Category Archives: Islam and Democracy

14May/08

Taking Back Islam

Islam and Democracy, Voices of Democracy, ,

Moderate Muslims say their faith is compatible with freedom.

June 03, 2004, 8:47 a.m.

By Erick Stakelbeck & Nir Boms

There’s an elephant in the room whenever the current U.S. operation in Iraq is discussed: Is Islam truly compatible with democracy? Or do the U.S.’s troubles in stabilizing Iraq signal that Muslims simply have no desire to live in a free, democratic society?

Right now the answers to these questions are unclear. For every modern Islamic “success story” like Turkey or Malaysia, there are Islamist nightmares like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

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14May/08

Gaza’s Internet War

Freedom and the Internet, Islam and Democracy, Middle East, Palestinian Authority, , , , ,

Islamic war on freedom of thought in Gaza should concern Israelis as well

Niv Lillian, Nir Boms

Published:   06.04.07, 09:08 / Israel Opinion

At 3 am, in the shadow of the ongoing fighting, a giant blast shook Allah al-Shawa’s Internet cafe in Gaza. The owner, who rushed to his business in order to examine the damage, found one computer in working order in the rubble and decided to check his e-mail.

A surprise awaited him: An e-mail message from a group calling itself “Islamic Swords of Justice” explained that the cafe was blown up because it and those of its type “divert the attention of an entire generation to other issues that are not Jihad or worship.” In other words, the e-mail charged that his Internet cafe was used for distributing abomination and pornography.

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14May/08

School for Jihadism

Iran, Islam and Democracy, ,

By Nir Boms
Published February 15, 2007

“Ignorance is power,” wrote George Orwell in his famous book “1984,” referring to the information police that kept bad ideas from the eyes of good people. Our world was not immune from this logic that reversed “good” with “bad” and “war” with “peace.” Some of our darkest moments of history have seen this very type of indoctrination that brought people to think in such terms and act accordingly. And another such moment may be looming in the near horizon.

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14May/08

Myth of the Moderate Mullahs

Iran, Islam and Democracy, ,

Jan. 31, 2004

By REZA BULORCHI & NIR BOMS     

Defying conventional wisdom, fresh voices of freedom appear to be coming from the Middle East of late.

Assad of Syria delivers his plans for democratization directly to The New York Times. Gaddafi of Libya delivers his to Newsweek, as he claims to be an ally in the war against terrorism and invites the world to review his nuclear arsenal. Khatami of Iran, the “moderate” president, threatens to resign due to an election crisis resulting from the Guardian Council’s decision to disqualify more than 3,000 candidates from the ballot of his country’s upcoming elections. Among the disqualified candidates were 80 incumbent parliament deputies, including two deputy speakers.

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