All Entries Tagged With: "Revolution"
EGYPT: AHMED SHAFIK, THE CIA’S MAN FOR PRESIDENT!
The Egyptians had a Arab Spring that turned into a Revolution!
May Day- Noam Chomsky
If you’re a serious revolutionary, then you are not looking for an autocratic revolution, but a popular one which will move towards freedom and democracy.
How the West Used Libya to Hijack the Arab Revolts
Vijay Prashad talks neoliberal economics, the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and why NATO’s intervention in Libya marked a new chapter in the story of the Arab revolts.
The Muslim Brotherhood Can Be a Moderate Voice in Islamist Politics
By Cameron Glenn | Source
In a country struggling to navigate an unprecedented transition to democracy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt is positioned to make a strong showing in the upcoming parliamentary elections. While there is reason to be wary of the Islamist group, the U.S. decision to engage the Muslim Brotherhood diplomatically was necessary and practical. Not only are fears of their influence in Egypt’s government somewhat overblown, but the emergence of a moderate Islamist movement could even enhance our security interests. If Egypt’s Islamists are able to successfully reconcile Islam and democracy, it would discredit extremist groups who rely on violence, and not the political process, to achieve their goals.
An Egyptian government with a strong Islamist presence makes Americans understandably uneasy. The Muslim Brotherhood holds troublesome positions on the status of women, religious minorities, and Hamas. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized that the contact will be limited and focused on democratic principles, but some lawmakers, like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), oppose all communication with a group “committed to violence and extremism.”
There’s no getting around the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has historical ties to individuals like Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who were influenced by the Brotherhood’s views early in life. But the minority of Islamists who support violent jihad became disillusioned with the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970’s, when they denounced violence and condemned attacks on civilians. Rather than use force to achieve their goals, their actions show that they strive to become a legitimate political force.
Once given a role in government, practical concerns will likely overtake ideological ones. The experiences of Turkey and Iraq show that Islamists do not necessarily revert to their most extreme stances once in power. Instead, they often soften their ideological slant once they are forced to move beyond rhetoric and deal with actual policy issues.
In Egypt, this is already happening. The Muslim Brotherhood has conceded that women and Coptic Christians have a right to run for president. And they formed an unlikely alliance with the Wafd party, a liberal and secular group formed after World War I. Despite substantial differences in ideology, cooperation will bolster both parties’ chances in the upcoming elections.
Now that fair elections are an actual possibility, the Brotherhood must grapple with these strategic concerns, which has led to another problem: As they struggle to keep up with the tide of change, there is dissent in the ranks. The more conservative policies of the older generation are at odds with the younger generation’s focus on democracy and human rights.
So while all Muslim Brothers wish to maintain an Islamic identity in theory, what this means in practice remains a point of contention. Support for the group as a whole is estimated to be a healthy plurality, but the influence of any one faction will likely be diffused if members continue to split off to form their own parties.
In this uncertain environment, we have a chance to advance our own security interests. If the Muslim Brotherhood can emerge as a moderate Islamist movement, it has huge potential to act as a counterweight to Al-Qaeda, who has repeatedly criticized them for their opposition to violence. While Al-Qaeda relies on asymmetric force and impractical apocalyptic worldviews that have no place in any real political system, Egypt’s Islamists have a unique opportunity to discredit the notion that Islam is incompatible with democracy.
Although it may be fashionable for American politicians to run screaming from the word “sharia” we should be careful not to alienate those for whom the term simply describes the ideals of compassion and justice, rather than a strict legal code favoring oppression and anti-Americanism. We may not like the idea of limited contact with the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is a clear reason why we want these moderate voices to be heard.
Of course, Egypt has a long road ahead in the transition to democracy, and contact with the Muslim Brotherhood should still be approached with caution. But if the U.S. is truly committed to democracy in the Middle East, engaging with influential, non-violent parties — no matter how begrudgingly — is an important step in supporting democratic development.
More importantly, it is an opportunity to reshape the Middle East in a way that empowers moderate Muslim voices, pushing Al-Qaeda further into irrelevance.
