At Al Jazeera English, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd gives an abridged history of the past half-century of Tunisian politics, and relays the Enahddan notion that the revolution in Tunisia is neither unambiguously Islamist nor secularist. She also writes that such political categorization may impede the transition to democracy in the Arab world:
If interested parties in the region, the media, or the international community re-instrumentalise the secularist-Islamist divide it could jeopardise the long-awaited transition to democracy in the Middle
East and North Africa. As Moroccan reformer and blogger Aboubakr Chraïbi insists, “Let’s be clear: it is not Islam that is at stake in the revolutions taking place in the Arab world, it is democracy, or more exactly the demand for democracy.”
Democratic voices that are non-secular and non-theocratic exist across the Middle East today, and not only in Tunisia. Now would be a good time to listen to what they have to say.
Read the full article here.