Further Observations on How to Defeat Islamic Fundamentalism

Last month, I posted a blog on the theory that, based on both common sense and historical precedent, the way to bring about the end of Islamic Fundamentalism (and its associated terrorist tendencies) is to teach people to read.

Interesting developments have been transpiring in Islamic North Africa, where a grass-roots civil rebellion (with organization and publicity being managed primarily through Twitter, Facebook, etc.) brought about the resignation of an autocratic sovereign. While Tunisia is not an Islamic fundamentalist state (although it is 98% Muslim), it does share a great many tendencies of such states: weak economy, high unemployment, brazen corruption (to the point that the former government was often referred to as a 'kelptocracy'), widespread poverty, and extensive stratification of society, with the usual associated marginalization and "civil rights violations."

The people of Tunisia recently decided that they'd had enough, and protested (read: rioted) at levels sufficient to compel the President (who had been in place for decades, through the instrument of sham elections where his was often the only name on the ballot) to not only yield his seat, but also to flee the country. While it seems unquestionable that the protesters got a boost from extraterritorial interests, this change of power is remarkable in that it was CIVIL, and involved no overt action from anybody's military. Almost always, such sweeping changes in nations' political structure are based on military muscle, either from a foreign conquerer, or (much more often) through an internal coup d'etat. Ousted Tunisian President Ben-Ali himself came to power following a military coup in 1987. It is in fact exceedingly rare for PEOPLE to successfully take on their own government.

But it has happened.

Events in Tunisia show signs of shaking things up throughout the nearby world. Similar riots have happened in Algeria, and there has been widespread civil unrest in Jordan and Egypt as well. In Egypt, protests have included people setting themselves on fire, hypothetically emulating Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisia merchant who tacitly started the riots with a similar act, after Tunisian police confiscated his produce cart. Safe to say that the Muslim world as a whole is paying attention to what's been happening in Tunisia, and leaders are wondering how avidly their own populace is watching events.

Here's the part that I find interesting: like many Arab states, literacy in Tunisia has historically been very low, including the period (up until 1950) where it was a French protectorate. But since Tunisia gained sovereignty in 1950, every generation has seen marked increase in literacy. Among the youngest generation for which census information is available - those born in 1980-1984 - over 96% percent are literate in Arabic, and about three-quarters can read French as well. Even among women - almost always marginalized in Muslim states - over 90% are literate in Arabic, and 70% are additionally literate in French. (Ken Walters, International Journal of the Society of Language 163 (2003), pp. 85-87.) These numbers are superb for a tacit third-world country, and this is the demographic - the middle segment of the populace, currently in their 20s and 30s - who are the driving force behind this rebellion against an autocratic regime. Educated people in Tunisia decided that their government really DOESN'T know better, and did something about it.

So, as I was saying before. If the United States (and/or the world as a whole) wants to cut down the power of monolithic, autocratic, fundamentalist states, we should make every possible effort to teach people living under those states to read. It takes generations, but it works.