What Aswany as a secular intellectual is able to recognize is the displacement of 20th century Nasserism by an Islamist form of theocratic fascism and the severely diminished prospects of democracy this would involve. He is right to regard the dictatorship of the military as revolutionary in these circumstances, for the simple reason that it DOESN'T offer itself as a long-term political form but rather as transitional. Hence Aswany rightly says--and is still able to say--that "democracy is our homework."
-dl
> On Jan 11, 2014, at 5:06 PM, Bill Bartlett <william7 at aapt.net.au> wrote:
>
>> On 11/01/2014, at 11:42 AM, martin schiller <mschiller at pobox.com> wrote:
>>
>> The argument seems to be that the military is protecting the people from a usurpation of culture.
>
> Its valid to try to argue that. Its valid to try to argue that a military coup is not necessarily a bad thing. Hey, I remember years ago someone who had come from Chile arguing that Pinochet had done lots of good things for their country. It was troubling to listen to, to tell the truth. because the fellow arguing it seemed such a decent person otherwise.
>
> But not as troubling as someone trying to tell you that black is white, that a clear-cut military coup is actually not a military coup. That is troubling on a whole different level, because it implies a level of deranged fanaticism that history teaches us can lead to the most horrific atrocities. One can not - must not - tolerate such blatant denial of reality.
>
> Whether a military coup is a good thing or a bad thing is really a matter of opinion, whether a military coup is a military coup is a matter of fact.
>
> Bill Bartlett
> Bracknell Tas
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk