Absurdities From a British Leftist

Tunisians know Ben Ali was not democracy's only block

This is one of the most sickening example of apologetics I have ever read.

"As the revolution gathers strength, an old Islamist party looks likely to win any election – if the west respects its legitimacy"

[---]

"The rising temperature has not escaped the United States' attention. Rightwing senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain were here a week ago, and last Thursday the state department's top Middle East official, William Burns, held talks with Ghannouchi, who served in the same job for more than 10 years under Ben Ali. Although all three men hailed the Tunisian revolution, there is little doubt they want to keep it – as far as possible – in check."

Unfreakin' believable!

"After Ben Ali fled, Ghannouchi's government was given two months to implement reforms. With the deadline of 15 March nearing, two broad approaches have emerged. The conservative one, backed by the old political and business elite and most of the print media, is to extend the interim government's term until presidential elections in July. France and the US are thought to be pressing for the formation of a new centre party that will absorb leading members of the old ruling party, the RCD, and provide a good candidate for the presidency."

...for which he offers no evidence whatsoever. None. Zero. Zilch. A big goose egg.

"The secular left and the Islamists want deeper change. Along with the main trade union federation, they are displaying remarkable unity and recently formed a National Council for the Defence of the Revolution (NCDR)."

I'll bet they have. This is an in-the-raw example of the old saw "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

"The establishment newspapers and some secular politicians are trying to raise the alarm about the Islamists and sharia law, but Rached Ghannouchi (a leading opposition figure) and his colleagues insist they want a broad-based coalition to reflect all the movements that toppled the dictatorship. They say arguments over whether policies should be secular or non-secular are a diversion. The main issue is democracy."

Ala communist style, I presume.

""After suffering under a presidential dictatorship and de facto one-party rule, most leftists and Islamists are calling for a parliamentary system," says Radhia Nasraoui, a lawyer who heads the Association against Torture in Tunisia. Her husband, Hamma Hammami, leads the Tunisian Workers' Communist party (yup) and was only released from prison when Ben Ali was toppled."

[---]

"There is a widespread consensus that the old Islamist party, al-Nahda (Renaissance), is Tunisia's strongest political force. It is more powerful morally, [riiiight] if not yet organisationally, than its Egyptian counterparts because so many hundreds of members suffered torture and exile under Ben Ali, unlike the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which was banned but not brutalised (apart from very few)."

[---]

"In Tunisia things look different. They see a west that supported a string of Arab dictators and they remember how western countries led the boycott of Gaza after Hamas won the 2006 election."

Truly bizarre. As if Hamas is a shining example of democracy and human rights!

"Western leaders like to think that they are bringing democracy to less enlightened parts of the world."

Huh? Again, no evidence.

In fact, the only thing he gets right is this:

"These elections should be for a constituent assembly that will work out a constitution that enshrines all the basic civic freedoms as well as mechanisms to prevent or punish torture in prisons and police stations."

Indeed, that should apply in every country now witnessing mass protests.

Take a look at some other themes this old commie has written about. Now, pardon me while I go hurl. When I come back, I'll tell you what I think Islamist parties need to do earn "legitimacy" from the West.