadura, aunque emigráramos a ciudades pequeñas o entornos provincianos, aunque nos instaláramos en barrios periféricos o pasáramos a engrosar las filas de las clases sociales con menos recursos, lo cierto es que no se nos escapó el avance enorme que supuso la emigración, una especie de atajo que acortaba de un modo importante nuestro avance hacia la libertad, la igualdad y, sobre todo, la esperanza en la posibilidad de disfrutar de una vida más digna que la de nuestras madres y abuelas.…  Seguir leyendo »

A flag is waved by anti-government protesters as they demonstrate in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Feb. 10, 2011. (Tara Todras-Whitehill/AP)

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The Islamists and secularists of the Middle East have been fighting each other for a century. Their conflict has achieved nothing but perpetuating authoritarian rule. Yet, calling on them to unite and set aside their differences is naive at best, for their differences are real and fundamental. Faking unity during the Arab Spring backfired and left both sides more distrustful of each other.

What Islamists and secularists need to do is not seek an impossible alliance but rather build a framework for coexistence that allows them to break away from their zero-sum relationship. This is a critical first step toward laying foundations for democratic governance in the Middle East.…  Seguir leyendo »

Sans l’arrêt des guerres, nous assisterons à toujours plus de révoltes de morts-vivants

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« Le peuple veut la chute du régime ! » C’est en scandant ce slogan tonitruant qu’il y a une dizaine d’années des foules de manifestants s’emparaient des rues du monde arabe. Depuis lors, ce monde n’est plus ce qu’il était.

Personne n’aurait pu imaginer que le célèbre vers tunisien – « Lorsqu’un jour le peuple veut vivre, force est pour le destin de répondre » – trouverait un tel écho auprès de populations soudain dressées contre leurs oppresseurs de longue date, et dont beaucoup pensaient qu’elles avaient à jamais été domptées par ces derniers.

La décennie a débuté avec ce que nous allions baptiser le « printemps arabe » et ses soulèvements populaires en Tunisie, en Egypte, au Yémen, en Libye et en Syrie.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, addressing members of a militia loyal to the Islamic republic about demonstrations against the government last month. Credit Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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For decades, social scientists studying Islam discussed whether this second biggest religion of the world would go through the major transformation that the biggest one, Christianity, went through: secularization. Would Islam also lose its hegemony over public life, to become a mere one among various voices, not the dominant one, in Muslim societies?

Many Westerners gave a negative answer, thinking Islam is just too rigid and absolutist to secularize. Many Muslims also gave a negative answer, but proudly so: Our true faith would not go down the erroneous path of the godless West.

The rise of Islamism, a highly politicized interpretation of Islam, since the 1970s only seemed to confirm the same view: that “Islam is resistant to secularization”, as Shadi Hamid, a prominent thinker on religion and politics, observed in his 2016 book, Islamic Exceptionalism.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo Árabe

“Un fantasma recorre el mundo rico. Es el fantasma de la ingobernabilidad”. Así comienza un editorial de The Economist publicado hace unos meses, que imita la primera línea del Manifiesto comunista. Pero el problema de la ingobernabilidad no afecta solamente a los países desarrollados. En todo el mundo árabe, la gente salió a las calles a manifestar que no se dejará gobernar hasta que sus dirigentes gobiernen bien.

Los detonantes inmediatos de las protestas varían según el país. En Argelia, lo que movilizó a la gente fue el anuncio de la candidatura del presidente Abdelaziz Bouteflika para un quinto período.…  Seguir leyendo »