Compromise and surrender of principle:
A response to the article by Ramachandra Guha, 'The Beauty of
Compromise: an excess of secularism may be as problematic as bigotry'
(in The Telegraph, 26 September 2009)
by Marieme Helie Lucas
sacw.net, 28 September 2009
The information about French secularism, past and present, that one can draw from English speaking media leads to much misunderstanding
and biased opinions. On the one hand one cannot blame writers who have no direct access to primary sources and have to rely on secondary
ones. On the other hand, the propagation of biased information and thus of erroneous conclusions in the English language serve the
interests of Muslim fundamentalists in France, and for that reason alone, it needs to be addressed.
The article by Ramachandra Guha shows bias at several levels: it overlooks the different definitions of secularism, it presents erroneous interpretations as facts, it under-evaluates the rise of Muslim fundamentalism as a political -not a religious- phenomenon and it accepts a cultural definition of women's rights.
All of these tend to give credibility to the assertions of Muslim fundamentalists that combat French secularism.
FULL TEXT AT: http://www.sacw.net/article1150.html
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