Sorry about the title - actually, I'm not that sorry because I thinks it's a corker! I was cheating by looking for a suitabley learned quotation with which to impress you all at the start of a post on Egypt. That was the first one I came across and I couldn't resist it. Anyway, back to boring politics . . .
I wrote a post a year ago following 'elections' in which less than 25% of eligible voters bothered to vote. They really don't seem to have 'got' this democracy lark in Egypt and as the only truly organised force in Egyptian politics the Muslim Brotherhood took full advantage and nicked the presidency and the parliament from under the silly noses of the people:
[F]or the immediate future Egyptians will have to put up with rule by the army who give every indication of refusing to yield power to a bunch of religious
nutters. From the West's point of view - and what other view is worth wasting time on - we must all hope the army has what it takes to smack the Muslim Brotherhood round the ear and send it home to Allah.
Well, we all know the answer now! The army which is possessed not only of tanks and guns but also of huge financial and commercial interests had no intention of allowing Mursi and his religous fanatics to rock the already leaky Egyptian boat. I also wrote this last month based on a review of:
[A] book by Carrie Rosefsky called The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement. In it she describes the development of the movement and the
way in which its almost non-stop persecution meant that over the years it
retreated even further into dogma whilst persecuting its very own modernisers,
and all of that meant that it was totally unfit to govern when Mubarak fell.
After decades off shouting slogans the actually very messy business of governing
is proving too much for it. Now, facing a hostile electorate, it is wondering
whether or not to stick to democratic free elections, whilst its so-called
democratic opponents are considering the advantages of an army take-over. Like
its northern counterpart, Turkey, Egypt hovers on the cusp. Fascinating to
watch, hell to partake!
The internal strains and tensions within Islam are going to take a long time to be resolved. My bet is that eventually the more secular side will win for the simple reason that in this shrunken globe of ours there is now now reason for religion - any religion - to exist. It is precisely this knowledge that is driving the Islamists to fight and if necessary to fight to the death. Part of me is not unsympathetic. The other winning factor for the secularists is that they at least offer a chance of economic progress for people, where-as the Islamists offer nothing but poverty frozen in place on this earth but the promise of better things in the life there-after. That used to be acceptable when people knew nothing of the rest of the world, indeed, nothing beyond their own village and the nearest market town. But today they can see and hear and even communicate with everyone, everywhere in the world and they will want what others have - and they will want it now!
