Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has penned itself into a corral by assuring its following that the ousted president will be returned to office on their shoulders. “Mursi, Mursi, Mursi” must have been chanted millions of times by the crowds in Nasr City’s Rabaa Adawiya’s Square, where the failed president has been turned into a saint-like figure by a host of speakers ranting against “the coup.” High profile Muslim Brotherhood (MB) figures are behaving like cult leaders, playing on people’s religious beliefs, whipping up fervor, so as to blur the line between politics and faith, thus creating a group mind that will sacrifice their lives to do their bidding.
Most of those in that square are good people, devout people, ordinary folk with children, unequipped to realize they are being used as fodder to coerce the army to make a U-turn. There will be a day when they’ll understand how they were ruthlessly duped by those whose will to power is so engrained that if they go down, they will take the whole of Egypt down with them.
Their media mouthpiece is Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr that has shed any pretence of editorial balance over the past weeks, exclusively airing pro-Mursi demonstrations and conducting interviews with MB spokesmen and supporters. Al Jazeera’s chief editor in Cairo was ejected from a press conference by enraged Egyptian journalists branding him a traitor; 22 Al Jazeera employees resigned in protest, citing bias and attempts by authorities to remove the channel from air were thwarted by its alleged theft of broadcast vehicles.
Now and again, I listen to what’s being said on Rabaa Adawiya’s stage. On Friday, I was shocked to recognize a speaker I’ve always admired as a man with a fine mind, dancing eyebrows and a great sense of humor. ‘Is that really him,’ I asked myself. ‘No, it can’t be.’ It was. There, stood Ahmed Mansour, the host of Al Jazeera’s popular program Bila Hodod (Without Frontiers), prostrating himself before Mursi’s alter and advising the crowd on ways of framing their media message.
Al Jazeera has lost the plot. It’s meant to be an unbiased new outlet. I always thought it was and have championed the network in my columns for over 12 years as a strong voice for the underdog, for the persecuted and the poor. I railed against the Bush administration for bombing its Kabul and Baghdad offices, I advocated for those of its staff who were detained by the US on charges of lending support to terrorists. I supported its right to air in Europe and America. But now that it’s shown its true colors, I will never trust anything out of Al Jazeera ever again—and I suspect that the overwhelmingly majority of Egyptians feel the same.
The MB has been invited to join the new political transition, an offer it won’t consider unless their icon is returned to Al-Ittihadiya Palace and the Islamist-weighted constitution is reinstated. Those demands are entirely unrealistic. Over 30 million Egyptians accuse him of neglecting their basic needs and dragging their country towards bankruptcy; many believe he was the Supreme Guide’s puppet. Mursi frittered away his chance to be a president for all Egyptians and now, as they chant in Tahrir, “Game over.”
I am sure that reality is sinking in among the higher MB echelons, men who’ve had their assets frozen and are currently evading arrest for inciting violence. They must be witnessing the formation of the interim technocrat cabinet, in which they declined to participate, with trepidation. They have, no doubt, noted the generosity of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to Egypt, totaling $12 billion. They have seen the bourse reach new highs day upon day; they have seen how queues for petrol and bread have dissipated almost overnight, as well as hours-long electricity outrages suffered by the nation under Mursi’s leadership. And if they thought the Obama administration was firmly onside, then they’re disappointed.
The US is in real danger of losing the most populous Arab country due to its hack-handed response to the army’s intervention. Egyptian moderates are incensed at President’s Obama condemnation of what they see as the continuation of the Jan. 25, 2011, revolution. Obama and US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson are viewed as hate figures. The Tamarod youth movement is determined that Egypt will no longer brook America’s interference. It wants the interim government to reject the $1.5 billion in US annual aid. It wants Ambassador Patterson out and insists is leaders will not meet with any US visiting dignitary, including US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns who’s in Cairo on a damage control mission.
Increasingly abandoned with the exception of Turkey and Tunisia, whose ruling Islamist parties are concerned for their own fate when events in Egyptian have emboldened their opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood is increasingly being hoist with its own petard as “terrorist.” On Monday, it ordered its following to march to the Republican Guard H.Q. and a National Security installation and has threatened to takeover Tahrir Square. Military helicopters have been dropping leaflets on the pro-Mursi protest asking people to leave the square for their own safety.
A statement from a senior MB official, Mohamed El-Beltagy, says it all. He maintains that once Mursi is reinstated, he will bring an end to the violent attacks in Sinai—the latest occurred on Monday when a bus carrying workers was hit by rocket grenades near El Arish, killing three. With that admission, Dr. El-Beltagy reveals that he’s the man wielding the remote. Local anchors are bristling with fury, outraged that the Brotherhood is seemingly out to kill their fellow Egyptians, many of their high profile guests demanding the organization be barred from the political arena for all time.
