Amr Hamzawy looks at Western democracy promotion efforts in the Arab world. He argues that the U.S. and Europe need to engage not only liberal Arabs, but also moderate Islamists to appeal to their popular constituencies. […].
WSIS host Tunisia guilty of denying access to information by filtering internet
In November Tunisia will be hosting the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, which according to the President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, “constitutes a historic opportunity for the international community to agree on a common vision of the Information Society and to develop an approach for action aimed at bridging the digi […].
Can Women Be Imams?
Analysis Halima Krausen In the face of the controversy over Amina Wadud’s Friday prayer, Muslim scholar Halima Krausen argues that we should have the courage to ask our own questions, to study the matter conscientiously and to reach conclusions which make sense in our times Following the Friday prayers led by Dr Amina Wadud in New York on 18th March and […].
Islamic Jurisprudence, ’Civil’ Disobedience, and Woman-led Prayer
This is a call for Muslims to stand behind women in prayer as a matter of “civil” disobedience in the face of a clear injustice, even in the face of the discomfort. By Laury Silvers, May 12, 2005 […].
The Need for Reform in the Islamic World and the Role of Civil Society
We recognize that the problems of the Islamic world which are yet to be resolved date back before the geopolitical changes that we have witnessed in recent years throughout the whole world and particularly in the Middle East. However, it is also a fact that the developments affecting international order, and in particular the increasing power of globalizat […].
Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East -3-
To speak of dictatorship as being the immemorial way of doing things in the Middle East is simply untrue. It shows ignorance of the Arab past, contempt for the Arab present, and lack of concern for the Arab future. Creating a democratic political and social order in Iraq or elsewhere in the region will not be easy. But it is possible, and there are increas […].
Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East -2-
To speak of dictatorship as being the immemorial way of doing things in the Middle East is simply untrue. It shows ignorance of the Arab past, contempt for the Arab present, and lack of concern for the Arab future. Creating a democratic political and social order in Iraq or elsewhere in the region will not be easy. But it is possible, and there are increas […].
Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East -1-
To speak of dictatorship as being the immemorial way of doing things in the Middle East is simply untrue. It shows ignorance of the Arab past, contempt for the Arab present, and lack of concern for the Arab future. Creating a democratic political and social order in Iraq or elsewhere in the region will not be easy. But it is possible, and there are increas […].
Western Orientalism and Liberal Islam : Mutual Distrust ?
Orientalism is Western when it takes the West not as an event, but as an idea preordained in all eternity, complete and final from the beginning. And if it starts from this point, it has to construct its subject-matter as an explicitly, totally different item, reduced to the form it had at its birth. The two assumptions are clearly related ; if the West is […].
Stifled Tunisia gets a UN reward
No Arab ruler pays more lip service to democracy and press freedom, while simultaneously silencing critics and independent journalists, than Tunisian President Zein al-Abedin ben Ali. Addressing the state-run Tunisian Association of Newspapers Editors (TANE) and the Association of Journalists (AJ) recently on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Ben Ali cla […].
The Press in the Maghrib
Between a Rock (Censorship) and a Hard Place (Prison) By Hamid Skif From Mauritania to Egypt, which borders with the Maghrib, not a day goes by without journalists being harassed because of their work. To mark the International Day of the Freedom of the Press, the Algerian journalist and author Hamid Skif sums up the situation. Without a doubt, the Kaf […].
Suitability of Tunis for ’honour’ of hosting summit again in doubt
29.04.2005 By Index on Censorship Free expression groups condemn jailing of web critic Mohammed Abbou. By jailing a high profile online opponent of the government this week, Tunisia restated its intention to silence internet critics before opening a UN summit on the information society in its capital in November 2005. It also lends weight to a growing […].
Tunisia jails lawyer for Internet writings
April 29, 2005 9:21 AM TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian court jailed lawyer and human rights activist Mohamed Abbou for three-and-half years for charges stemming from articles he published on the Internet, lawyers said on Friday. He went on trial on Thursday on charges of “his incitement of the population to infringe the laws”, “spreading false information […].
A humane Muslim future
Islam can move beyond its association with oppression and violence by being true to itself and its past, says Fareena Alam. “Islam means peace”, they exclaim. “Islam condemns terrorism”, they insist. “The vast majority of Muslims reject violence”, they wail. Even before 11 September 2001, Muslim leaderships in Britain and elsewhere went to great pains to […].
The trail of political Islam
Gilles Kepel, one of the world’s foremost experts on the modern Middle East, has written Jihad : the Trail of Political Islam, the first comprehensive attempt to follow the history and spread of Islamist political movements. In a talk given at the Institut Français in London as part of a collaboration between European cultural institutes on the relationshi […].
Islam et terrorisme
1- Du Texte à l’Histoire Comme dans tous les pays non-occidentaux, l’engagement des sociétés dans la voie de la modernité a posé beaucoup de défis et provoqué beaucoup de contradictions. L’une de ces dernières concerne la manière dont il faut s’approprier les valeurs de la modernité et accéder à la nouvelle civilisation. Face aux courants nationalistes e […].
Human Rights, Women and Islam
The ISIM invited 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi for her first formal visit to the Netherlands where she met with members of NGOs, government officials, scholars, students, and activists from 15-17 April 2004. On 16 April she gave a lecture at the Nieuwe of Littéraire Sociëteit de Witte in The Hague entitled, Human Rights, Women and Islam which […].
Conceptualizing Islamic Activism
Since the late 1990s, a number of Islamic movement specialists have begun to bridge the gap between the study of Islamic activism and social science theories of collective action. The underlying premise is that Islamic activism is not sui generis. Since the late 1990s, a number of Islamic movement specialists have begun to bridge the gap between the stud […].
