El Opinador Compulsivo

Más sobre Irshad Manji, la peor pesadilla de Bin Laden. Este es su sitio web.

Johan Norberg se hace una pregunta muy interesante, ¿es posible combatir el fundamentalismo en general y el islámico en particular con más libertad, más apertura, más pluralismo, más educación y más exposición al mundo?

Tal vez sea el único camino a mediano y largo plazo:

Neo´s conference on Islamism in Stockholm this Friday was a triumph. I learned a lot, and I also got a new favorite, and it’s not just because of her charm and a great haircut: Irshad Manji, a very charismatic Muslim reformist who has been called "Bin Laden´s worst nightmare" by New York Times. I have never met anyone who receives regular death threats who has such positive energy and such a great sense of humor.

The message in her excellent speech was that jihadists must be met by reviving the Muslim tradition of itjihad - struggling intellectually, asking questions, challenging traditions, being independent. In this way, Islam must be reformed, she said, and pointed out that this was something that the whole world has an interest in. We must build liberal societies with pluralists, who have different beliefs and are tolerant against others, but not relativists, who don’t understand the value of that society and that attitude, and never challenge those who would destroy it.

When Western intellectuals say that all cultures and societies are equal, even though they don’t respect freedom, and that we must not interfere in other people’s business, she responds:

"It’s only other people’s business if you don’t think that human rights are universal."

Check her out, get her book, and if you ever get the chance, you must go and see her live.