The Stream: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
Source | By Ahmed Shihab Eldin
As the Brotherhood aims for a position in the new government, Egyptian youth discuss the topic of Islamist politics.
“You can’t dictate democracy,” I said to a woman from the US who fearfully asked me: “But what if the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power in Egypt?” The question came at the end of a panel hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York City.
This was one of several dozen times I had been asked the question in the months since Mubarak was overthrown by a popular uprising in the Arab world’s most populous nation.
With parliamentary and presidential elections due in September, the question is both relevant and timely, but as fearful as some in the West may be, it is nearly impossible to envision a scenario wherein the Muslim Brotherhood will not play a substantial role in governing Egypt following these elections.
“The Brotherhood is a formidable movement, as old as the state itself in Egypt – and it will disappear only if Egyptians themselves stop endorsing it,” says Larbi Sadiki, a Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter.
“The MB is not some kind of clerical temple of wisdom – it has doctors, engineers, lawyers, merchants, business people, teachers, the army and police force … all of Egypt is represented in its power base.”
Despite, or perhaps in part because of, Mubarak’s banning of the group for decades, the Brotherhood is undoubtedly both the most organised and most influential political group inside Egypt.
For that reason, the group is poised to secure a large number of seats in parliament, if not a majority.
So what then if the Brotherhood comes to power?
What does this mean for Egypt’s secular and Coptic communities, many of whom played a central role in the very revolution that overthrew Mubarak, and in doing so, allowed for the Brotherhood to finally be recognised as a political party on June 6.
The answer may lie in the political reality that in a democratic election, with power, comes accountability.
“The MB has always been the party that exercised self-restraint,” Sadiki said.
The Brotherhood has been positioning itself to be a loud and influential voice in whatever new government takes shape – but careful to not be seen as leading or attempting to take over the government.
“They will now seek to increase their share of the vote but never to create political imbalance. They are capable of pragmatism and they will seek to form ‘coalitions’ inside parliament instead of seeking an outright majority on their own right,” Sadiki said.
This strategic move is designed to deflect criticism from within Egypt’s galvanised public, during times that will be marked by struggle, before stability and prosperity is established. But it also gives the West and the international community less reason to withhold economic assistance – including in the form of tourism, on which Egypt will remain heavily dependent in the coming years.
The question of whether political Islam and democracy can co-exist is not a new debate in the Muslim world, but one that, for Egyptians – to face the question at the polls in September – demands serious consideration.
It is the Egyptian people’s right to decide, as their ultimate decision will have enormous consequences on the entire region.
Provided elections are both fair and transparent, their right to decide must be respected.
“US administrations should worry about the absence of democracy – not the absence of Islamists from Arab politics,” Sadiki said.
“The former is more detrimental to Arab citizenry, the US and the world. This has been demonstrated by the misrule of people like Gaddafi, Bashir, Saleh, Mubarak and Ben Ali. Democracy means accepting, periodically, the verdict of the people.”
Given the new era of civic engagement that is spilling over from the virtual realm on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere into the streets, the West must trust that, should the Brotherhood be elected to office and leads the country astray, they will be held accountable and find themselves fatefully matched with Mubarak.
“I have confidence that the Egyptians and Tunisians have now invented a brand of politics that no single party, ideology or movement can hijack from the people,” Sadiki said.
‘TweetNadwa’
On Sunday, the question of Islam’s role in Egyptian public and political life was the focus of Cairo’s first-ever “TweetNadwa”, a meeting organised for activists, bloggers and tweeps from across Egypt’s political spectrum to exchange – in 140 seconds at a time – their opinions on the matter.
The discussion focused on the subject of Islamist youth and included some of the country’s most well-known examples – including Ibrahim Hudhaibi, Abdel Moneim Mahmoud and Ahmed Samir.
The gathering, which took place in Dokki, Cairo, was intended to be an extension of the many 140-character message conversations around politics, society and religion taking place in the Twitterverse, as young Egyptians explore the various paths for Egypt’s future.
The success of the event can be seen as a modern and technological manifestation of the will for democratic self-determination. A healthy public discourse is flourishing online and is now finding its way into social life.
