Egypt (where fundamentalists threaten non-Moslem tourists and high government officials alike) is experiencing a virtual war between jihad-style guerrillas and secular rulers. A number of Egypt's fundamentalists have been jailed and a cultural war is presently erupting, pitting youthful Egyptian rock fans against infuriated Moslem fundamentalist critics. The male and female rock fans, it is charged, are rejecting traditional Islamic decorum and having unbridled sex orgies.

Algeria, too, is fighting insurgent fundamentalists who offer Algerian women a return to the veil as well as a fierce rejection of suspect foreign influences. On the heels of one major Algerian election in which fundamentalists were poised to take over government positions won, secular Algerians refused to concede the posts. Bombing campaigns aimed at secular segments of Algerian society that oppose a fundamentalist takeover, have become frighteningly routine.

In Afghanistan, fundamentalist Moslem troops known as the Taliban, have captured the capital city of Kabul and are now pressing into the countryside where they consolidate their own brand of "religious" power. Taliban law has returned to the practice of beheading perceived criminals for such offenses as adultery. Women, accustomed to pursuing their educations in Kabul have been sent home from their classrooms. A Taliban official charged with keeping women out of public life has said, "A rose belongs at home, smelling sweet, not on the street."

According to press reports, women are playing a crucial role keeping Turkey secular, just as they did in the 1920's when the founder of the modern Turkish state, Kemal Attaturk, forbade them to don veils, introducing education and literacy to a then-downtrodden gender. Now, because Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan is the first Turkish Moslem-zealot leader since the founding of modern Turkey, many Turks deeply mistrust his intentions which they believe include re-instituting old-fashioned Moslem social laws.

Senal Sarahan, a leader among Turkish groups sponsoring major protests against Islamism-in-government, says she and other supporters are marching against old sharia religious laws, those that would place women into harnesses woven from restrictive religious regulations. "We are marching too," she said, "against a darkness that aims to keep women outside of humanity."

Many of the protesters against a religious takeover in Turkey are middle-aged. "Young people are not aware of the danger," said one young marcher, "They aren't talking about this issue at home."