[Reader-list] friedman doin' india: it is wednesday so this must be delhi

geert lovink geert at desk.nl
Wed Nov 21 05:59:57 IST 2001


FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Today's News Quiz
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

NEW DELHI -- So, class, time for a news quiz: Name the second-largest Muslim
community in the world. Iran? Wrong. Pakistan? Wrong. Saudi Arabia? Wrong.
Time's up - you lose.

Answer: India. That's right: India, with nearly 150 million Muslims, is
believed to have more Muslim citizens than Pakistan or Bangladesh, and is
second only to Indonesia. Which brings up another question that I've been
asking here in New Delhi: Why is it you don't hear about Indian Muslims -
who
are a minority in this vast Hindu-dominated land - blaming America for all
their problems or wanting to fly suicide planes into the Indian Parliament?

Answer: Multi-ethnic, pluralistic, free-market democracy. To be sure, Indian
Muslims have their frustrations, and have squared off over the years in
violent clashes with Hindus, as has every other minority in India. But they
live in a noisy, messy democracy, where opportunities and a political voice
are open to them, and that makes a huge difference.

"I'll give you a quiz question: Which is the only large Muslim community to
enjoy sustained democracy for the last 50 years? The Muslims of India,"
remarked M. J. Akbar, the Muslim editor of Asian Age, a national Indian
English-language daily funded by non-Muslim Indians. "I am not going to
exaggerate Muslim good fortune in India. There are tensions, economic
discrimination and provocations, like the destruction of the mosque at
Ayodhya. But the fact is, the Indian Constitution is secular and provides a
real opportunity for the economic advancement of any community that can
offer
talent. That's why a growing Muslim middle class here is moving up and,
generally, doesn't manifest the strands of deep anger you find in many
non-democratic Muslim states."

In other words, for all the talk about Islam and Islamic rage, the real
issue
is: Islam in what context? Where Islam is imbedded in authoritarian
societies
it tends to become the vehicle of angry protest, because religion and the
mosque are the only places people can organize against autocratic leaders.
And when those leaders are seen as being propped up by America, America also
becomes the target of Muslim rage.

But where Islam is imbedded in a pluralistic, democratic society, it thrives
like any other religion. Two of India's presidents have been Muslims; a
Muslim woman sits on India's supreme court. The architect of India's missile
program, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is a Muslim. Indian Muslims, including women,
have been governors of many Indian states, and the wealthiest man in India,
the info-tech whiz Azim Premji, is a Muslim. The other day the Indian Muslim
film star and parliamentarian Shabana Azmi lashed out at the imam of New
Delhi's biggest mosque. She criticized him for putting Islam in a bad light
and suggested he go join the Taliban in Kandahar. In a democracy, liberal
Muslims, particularly women, are not afraid to take on rigid mullahs.

Followed Bangladesh lately? It has almost as many Muslims as Pakistan. Over
the last 10 years, though, without the world noticing, Bangladesh has had
three democratic transfers of power, in two of which - are you ready? -
Muslim women were elected prime ministers. Result: All the economic and
social indicators in Bangladesh have been pointing upward lately, and
Bangladeshis are not preoccupied hating America. Meanwhile in Pakistan,
trapped in the circle of bin Ladenism - military dictatorship, poverty and
anti-modernist Islamic schools, all reinforcing each other - the social
indicators are all pointing down and hostility to America is rife.

Hello? Hello? There's a message here: It's democracy, stupid! Those who
argue
that we needn't press for democracy in Arab-Muslim states, and can rely on
repressive regimes, have it all wrong. If we cut off every other avenue for
non-revolutionary social change, pressure for change will burst out anyway -
as Muslim rage and anti-Americanism.

If America wants to break the bin Laden circles across the Arab-Muslim
world,
then, "it needs to find role models that are succeeding as pluralistic,
democratic, modernizing societies, like India - which is constantly being
challenged by religious extremists of all hues - and support them," argues
Raja Mohan, strategic affairs editor of The Hindu newspaper.

So true. For Muslim societies to achieve their full potential today,
democracy may not be sufficient, but it sure is necessary. And we, and they,
fool ourselves to think otherwise.

Copyright NY Times 11/20/01






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