Well a miracle has occured in Egypt,not only did a largely peaceful demostration force Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office,but not only was an American flag not burnt,but there were no chant of Death to America.Now all the political pundits on cable television are whipping up the ether with dire predictions that the outlaw political party the Muslim Brotherhood would take advantage of the up comming elections and turn Egypt into an Islamic State. Now this might be good for ratings but it has no legitimate basis in reality.
First of all these individuals have a need to make a link between the revolution that took place in Iran in 1979 and the peaceful protests that took place in Egypt.First of all the army in Iran did not seize control of the government from the monarchy of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi,but were supported of the Islamic clergy. This clergy with the following of university students who held that the western culture was a plague on Iran that had to be wiped out. The idea that Ali Shariati vision of Islam as the true liberator from the colonialism,neo-colonialism and capitalism was the one that was held by millions of the Iranian poor and middle class.Thus Iran became a Islamic state that the followers of the Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini desired. Now in Egypt the protest or revolution had two main goals in mind,that of getting rid of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and installing a democratic government.Yes it's true that the Muslim Brotherhood is organized,and if there was a power vacuum after Mubarak resigned then maybe there would be cause for alarm. However the Egyptian army took over the control of the government with the promise of free democratic election and would only run the government till the elections took place. The other thing that makes this different fron Iran is that the military does not side with or even care for the Muslim Brotherhood.It's not even sure if the Military Council will allow the Muslim Brotherhood to participate as a political party in the elections.
As I pointed out in yesterday's post the overriding sentiment of the vast majority of egyptians is the idea of free speech,assembly,freedom from censorship,and democratic elections.Yes they also expressed the idea that the Islamic religion should have some role in the state but not the overriding one.The question that everyone should be asking and debating is,will this populist uprising spread to the rest of the Middle East. First there was Tunisa, and the young people of Egypt seeing what was possible,took a gamble that they could do the same thing.Will the people of the Middle East state seeing what happened in Egypt say to themselves,if they can do it why not us.I know what I believe,but as usual the question is what do you believe will happen?
I do hope that the Muslim Brotherhood are allowed to stand. Here is a great opportunity for a true multi-faith society to find its feet. Omit one existing group, especially one as organised as the Muslim Brotherhood appear to be and you set up a rallying point for every disgruntled person with extremist views, those for joining, those against forming an opposition. Then you are on your way to another Northern Ireland, where a small minority on both 'sides' are not interested in peace, only in fighting the other. Banned groups also have to get funding somewhere and it usually ends up being drugs. So not only do you end up with terrorists you also get organised crime and drugs running. On the whole, participation in the democratic process for some people who hold aims you don't like seems a small price to pay.
ReplyDeleteAll that you said is true,but I believe the military will allow the Muslim Brotherhoon to participate is if they forego volience.However the lastest news from Egypt is that the Muslim Brotherhood would not run nor is intrested in running in the upcoming elections.This might be because the Muslim Brotherhood does not have widespread approval among the Egyptian population.
ReplyDeleteBy the was excellent insight into the reasons that people become extremist's when prevented from participation in the democratic process.