Obama urged to push for democracy in Muslim world
(Daily Star) – More than 80 scholars and experts – including Egyptian democracy activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim and former deputy prime minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim – are urging President Obama to adopt a consistent and credible policy that supports democracy in the Arab and Muslim world.
The group will formally issue an open letter to the president at a news conference Tuesday, March 10, at 2:30 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington.
"For decades, the United States and Europe have been coddling and supporting dictators in the Arab world, and this has been disastrous for the region and for US-Islamic relations," said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy and a co-convener of the letter. The letter states that for decades the United States has "supported repressive regimes that routinely violate human rights, and that torture and imprison those who dare criticize them."
The signatories call on the administration to make supporting democracy in the Middle East a top priority, even in countries that are US allies such as Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The authors call on the United States to "use its considerable economic and diplomatic leverage to put pressure on its allies in the region when they fail to meet basic standards of human rights."
"Because of its association with the Bush administration, there is a temptation to move away from any discussion of democracy promotion in the Middle East. That would be a mistake," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy and a letter co-convener.
The letter lauds Obama's initial efforts to reach out to the Arab and Muslim world, but warns that the US must show its commitment to democratic reform through policy changes.
Among the more than 80 signatories are: Francis Fukuyama of Johns Hopkins University; Morton Halperin, former director of policy planning at the State Department; Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House; Peter Beinart, contributing editor at The New Republic; Georgetown Professor John L. Esposito, and democracy expert Larry Diamond of Stanford University; and Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
