Why Egypt's revolution differs from Iran's
At Religion Dispatches, Haroon Moghul offers four reasons why Egypt's revolution is not "Islamic." Here is #1:
The political Islamism that ended up triumphing in Iran was a much more authoritarian interpretation of Islam. It specifically embraced political power and preached a narrative of resistance, though its victory in Iran paradoxically ended any chance of victory elsewhere. That’s because when elites and other, non-religious ideological forces in neighboring Muslim countries saw the purges of prior elites taking place in Iran, they immediately became skeptical of working alongside Islamists in their own country.Islamic challenges to regimes in Tajikistan, Algeria and Tunisia, among others, were violently supressed even though they pursued their goals democratically. Most Islamists learned from this brutal experience and grew from it; Egypt’s most powerful Muslim group, the Muslim Brotherhood, was one such group. It’s probably safe to say that Iran was the only victory for this style of Islamism, and now, some 30-plus years later, its moment has largely passed. The geopolitical, economic and social reasons for its emergence have disappeared.
And then there's this: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/31/iran_cracks_down_while_egypt_cracks_up
While the world's attention has been riveted by Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt this month, Iran's government has taken the opportunity to execute a record number of prisoners in an apparent bid to head off the return of the dramatic street protests that pushed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to the brink in June 2009. Meanwhile, Iranian officials have been spinning the turmoil in the Arab world as a victory for Iran and a replay of Iran's 1979 revolution against the U.S.-backed shah. But the mass protests that are ricocheting around the region -- spread in part by Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, and satellite television -- cut more than one way for Tehran. They remind Iranians of their own recent failed attempt to dislodge an increasingly authoritarian government.
It's just a thought, but perhaps another reason Iran and Egypt differ is that the Egyptians have had the opportunity to see how things have gone terribly wrong in Iran making it less likely that any Ayatollah like figure will be given the reins of power.
Posted by John B. Chilton![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 31, 2011 9:30 PM
There are also close ties between the Egyptian and American military that did not exist with Iran. The American navy has priority use of the Suez Canal. The canal shortens Arab oil shipments to US and US supplies to Afganistan by 5,000 miles. The Egyptian military, armed by the US, also helps maintain a balance of power in the Arab world that deters attacks on Israel, our largest arms recipient in the region. There can be little doubt that Egyptian military restraint during the present uprising is heavily unfluenced by American diplomacy.
Posted by Paul Woodrum![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 1, 2011 9:46 AM