Islamism defeats itself. Every time. This is a simple observation. Take the recent take over of the Somali capital by Islamic militias. This illustrates the archetypical Islamist power grab scenario: in a nation wrought with chaos and violence, and lacking strong leaders of principle, Islamic leaders with machine guns move in to give a desperate land order. Islamists symbolize sound principles and organization. They are often the only faction with a seemingly practical philosophy of governance that is at the same time legitimized in the folk culture of the locals.

The Somali warlords of today could just have easily been the Taliban of the 1990’s or the Algerian Islamists in 1992 who were elected in that country????????s first multiparty elections before a military coup that shot the nation into civil war. It seems that these Somali warlords are heading down the same path that both of these discredited Islamist movements: that of alienation through consolidation.

When I say consolidation, I mean the implementation of their ideology. The Somali warlords have declared war on all that is “un-Islamic”. This means attacking something that has been the target of Islamists throughout the Third World: the cinema. The newly established Islamic courts have ordered that the few cinemas that exist in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu be closed. Hardline Islamists often target media outlets as being points of infiltration by the pernicious effects of such risque programing as steamy soap operas, pornography, ads glorifying alcohol and premarital sex, and much Western programming. Included among the list of moral no-nos is a game that is held in a regard not much dissimilar from a cult or religion in many Muslim countries, including Somalia: soccer. “We shall not even allow the showing of the World Cup,” Abdul Kadir Ali Omar deputy chairman of the Joint Islamic Courts (JIC) that issued the order told the AP this week. “They corrupt the morals of our children whom we endeavor to teach the Islamic way of life.”

The decision sparked riots in Mogadishu on Sunday that left two people dead. People in Afghanistan, Algeria, other places where Islamist movements have failed often remark that in hindsight they truly believed that the Islamists they once rooted for would bring them freedom and prosperity. It was only after Algerian Islamist guerrillas began bombings schools, buses, cinemas, and markets that many Algerians realized the futility of that assumption. Afghans who put their faith in the Taliban????????s peace through force style of rule now often remark at the losses ???????? in the cultural and spiritual as well as material sense ???????? that they endured under that government????????s rule. That sense is seemingly universal throughout the world: from the Taliban????????s ban on kite flying, a national tradition in Afghanistan, to the demolition of the Buddhas of Bamiyan the Taliban waged an all out war on all that was not quite Islamic. So too did Algerian Islamists who attacked Berber communities (though there is dispute as to whether or not responsibility for these attacks is shared between the Islamists and the Algerian government), and traditional Algerian cultural festivals, especially those with secular customs. These activities did little to increase these movements???????? popularity among their populations or abroad.

Islamist ideals and policies are their own worst enemies. They usually come as the antithesis to what their host society is used to, expects, and is will to tolerate. Though the people may not often rise up against the existing Islamist order, but they are almost always content to allow an external force (or non-Islamist internal force) to depose it. Radical Islamist methods and patterns of governance are incompatible with human nature, and do not survive long with any high level of legitimacy or reverence from their subjugated populations.

“We thought we would get freedom,” when the warlords came to town, one Somali youth interviewed by the AP said. Unfortunately, freedom comes only after struggle. Islamists will be a speed-bump to the realization of the necessity that is secular negative liberty, not just in Somalia, but in the Muslim world as a whole.

If the new Somali regime in Mogadishu continues down its current path, it will face the same fate as its Afghan, Algerian and Iranian counterparts: alienation and decay. Somalia????????s political landscape is notoriously fractious and ever changing. If however, the newest Islamist dust that has blown into town moves as it has begun to move and follows its own line, it will fail. Islamists, when allowed to run their course, prove to be the least desirable of leaders. They fail to engage the world, bring commerce, growth and prosperity. The moment an Islamist movement begins to articulate its program among its constituents is the beginning of a slow death. Somalis will soon know that their nation is worth more than shallow religious dogmas that disconnect them from their culture and personal faith, and the simple fact of life that the Islamic state does not work.