E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiFurthermore, Malik explained his views on what democracy in the Middle East should look like, emphasizing minority rights over majority rule.
“I think if democracy is to hold in a place like the Middle East it is very important how it is packaged, how it is presented,” he said. “I think if we simply think and say on one level democracy is majority rule [then] on the other side of the coin democracy is minority rights.
“I think it is the minority right side that needs to be very much emphasized for a region like the Middle East rather than majority rule. Because if you talk a lot about majority rule you are almost giving the gratuitous green light for what [Alexis de] Tocqueville calls the ‘tyranny of the majority.’ Because the terrain is prepared in that direction so what needs to be done as a corrective, if you will, is to emphasize minority rights.”
Malik, who is currently writing a book for Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom, concluded on a philosophical note.
“Free existence must always precede any concept of positive growth. In other words, before I can perform a certain role or act in a certain way I have to exist freely. That is the condition – free existence is the condition for positive action in history.”
