Tunisian constitution will make no place for faith

[tabatha]

(Reuters) - Tunisia's Islamist-led government will focus on democracy, human rights and a free-market economy in planned changes to the constitution, effectively leaving religion out of the text it will draw up, party leaders said.

The government, due to be announced next week, will not introduce sharia or other Islamic concepts to alter the secular nature of the constitution in force when Tunisia's Arab Spring revolution ousted autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January.

"We are against trying to impose a particular way of life," Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi, 70, a lifelong Islamist activist jailed and exiled under previous regimes, told Reuters.

Tunisian and foreign critics of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that won 41.7 percent of Tunisia's first free election on Oct. 23, have voiced fears it would try to impose religious principles on this relatively secular Muslim country.

Interviews with politicians and analysts revealed a consensus that the new assembly, the first to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings, will focus on reassuring Tunisian voters, and the foreign tourists and investors vital to its economy.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/idINIndia-60331820111104

[Ship of Fools]

1. Smart thinking, Tunisia! Pathetic that we're so behind the curve ...

[TheWraith]

2. Good for Tunisia! Looks like Libya's going the same way. Now for Egypt. nt

[Fumesucker]

3. Obama supported a public option and was against a private mandate during the election..

And yet we ended up with a private mandate and no public option..

Let's wait and see how things actually turn out.

[ChandlerJr]

4. Ours doesn't either. n/t

[Xithras]

5. Thank you Tunisia.

When Libya declared that it would be basing its government on Sharia law, some bigots declared that we needed to be "understanding" because it was the culture, as if being Arabic made you somehow incapable of living without Islamic oversight. The paternalistic attitude suggesting that Arab culture wasn't advanced enough to support secular governments was disgustingly widespread, even here on DU. The Tunisian's clearly demonstrate that this isn't the case. So do the Egyptians, the Lebanese, the Syrians, the Turks, and the Jordanians. Secular governments should always be the goal, because when we support the formation of OTHER types of governments, we are simply propagating a different form of despotism.

On another note, I can't help but notice that the middle eastern nations with governments founded in the past couple decades by their own citizens (Lebanon(1990), Egypt, Tunisia) have all been secular. Middle eastern governments founded in that same time period under the auspices of the western powers (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya) have all embraced Sharia. I wonder why that is?

[tabatha]

6. There is Sharia and Sharia.

Turkey has Sharia. It is also secular.

Libya will be secular. As one older Libyan posted on AJE, everyone in Libya understands that this revolution was for the younger generation, and they want secular.