Tunisia: Can Islamism and Secularism Peacefully Co-Exist? Why or why not?

Hi everyone!

Can Islam and secularism co-exist peacefully (and productively) in a government setting? I find myself on the fence.

As the Arab world continues to be rocked by change, with predominantly secular-oriented dictatorships falling to the power of the people, more and more of these countries are taking a more Islamist bent. Look at Egypt--more than 65% of its new democratically-elected parliament is comprised of the previously banned Muslim Brotherhood and the hardline Salafist party. Tunisia is now run by a coalition headed by the Ennahda Party which claims it is moderate, yet the recent protests over the airing on Tunisian television of the Iranian-French animated film "Persepolis" give one pause to consider whether secularism is being gradually stamped out. The "Persepolis" uproar is over a scene in the film where God is portrayed speaking in Tunisian slang. A mob attacked the home of the station director and two other men who spoke out in support of him were beaten outside the courthouse in Tunis. Iraq and Pakistan are awash in religious-fueled sectarian violence. The Moroccan government is more Islamist-leaning now than it ever was. And Syria? Well, when Assad finally falls, the government that replaces him is surely to be more Islamist than ever.

Pundits and Middle East experts, as well as government officials in countries dealing with the ongoing transition sparked by the Arab Spring, hail Turkey as an example of a moderate Islamist country where religion and secularism successfully co-exist. But how successful is Turkey really? It's an uneasy alliance at best.

The fundamental problem of course is the fact that these repressive governments were based on a strict secular code that sought to cover over the deeply religious convictions of the people they oppressed. When these governments are overthrown and the people are given a democratic initiative, a knee-jerk reaction is to vote into office governments that represent the opposite of everything the dictatorships stood for. This isn't to say that the people are voting for Islamist parties strictly because they want to merely rid themselves of any and all vestiges of the past, but it makes you wonder. I do believe that it's human nature to go to the extreme when something has been forbidden for so long. I wonder if that's not what we're seeing now in the Middle East.

It also doesn't help that the West is viewed as having given at least tacit support for years to some of these dictatorships. During the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, for example,  the U.S. turned a blind eye to the atrocities of the Saddam regime and covertly sold arms and equipment to Iraq because it didn't want Iran to emerge victorious. The U.S. also supported Mubarak for decades despite the regime's well-documented oppression of the Egyptian people because it viewed Mubarak as a stalwart ally on behalf of the Arab world's--albeit uneasy--detente with Israel. The West was hesitant in demanding Mubarak step down because it was unsure of the type of government that would rise up in its place. From the West's perspective, their greatest fears were and are being realized.

So the West now finds itself in a conundrum. The Arab Street is becoming increasingly Islamist though it is indeed occurring as a result of the democratic process. What to do? Democracy only works when all parties are given the freedom of expression. What happened in Tunisia last week gives a lot of cause for concern. Once these new governments have gone through their growing pains, will there be room for a secular minority? The jury is out.

What do you think?

Ciao.