What happens next in Egypt? - 2011 egyptian protests & Egypt

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Forums > All Posts > What happens next in Egypt?

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2011-02-11 02:05 PM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1058

Mubarak has stepped down. Now comes the transition to democratic elections. The coming days will be difficult for Egyptians as they strive to be inclusive of the needs of all protesters. This protest movement started by unions protesting over a lack of jobs. It grew to encompass other entities. Probably the one most worrisome to Israel and others who distrust the role of any Islamic organization is what influence the Muslim Brotherhood will play.

Predictably all the Fox News pundits have already staked that ground engaging in their typical Islamophobic rhetoric.

Bill O'Reilly in his Super Bowl interview with Barack Obama stated, "Those are tough boys, the Muslim Brotherhood. I wouldn't want them anywhere near that government."

Sean Hannity in his interview with John Bolton said, "We know they are a terrorist organization and what they want...Does the president not understand that he should have spoken out against them?"What part of the Muslim Brotherhood -- their desire for Sharia law and Islamic caliphate don't they understand? Because I think the odds on favorite here, they come into power now."

Newt Gingrich, speaking at the CPAC conference said, "This is an organization which has as its original founding slogan that our constitution is the Koran, our way is jihad, and our method is dying for Allah. Now, I don't know which part of that is complicated. But it strikes me that any normal, reasonable, intelligent person would read that and go, 'you know, I wonder if there's something religious here.'"

Sarah Palin in her interview with CBN stated her opinion on filling the void after Mubarak, "Is it going to be the Muslim Brotherhood? We should not stand for that, or with that or by that. Any radical Islamists, no that is not who we should be supporting and standing by."

Yet the Muslim Brotherhood's own website, Ikhwanweb, doesn't support any of the contentious rhetoric and fear mongering of Fox News pundits. From their website:

"In the wake of the people’s revolt, we have accepted invitations to participate in talks on a peaceful transition. Along with other representatives of the opposition, we recently took part in exploratory meetings with Vice President Omar Suleiman. In these talks, we made clear that we will not compromise or co-opt the public’s agenda. We come with no special agenda of our own — our agenda is that of the Egyptian people, which has been asserted since the beginning of this uprising.

"We aim to achieve reform and rights for all: not just for the Muslim Brotherhood, not just for Muslims, but for all Egyptians. We do not intend to take a dominant role in the forthcoming political transition. We are not putting forward a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for September.

"In Egypt, religion continues to be an important part of our culture and heritage. Moving forward, we envision the establishment of a democratic, civil state that draws on universal measures of freedom and justice, which are central Islamic values. We embrace democracy not as a foreign concept that must be reconciled with tradition, but as a set of principles and objectives that are inherently compatible with and reinforce Islamic tenets."

We will have to watch what transpires in the months ahead, but from my perspective the Fox News pundits are engaging in fear mongering of the same type they used against the proposed Islamic Center to be built a few blocks from Ground Zero. They lacked facts then...they lack facts now. The Muslim Brotherhood does not condone violence. They have gone on record as rejecting al Qaeda's call for a jihad.

"The MB is confident that Egyptians will ignore latest al Qaeda statements and its ideology, which contradict with the basic tenets of Islam and the peacedul nature of the Egyptian people. Hamza confirmed that the current revolution in Egypt is the "People’s revolution" not an Islamic one, and includes all sects, trends and religions. Egyptian men, women, children, Muslims and Christians have united in their call for freedom and democracy, and the MB group has participated as part of the people."

I would hope that Americans will be more open minded about the possible minor role that the MB will play in the new democratic Egypt.

2011-02-12 07:31 AM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1058

Robert Dreyfuss provides another perspective on the Muslim Brotherhood with his February 11th Mother Jones article, What is the Muslim Brotherhood and Will it Take Over Egypt? with a subtitle of "The basics on the group that has Glenn Beck going batshit." Dreyfuss covers some of the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and how it has transformed into a more moderate Islamic organization today.

He quotes Nathan Brown, a political science professor at George Washington University and an expert on political Islam, as being optimistic that the Brotherhood has evolved from its fundamentalist roots: "Their agenda is to make Egypt better," he told Salon recently. "And their conception of what's good and bad has a religious basis. So that means increasing religious observance, religious knowledge. It also means probably drawing more heavily on the Islamic legal heritage for Egypt's laws. They don't want to necessarily completely convert Egypt into a traditional Islamic legal system. But if the Parliament's going to pass a law, they want it to be consistent with Islamic law." No doubt many officials and members of the Muslim Brotherhood would endorse this characterization."

Dreyfuss suggests an opposing view: "In 2007, the Brotherhood released a draft political program that included several very troubling proposals, including the idea that Egypt's government be overseen by an unelected council of Islamic scholars who would measure the country's laws against the Koran and sharia to make sure governance would "conform to Islamic law."

Dreyfuss also notes that the Muslim Brotherhood is a "conservative, even ultra-orthodox Islamist group, but it is not Al Qaeda or the Taliban and it is irresponsible to compare them to these groups....It is also not equivalent to the Iranian Islamic force that seized power in Iran in 1979. It lacks the network of highly politicized clerics that helped Ayatollah Khomeini succeed in 1979. The group itself is almost entirely made up of laymen, often highly educated, and scholars of Islamic law, not members of the clergy."

It remains to be seen what role they will play in the new government. They could have anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of the seats in a new parliament, but thus far have said they will not be putting forth a candidate for the presidential elections. Whatever one chooses to believe about them, Dreyfuss's subtitle rings true...in the coming months it will drive Glenn Beck "batshit"...but also all the other Fox News pundits plus Rush Limbaugh. The Muslim Brotherhood is their new target for fear mongering.

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