Alaa Abd El Fattah (@alaa), who organised the event, said his primary intention was to help facilitate new conversations and new contacts for the participants.
“One day I was watching an Muslim Brotherhood leader on TV and Twitter was full of commentary on what he was saying,” El Fattah said. “I realised that all my Ikhwani friends have basically left the group or are highly critical of it.”
Despite it being the week of exams for local universities across Cairo, the venue was already over capacity 20 minutes before the gathering was scheduled to start.
While the main speakers were all from the Brotherhood, independant Salafis were also there, though in fewer numbers and with less of a concrete political platform.
The first half of the meeting consisted of El Fattah putting tough questions to his guests including: “Are you an Islamist?”, “Is Egypt an Islamist nation?” and “Why did you leave the Muslim Brotherhood?”
The answers to the final question highlighted the most pressing of several challenges facing the Brotherhood today – the growing divisions among its youth.
More than 70 per cent of the population in Egypt is under the age of 29, and they make up more than 80 per cent of the country’s unemployed citizens.
The Brotherhood’s youth may still be part of the organisation, but they are first and foremost part of a generation that, like the #TweetNadwa participants, interacts with a wide range of individuals and groups through the internet and social media as well as books and satellite television.
“The youth of the MB were the first to use the internet to communicate different political messages, at once displaying connection with their peers in terms of age and ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood in terms of championing democratic government and loyalty to Islamic identity and ideals,” Sadiki said.
This generation is exposed to leftist, liberal and Islamic thinkers. This generation has struggled to find jobs for decades.
Large swaths of the Brotherhood’s youth have been inspired by the Justice and Development party in Turkey which just won a landslide victory in this month’s general elections.
Many of Egypt’s youth members ignored calls by the group’s elite members to boycott the Friday demonstrations that eventually led to Mubarak’s ousting. Instead, the youth joined other political parties and groups in Tahrir square, indicating that unity against the corruption of the Mubarak’s government trumped political divisions and strategies.
“TweetNadwa had the same magic we had in Tahrir. People were just happy we could be together,” El Fattah said.
“They disagreed, even discussed their fear of each other, but if you treat people with expectations that they’ll act as individuals, they will – and they will surprise you. If you insist on boxing them in categories, they will
eventually fit it comfortably.”
The general consensus among former and current Muslim Brotherhood youth was that they felt the organisation was limited in scope.
“There was a feeling that the Muslim Brotherhood is not big enough to contain their aspirations, and not relaxed enough to accept their questioning minds,” El Fattah said.
In June, the Brotherhood created the Freedom and Justice Party and announced that it was looking to create new alliances with liberal groups in the hopes of creating a path for a healthy democratic transition.
The move marked an effort to preserve their political positioning as the most popular political party at a time when divisions have been emerging primarily within the group’s youth members.
Can the Brotherhood appeal to Egyptian youth?
After years of political suppression, assassinations and the mass imprisonment of its members by Egypt’s government, the group is aiming to take measures to avoid international isolation.
“This is a very dangerous political period,” Vice President of Freedom and Justice Essam Al Arian said. “We want to pass the next few months safely with the help of others.”
This may lend some explanation to the recent news that the Brotherhood was aligning itself with the prominent liberal Wafd Party, which could very well increase its chances of winning a majority in parliament.
One of the Brotherhood’s younger members – who asked to remain anonymous due to what he called “extreme political sensitivities” within the group – said that the leaders of the Brotherhood are not concerned with a unified Egypt or a particularly prosperous Egypt, but simply with electoral victory for the Freedom and Justice Party.
“The youth of the Muslim Brotherhood shuns the culture of secrecy within the MB and this is part of the problems arising today,” Sadiki said.
“The Muslim Brotherhood prefers quiet politics.”
Islam Lotfi, who played an instrumental role in organising the protests that eventually ousted Mubarak, has joined other young members criticising party leaders, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie for claiming that the ousting of Mubarak from power could be seen as “divine retribution” for the jailing of members of the Brotherhood in years past.
