.... The region has suffered a lot as a result of attempts to exclude Islamists and deny them a role in the public sphere.
Undoubtedly, Islamists' participation in governance will give rise to a number of challenges, both within the Islamic ranks and with regard to relations with other local and international forces.
Islamists should be careful not to fall into the trap of feeling overconfident: they must accommodate other trends, even if it means making painful concessions. Our societies need political consensus, and the participation of all political groups, regardless of their electoral weight.
[A COMMENT] This is a bit like saying in the 1930s that the nazis were going to be amajor force in Germany so we should all learn to "work with them".
Political Islam has form - Minorities get oppressed, women are forcibly relegated to second class status and attitudes to the political world become beligerent in the extreme. Islamism will bring nothing but grief to the middle east and increased conflict to the rest of the world. [Guardian Cif] Read more
