Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Tariq Ramadan

Quote by Tariq Ramadan

“What is irreversible in the Arab world is this intellectual revolution, the awakening that we can get rid of dictators. That is here, and the people have this sentiment and this political power. They feel that they can do it, and it's still there. At the same time, we don't know what is going to happen. So to be very quick by saying, "Oh, revolutions and Arab Spring," and - you know, what I'm advocating is to take a cautious optimism as the starting point of our analysis and to look at what is happening.”

Quote by Tariq Ramadan

Author

Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan

Tariq Ramadan is an Egyptian-born Swiss Islamic philosopher, writer, and academic. He is recognized for his contributions to contemporary Islamic thought and his advocacy for an Islamic reformation. Ramadan was born on August 26, 1962. more

You May Also Like

“If Barack Obama was to say Egypt, with the Muslim Brotherhood, is an ally, he's going to be destroyed here by, you know, the opposition saying, "How come you can say that the Islamists are your ally when these people are the same who are Hamas, and Hamas is against Israel?" It's the end of it. So he's saying, "We are just wait and see; we are trying to deal."”

“The United States of America or the Western countries, they don't have a problem with Islamists as long as they are neoliberal capitalists and promoting the economic order. And the best example is the petro-monarchies. The petro-monarchies, they don't want democracy. They say there is no democracy in Islam. But they are within the economic system.”

“Unsettled Middle East, in these times where the people are trying to find their way towards democracy, could be interesting for many reasons - for weapons to be sold, for new geostrategic interests to be protected, and something that we are not talking about, which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The people who are lost in the whole discussion here are the Palestinians. We have demonstrations in Palestine in West Bank. Nobody is covering this. It's as if they don't exist anymore. And this is, in fact, central. And Israel is silent.”

“The BRIC countries - Brazil, India, China, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia even, and Russia - are now new actors. Over the last eight years, China multiplied by seven its economic presence and penetration in the Middle East. And if this happens on economic terms and there is a shift towards the East, the relationship between these countries and Israel is completely different from the United States. And it means that the challenges are going to be different, because China is not supporting Israel the way the U.S. are supporting Israel.”

“I've been a makeup artist since I was 12 and it was always a dream of mine back them to have my own line. I would spend hours every night recreating looks I saw in my mother's Cosmo magazines and it was my escape. When you come from a poor background and a family full of alcoholics, you don't fully understand what that means when you're a little kid. I found art and makeup, it changed my life.”

“I like to say I have Internet Immorality. From the beginning of the "internet famous" era until now, I've evolved and went with the flow of change, always changing my makeup looks, fashion, and vision. My brand has grown so fast from social media and I don't know how life would be without be logging onto MySpace for the first time 10 years ago!”