“What the Supreme Guide said is not true, because members of other political waves were also detained, such as communists,” Lotfi, one of the younger members of the group, said.
Moreover, while many of the youth members are calling for reforms, including the democratisation of the political structure and increased representation for women – it remains unclear whether the leadership will fully support these proposals.
Despite the divisions between the elder, more traditional members and the youth, the group is likely to make significant gains. For years they have garnered support from the largely rural and poverty-stricken parts of the country where, much like Hamas has done in Gaza, they have launched many social welfare projects including healthcare and educational services, despite being banned from politics.
As the Brotherhood decentralises their power by seeking out alliances in order to appeal to broader segments of the population more divisions and internal conflicts within the group have emerged.
Although the Brotherhood announced that they would not be running any presidential candidates, several prominent Brotherhood members have recently announced their intention to run for president.
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh announced his candidacy – in direct defiance of calls from group leaders forbidding any Brotherhood members from supporting the candidacy of a Brotherhood contender.
Despite efforts by the Brotherhood – and other groups based on an Islamic platform – to acknowledge the necessity of a civil state, wherein national unity must trump political rivalries, and where the people themselves are the source of all government authority, many are still wary that Islamist parties are looking to enforce strict interpretations of Islamic law.
The Brotherhood’s leadership has made it clear that their politics will be governed by Sharia, one way or another.
In June, Khairat al-Shater, the Brotherhood’s Deputy General Guide, said the group was planning to develop an Islamic studies centre, aiming to rebuild the principles of Islamic Sharia.
Also, in June, the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that opposing an Islamic basis for Egyptian governance was morally wrong.
“An Islamic reference for a civil state is the only guarantee for all Egyptians, but to call for a civil state without an Islamic reference is contradictory and against ethics and morality,” Badie said.
For the Muslim Brotherhood, elections cannot come soon enough, so as to limit the time some of the newer parties running on Islamic platforms have to organise their campaigns and offer an alternative.
Ibrahim Houdaiby may have summed up the challenge facing the Brotherhood best in a recent interview with the Christian Science Monitor.
“The Brotherhood has two options. The first is to be a rigid organisation that insists on having only one legal political manifestation, and in that case the Brotherhood would eventually collapse.”
“The other is to be a more flexible organisation, allowing different political manifestations and retreating from the political domain to the civil domain and operating in the background of society to shape … social roles and so forth. In this case, it would grow more powerful. It would be able to capitalise as an organisation on the social capital.”
Ahmed Shihab Eldin is a journalist and multimedia producer who currently co-hosts The Stream on Al Jazeera English.
Role of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Unclear
Source
By Daniella Peled – The Arab Spring
Religious movement expected be major player in coming elections, but its policies remain ambiguous.
The Muslim Brotherhood, MB, has long been a leading opposition force in Egypt. Following the fall of the Mubarak regime, it is expected to become a major political player, but there remain serious concerns over its possible agenda. Issandr El-Amrani, a leading Cairo-based journalist and blogger, looks at public attitudes towards the movement.
As Egypt prepares for the transition to democracy, is the MB perceived as an emerging political force?
A lot of people are questioning what the political map is going to look like and there is nervousness over the possibility of the success of the MB. They are the only well-organised opposition group and look like they might dominate the coming elections.
There are fears among the elite and among the Coptic Christians too – legitimate fears, because the MB are unclear as to their position on a number of issues. Do they advocate a system of Islamic punishments like they do in Saudi Arabia? How exactly do they envision the role of non-Muslim minorities in public life?
The MB is very dedicated to the issue of Palestine and some people are nervous that Egypt could find itself isolated as a result of this stance. It is not that people love Israel here but the risks associated with the MB stance are severe, for instance, losing United States support and financial aid, which we simply can’t afford.
There are some things, such as opposition to the president being a non-Muslim or a woman, and the provision that the al-Azahr Islamic university play a supervisory role over legislation passed by parliament, to ensure it is Sharia-compliant, that they have shown willingness to change. They clearly don’t want to scare people off.
But there is a great deal of ambiguity, and the MB has been sending contradictory messages.