The window of time is narrowing on the Brotherhood’s political aspirations. The message from the majority is “Join our new Egypt or be seen as an enemy of the people, a pariah.” It’s a message the MB leadership would do well to consider before that windows slams shut.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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Cornered, Muslim Brotherhood resorts to violence and threats
Posted on July 17, 2013 by Linda S. Heard
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has penned itself into a corral by assuring its following that the ousted president will be returned to office on their shoulders. “Mursi, Mursi, Mursi” must have been chanted millions of times by the crowds in Nasr City’s Rabaa Adawiya’s Square, where the failed president has been turned into a saint-like figure by a host of speakers ranting against “the coup.” High profile Muslim Brotherhood (MB) figures are behaving like cult leaders, playing on people’s religious beliefs, whipping up fervor, so as to blur the line between politics and faith, thus creating a group mind that will sacrifice their lives to do their bidding.
Most of those in that square are good people, devout people, ordinary folk with children, unequipped to realize they are being used as fodder to coerce the army to make a U-turn. There will be a day when they’ll understand how they were ruthlessly duped by those whose will to power is so engrained that if they go down, they will take the whole of Egypt down with them.
Their media mouthpiece is Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr that has shed any pretence of editorial balance over the past weeks, exclusively airing pro-Mursi demonstrations and conducting interviews with MB spokesmen and supporters. Al Jazeera’s chief editor in Cairo was ejected from a press conference by enraged Egyptian journalists branding him a traitor; 22 Al Jazeera employees resigned in protest, citing bias and attempts by authorities to remove the channel from air were thwarted by its alleged theft of broadcast vehicles.
Now and again, I listen to what’s being said on Rabaa Adawiya’s stage. On Friday, I was shocked to recognize a speaker I’ve always admired as a man with a fine mind, dancing eyebrows and a great sense of humor. ‘Is that really him,’ I asked myself. ‘No, it can’t be.’ It was. There, stood Ahmed Mansour, the host of Al Jazeera’s popular program Bila Hodod (Without Frontiers), prostrating himself before Mursi’s alter and advising the crowd on ways of framing their media message.
Al Jazeera has lost the plot. It’s meant to be an unbiased new outlet. I always thought it was and have championed the network in my columns for over 12 years as a strong voice for the underdog, for the persecuted and the poor. I railed against the Bush administration for bombing its Kabul and Baghdad offices, I advocated for those of its staff who were detained by the US on charges of lending support to terrorists. I supported its right to air in Europe and America. But now that it’s shown its true colors, I will never trust anything out of Al Jazeera ever again—and I suspect that the overwhelmingly majority of Egyptians feel the same.
The MB has been invited to join the new political transition, an offer it won’t consider unless their icon is returned to Al-Ittihadiya Palace and the Islamist-weighted constitution is reinstated. Those demands are entirely unrealistic. Over 30 million Egyptians accuse him of neglecting their basic needs and dragging their country towards bankruptcy; many believe he was the Supreme Guide’s puppet. Mursi frittered away his chance to be a president for all Egyptians and now, as they chant in Tahrir, “Game over.”
I am sure that reality is sinking in among the higher MB echelons, men who’ve had their assets frozen and are currently evading arrest for inciting violence. They must be witnessing the formation of the interim technocrat cabinet, in which they declined to participate, with trepidation. They have, no doubt, noted the generosity of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to Egypt, totaling $12 billion. They have seen the bourse reach new highs day upon day; they have seen how queues for petrol and bread have dissipated almost overnight, as well as hours-long electricity outrages suffered by the nation under Mursi’s leadership. And if they thought the Obama administration was firmly onside, then they’re disappointed.
The US is in real danger of losing the most populous Arab country due to its hack-handed response to the army’s intervention. Egyptian moderates are incensed at President’s Obama condemnation of what they see as the continuation of the Jan. 25, 2011, revolution. Obama and US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson are viewed as hate figures. The Tamarod youth movement is determined that Egypt will no longer brook America’s interference. It wants the interim government to reject the $1.5 billion in US annual aid. It wants Ambassador Patterson out and insists is leaders will not meet with any US visiting dignitary, including US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns who’s in Cairo on a damage control mission.
Increasingly abandoned with the exception of Turkey and Tunisia, whose ruling Islamist parties are concerned for their own fate when events in Egyptian have emboldened their opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood is increasingly being hoist with its own petard as “terrorist.” On Monday, it ordered its following to march to the Republican Guard H.Q. and a National Security installation and has threatened to takeover Tahrir Square. Military helicopters have been dropping leaflets on the pro-Mursi protest asking people to leave the square for their own safety.
A statement from a senior MB official, Mohamed El-Beltagy, says it all. He maintains that once Mursi is reinstated, he will bring an end to the violent attacks in Sinai—the latest occurred on Monday when a bus carrying workers was hit by rocket grenades near El Arish, killing three. With that admission, Dr. El-Beltagy reveals that he’s the man wielding the remote. Local anchors are bristling with fury, outraged that the Brotherhood is seemingly out to kill their fellow Egyptians, many of their high profile guests demanding the organization be barred from the political arena for all time.
The window of time is narrowing on the Brotherhood’s political aspirations. The message from the majority is “Join our new Egypt or be seen as an enemy of the people, a pariah.” It’s a message the MB leadership would do well to consider before that windows slams shut.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.