THE MENA SAGA AND LADY GAGA (SAME DILEMMA FROM THE MENA)
ANIS H. BAJREKTAREVICABSTRACT. How could any social cohesion indispensable for the MENA democrat- ization possibly work where primary loyalties are (returned) to sect, tribe or ethnicity? This dilemma relates not only to democracy, but also to the very quest of secularism – for the one presupposes the other – ever since the French Revolution. Thus, the euphorically tam-tamed “Facebook revolutions” across MENA were rather strategic distractions “innocently” dressed up in the diverting banality of social media networks. The very same role those networks well played elsewhere too. Hence, is it of any surprise that the broad and universal right of self-determination has been sadly reduced to the right of internet-freedom? pp. 72–81
Keywords: MENA, geopolitical imperative, Islamo-fascism, dysfunctional government, counternarrative, cyber fascism, ideology