OPINION: “The Secularists Sleep, the Zealots Are Full of a Passionate Intensity”
Charles Onyango-Obbo of the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper writes:
Everywhere you turn, you are either reading or hearing on TV or radio that the rout of the Somali warlords in Mogadishu by the Islamic Courts Union came as “a surprise”.
The warlords are now dispersed to the far corners of Somalia, leaving the American project of backing their Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism in tatters. There are many who are mourning the fact that the Islamic fundamentalists have won, saying that we are all in danger now. It’s not that simple. What we are witnessing is not the triumph of religious fundamentalism, but the crisis of secularism. Those of us who consider ourselves secularists, the fellows who believe in the separation of religion and state, bear the blame for letting the cause crumble in disgrace. Where secularists have risen to power in Africa and other parts of the Third World promising great change, many have ended up being maniacal butchers and thieves. We have let cherished freedoms degenerate into a bottomless pit of immorality and excess. Which is fine, except that we also don’t expect to pay a price for it.
Interesting perspective, however, what Mr Onyango-Obbo is depicting is, at best, a simplified version of the political realities on the ground in Somalia.
Click here to view the article column on the AllAfrica.com