For instance, since the fall of Mubarak, demonstrations have continued, with people angry over the slow pace of change by the army. The MB pledged support for the ongoing protests. Yet two weeks ago, the MB distanced itself from them, arguing that the army needs to be supported through this period of transition.
And following recent renewed violence during Friday protests in Tahrir Square – in which two people were killed and more than 70 injured – the MB made it clear they did not want to antagonise the army. They are hedging their bets as they work on revising their political programme, which remains controversial.
They do also have to be careful because the law still says that there can’t be a religious political party, and it is still unclear what they can get away with.
As the MB transforms itself into an official political party, are there any internal divisions or tensions emerging?
The MB announced that it will form a Freedom and Justice party and is in the process of arranging the paperwork to make it into a legal entity. They are still arguing over how many seats they will contest – some elements want to go for 30 per cent, while others are more ambitious and say they should compete for 50 per cent.
They do seem confident that they are going to do well, as they are disciplined and well-organised, in contrast to the secular groups. But there are splits within the MB too, and offshoots opposing the current direction of the leadership. One, for instance, is led by Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and Ibrahim Zafarani, and is gaining the support of more liberal, progressive elements and appealing more to a younger following. It’s still not clear, though, where these offshoots might be heading.
The MB presents itself as always having had a moderate message. They argue that they are not intending to revolutionise society or to include radical new policies – they don’t even necessarily aim to win a majority of seats, and they currently still say they are not going to run a presidential candidate.
Their aim, as they see it, is not to get seats in the cabinet or to form the next government, but to build an Islamic society from the ground up. They want an overall ideological reform of society – first in Egypt, but also spreading to the rest of the Middle-East, resulting in an Islamic model. This obviously scares people, particularly as there are certainly totalitarian aspects to this vision.
While the MB presents itself as a moderate grouping, are there concerns about more extremist elements within the organisation?
No matter how urbane or sophisticated some of the MB leaders may be, there is a worry about the base of the movement. This includes Wahhabi influence, which is a fundamentally undemocratic movement.
Amongst the ranks of the MB are also those with ultra-conservative views which shock many Egyptians even though Egypt is a conservative society. These include things like the full-face veil – something you barely saw in Egypt 20 years ago and is now quite common.
There is widespread acceptance that the MB has the right to form a political party. I know many members of the MB, and they are very respectable people, they have a sincere wish to do something for their country, but I don’t agree with their views.
Daniella Peled is an IWPR editor.
We must engage Muslim Brotherhood, says Kevin Rudd
Source: The Australian
Speaking in Cairo at the weekend, the Foreign Minister said it was important the Islamic group banned by ousted president Hosni Mubarak did not believe it had been shunned from the beginning of the democratic process.
He also raised the possibility that Egypt’s elections be delayed beyond the six-month timetable set by the interim military government, which took control after Mr Mubarak’s resignation on February 11, because the country may not be prepared after 30 years of his autocratic rule.
In an interview with The Australian, Mr Rudd said his view of the Muslim Brotherhood was “evolving” and nobody knew the current shape of the organisation.
“But I think it is in our collective interest to engage, to fully understand, but also it’s in our collective interest to not cause the Muslim Brotherhood and others who will be a political force in the future shape of democratic politics in Egypt for them to conclude that from day one they’ve been shunned from the West,” he said.
“We must engage: let us see what that produces. We proceed, I think, openly but cautiously.”
Mr Rudd said the Muslim Brotherhood’s history was long, complex and “some parts of it are profoundly disturbing”.
“The challenge we all have today is to understand its modern face and whether it is Islamist in every sense of the word or whether it is genuinely capable of pluralism.”
Mr Rudd said there was wisdom in Western leaders engaging the full spectrum of opinion in Egypt, both from the secularist and the religious traditions.
Australia did the same with Indonesia, he said.
“We engage with secularist and religious parties across the full spectrum there because that’s just the nature of Indonesian politics and it’s likely to be the nature of Egyptian politics.”
