Mauritanian Islamist declares presidential candidature
2009-06-15
When Mauritania holds its long-delayed presidential election next month, contenders for the first time will include an Islamist candidate, Journal Tahalil reported on Monday (June 15th). The moderate Islamist National Rally for Reform and Development (RNRD, or Tawassoul), part of the opposition FNDD, opted to nominate leader Mohamed Jemil Mansour, 45, rather than back a sole coalition candidate. According to AFP, Mansour, the first Islamist candidate since his party was legalised in 2007, has promoted a "democratic Islam that rejects violence", AFP reported.
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BMF Posted 2009-06-16
The word "Islamist" bothers me a lot: it quickly causes confusion. We need to think about replacing it with something more appropriate. I propose the term "Ijramist", which comes from "ijram" from "jarima", which means "crime". This is far closer to the reality of it, but there is one problem: only the Arabs can understand it. So what then? In concern for objectivity and clarity, let us think about a term to replace "Islamism", okay?
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