Global Intifada

Freedom can be defined as the ability to attain one’s desires or fulfill one’s potential in the absence of external constraint. For some reason, freedom has become attached to the exclusive domain of democracy and capitalism. However, there seems to be a tension between the two types of freedom which can be classified as political freedom and economic freedom. Political freedom, then, is the ability to fulfill one’s desires in the absence of constraint from the state whereas economic freedom is the ability to fulfill one’s desires through the use of one’s real and personal property with minimal state and market interference. Many people obfuscate the two types of freedom or use them interchangeably.

To me, any discussion of freedom is meaningless in the absence of a discourse of empowerment, which is presently absent in the world. Any talk of democratization within the Muslim world must be critiqued thoroughly if the term ‘empowerment’ or ’sovereignty’ is absent in the discussion. Otherwise, mere characteristics of democracy are the onus of the public discourse and not its true essence. What matters more is the function over the form. If the purpose of democracy truly is to bring freedom in either a Utilitarian or a Deontological sense, then the focus should be on the function of the state and not its particular form. In places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where “Democracy” has been forced down the throats of the unsuspecting population, the political freedoms they have are purely cosmetic. Both Karzai and al-Maliki have thoroughly denounced the atrocities being committed by America in their respective countries, but they lack the ability to effectuate their desire to evict America from their country; i.e. they lack true freedom.

If Muslims want to talk about democratization of their countries without talking about how their national sovereignty will be respected by Western states and Israel, then they run the serious risk of knowingly or unknowingly becoming agents of Western hegemony and will become the standard bearers of the subjugation of their own constituents.

Such Muslims are traitors to Islam and the Muslim people.

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