Asked to what extent they have been a concern and to what extent Mr Mubarak used them as a bogy to scare the West, he said: “I think both propositions are probably true. Historically, the Muslim Brotherhood has a tradition of Islamism, and from time to time militant Islamism, given its role, for example, in relation to other militant organisations across the wider Middle East.
“Secondly, to the extent to which they were used by others as a simple political bogyman to constantly suppress democratic aspirations, that is equally true.
“What we don’t know and what we should be cautious about is what the modern face of the Muslim Brotherhood would be.”
Asked if he had full confidence in the military to manage the transition, he said: “What’s been impressive about the military so far, including from day one of the student uprising, is that by and large they have sided with the people, they have sided with the students.
“We have seen what the reverse of that means in the unfolding of events in the streets of Tripoli.”
He said Australia was seeking to co-ordinate with several foreign ministers assisting in food security and agriculture technology and working with the World Bank to support unemployed youth. “If it all goes pear-shaped, the implications for Australia’s national interests are horrific,” he said.
“That is, if the Middle East led by Egypt does not succeed in this democratic transformation, think of the possible impact on Israel and the peace process, think of the impact on large-scale people movements out of Arab countries, think of the impact on the operating footprint for terrorist organisations, think of the impact in terms of the geo-strategic footprint of Iran and think also of the implications in terms of the price of oil.
“This is not just a theoretical exercise; it’s very practical.”
PBS FRONTLINE: Revolution In Cairo, The Brotherhood
As the protest movement in Egypt sent shock waves throughout the country — and the world — FRONTLINE dispatched teams to Cairo for this special report.
“This is a story that no one could have predicted, and everyone now wants to know more about,” says FRONTLINE executive producer David Fanning. “We’re using our new monthly magazine to be able to respond quickly to timely events and help fill the need for added depth and insight on these important breaking stories.”
In this hour’s lead story, Revolution in Cairo, FRONTLINE gains unique access to the April 6 Youth Movement as they plot strategy, then head out into Cairo’s Tahrir Square, hoping to bring down President Hosni Mubarak. The film traces these young Egyptian activists’ long road to revolution, as they made increasingly bold use of the Internet in their underground resistance over the last few years. Through sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the members of April 6 and related groups helped organize a political movement that the secret police did not understand and could not stop, despite the arrest and torture of some of the movement’s key members.
For the second story, The Brothers, veteran Middle East correspondent Charles Sennott of GlobalPost is on the ground in Cairo for FRONTLINE to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood, the controversial but poorly understood Islamist political movement that’s poised to play a key role in Egypt’s future. While the group was absent in Tahrir Square when young demonstrators first ignited Egypt’s revolt, the Brotherhood assumed a larger role over the course of the protests, taking frontline positions in rock-throwing battles with regime supporters and helping to run emergency medical clinics. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood stands to take a prominent place at the negotiating table, we examine what the group believes and how it may influence politics in the country and the region.
Ikhwanophobia Note:
For the readers in the United States, you can watch the full documentary from the source: Here
For the readers allover the world, you can watch the second part of this interesting documentary, it’s available worldwide:
Why Is it Impossible to Call it “Islamic”?
Abdelrahman Ayyash
P.S: This article was written in the middle of the Egyptian revolution.
*Photo By: Hossam Al Hamalawy
Two Christian protesters are walking around a group of Muslim worshippers to protect them. This is a very common scene now in Tahrir square.
During the last 11 days, the Egyptian people have started their very first public revolution in their long history. Mubarak’s regime, which suppressed the Egyptian people for more than 29 years, is now on the edge of an abyss. Egyptians pushed the regime to this edge by protesting through the last two weeks all over Egypt with about 10 million demonstrators.
The nationwide protests were announced by the administration of the Facebook page: “We are all Khaled Said”. Khaled Said is a 22-year-old youth who was tortured to death by two police informants in Alexandria. The administration of the Khaled Said page announced the protests on January 25th which is Police Day in Egypt. The page of Khaled Said has more than 470.000 members.
“We are all Khaled Said” administration was publicly unknown till last Friday when the state security arrested “Wael Ghonim” the head of Marketing at Google Middle East. The police transferred Wael to an unknown place and since then Wael has completely disappeared.
