Middle Eastern Revolutions--Truly Democratic?

One of the major Catholic commentators on Islam, Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, argues that there's nothing Islamist at all about the present revolutions.  May he be right.  Excerpts:

What we are experiencing in North Africa and the Middle East is indeed a springtime in the Arab world. This whole region is changing and is proving something that had not been obvious so far: the importance of young people...

...it is striking that young people want religion yes, but without fanaticism, which excludes all opposition between people of different religions. In recent days I was able to attend a rally to commemorate the death of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon on February 14. The ceremony took place in a room full of hundreds of people, high dignitaries and ordinary people, in Biel, Beirut. On stage before the commemoration, the Ave Maria was performed, sung by a Lebanese Christian soloist, interwoven with the Muslim call to prayer, performed by an Islamic singer. The two voices mingled such a profound and beautiful way that it moved many to tears.

There is therefore, in this movement a desire for unity, peace, perhaps a little 'idealistic, but real. Just look at the photos that we published on AsiaNews in recent days (see Egyptian Revolution: Muslims and Christians united).

During the demonstrations in Egypt, we could see even new and unusual gestures, like those women who kissed the soldiers as if they were their children, because the soldiers decided not to fire on the population. Even the military in Libya were mutineers, to the point that the government had to call mercenaries from sub-Saharan countries. At least five Libyan ambassadors have resigned, ministers have resigned, other soldiers have refused to bomb some cities.

It is a movement that says no to dictatorship, a true springtime which we hope will not be disappointed.

In this atmosphere, a formal or excessive religiosity never appears. It was not a problem that "bearded" (belonging to Islamic movements) appeared on the squares for freedom. But they did not form a solitary block among themselves, instead they mixed with the whole crowd. This unity is something new...

If we look then to the West, what is more surprising is that all European governments admit that these changes have caught them unaware. How is it possible that Europe, which has so many economic ties with these countries, never noticed any signal? Perhaps Europe, in seeking relations with these regions, is only interested in its investments. This insensitivity or blindness points to a surprising void...