“Wael Ghonim was the admin of Khaled Said’s page” said an activist from Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. “Wael is a conservative liberal,” the activist continued.
Those who know Wael Ghonim, believe that he does not belong to any political parties in Egypt. After Khaled Said’s case, Wael became one of the most important people in Egypt, calling people to march throughout Egypt, Tens of thousands of Egyptian youth participated in a number of protests that Khaled Said’s admin called for.
The youth who participated in Khaled Said’s marches knew about the marches from Khaled Said’s page. The only commonality between them was that they all have a Facebook account! They did not belong to any political party; most of them have no previous political experience and the most important thing is that they were really expressing a new generation of Egyptian youth that believe in civic engagement as a solution for a lot of Egypt’s problems.
During Friday Prayer from Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said before thousands of people:
“Today’s events in the North of Africa, Egypt, Tunisia and certain other countries have another sense for the Iranian nation. They have special meaning. This is the same as ‘Islamic awakening,’ which is the result of the victory of the big revolution of the Iranian nation.” The Supreme Leader was quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
The Iranian supreme leader’s quote is very dangerous from more than one perspective:
First: The Iranian leader said that the Tunisians and Egyptians “inspired their revolution from the Islamic revolution in Iran”, which is absurd! The Tunisian revolution was very different, and the Egyptian experience was built on a very different basis.
Egyptians started the uprising in a very different way. This is a Zero-leaders revolution; there is no one leader for this revolution, and we have no Egyptian Khomainy!
On the other hand, no one can say that the Egyptian revolution was inspired by any other revolution. This is Khaled Said’s revolution, and it is owned by all those who were tortured to death by Mubarak’s regime.
Second: This statement from Khamenei is sending a very wrong message to the west about Islamism in Egypt.
As we know, the most influential opposition movement in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood, which is used as a scarecrow for the west to support the autocratic regimes in the region.
If we are going to document the revolution, we would say that the revolution started with the invitation from Khaled Said page’s administration to sweep Egypt with protests on January 25. The Muslim Brotherhood didn’t participate in the demonstrations against the regime till Friday January 28, So, It’s unjust to say that the Muslim Brotherhood owns this revolution.
Clearly, the Muslim Brotherhood would be honored if they were a part of forcing Mubarak to step down, but the truth is that the Egyptian youth made the first move, and the “traditional” opposition followed the movement of the youth and participated in the protests and gave them very powerful support.
This traditional opposition does not only include the MB, but also includes other opposition parties in Egypt (i.e. Wafd Party, Tagamo’ Party, Ghad Party and Gabha Party) as well as all the non-Islamic partiesl.
In a phone call with Khaled Hamza, the editor in chief of Ikhwanweb.com, the official English website for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, he commented on khamini’s speech by saying: “This is the Egyptian people’s revolution. No one can claim that he has the upper hand in this revolution”.
When you enter Tahrir square, you will nott find any of MB slogans. It is clear that there are thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members in the square, but when you come closer, you will see what the Muslim Brotherhood members are doing. The Muslim Brotherhood is supporting protesters with logistic support, food and medical aid.
You will see that the Muslim Brotherhood is not dominating the protests when you notice the religious protesters praying and the Copts are protecting them from the mobs. You will see unveiled women standing beside those wearing the veil, chanting with one voice.
You will know what it means when you see the leftist artist standing beside the Muslim Brotherhood activist and chanting against the Mubarak regime. It is the first protest in the history of Egypt that gathers every color of the political spectrum for one goal: the departure of Mubarak and his regime.
Mohammed Badei, the chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, stated that the MB will not participate in the coming presidential elections. The Muslim Brotherhood is not interested in being in power in Egypt. This reassuring message should be delivered to the west.
The role of western politicians right now is to rethink their stance concerning the Muslim Brotherhood, the moderate Islamic movement in Egypt, which won one fifth of the PA seats in the 2005 Parliamentary elections. Undoubtedly, the coming alternative in Egypt will never be worse than Mubarak’s regime, Even if this alternative was the Muslim Brotherhood.