Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the problems of power

Bikya Masr

"CAIRO: Egyptian activists have a shorthand way to help Americans understand party politics here:

“Just think of the Salafi [ultra-conservative Islamists] as your Tea Party—they’re not so interested in government as a way to solve Egypt’s problems as a tool to enforce their morality”—and then they’re absolutists to the point of being fascists, says political activist Abdel Rahman Ayyash.

“The Muslim Brotherhood, though, are more like your Republicans—also interested in pushing their social views, just not as crazy,” adds the computer engineer, and as a former young Muslim Brother, creator of the blog: IkhwanoPhobia.com.

“And our liberals are like your liberals—focused on freedoms, human rights and government as fixer of problems.

There are other political forces of course here in Egypt at the moment—women, Coptic Christians, Tahrir Square protestors and most prominently the army—but the only ones who really matter are the Muslim Brotherhood who, with 46 percent of the seats in the new Parliament, are so close to an outright majority, they won’t need much muscle to what they want.

It will be their agenda that will drive Egypt’s future. The only brake on their power may come from the street, from the voices of these other interest groups, from reaction in the press, from the international community and, of course in a different way, from the military.

As Tahrir Square activists claim, the democratic goals of the revolution have yet to be met. The revolution overthrew one dictator only to face the dictatorship of the old regime’s military. And now the diversity of Egypt faces the disciplined vision of one group of Islamists.

But Egypt itself is a formidable opponent. The country’s economy is in shambles; crime has skyrocketed; air and water pollution are bad enough to impact life expectancy; the streets of Cairo are more parking lots than roadways; corruption haunts business deals large and small; thirty percent of the population is illiterate; and these are just a few of the country’s structural and institutional problems.

Meanwhile leaders from the Salafi party talk about alcohol and bikinis, about returning the country to Islamic law circa 700 where adultery is punished by stoning and thieves lose a hand. Liberals ask about protections for the rights of religious minorities as well as the rights of women who won only one percent of the seats in Parliament. And the army is claiming they will not submit to civilian rule.

There is still a constitution to write and a president to elect. Both of which involve a battle with the ruling council of generals who seek a constitution that preserves their independence of civilian oversight and an army-sympathetic president more powerful than Parliament.

In pursuit of these aims, they claim the privilege of appointing the constitution-writing committee as well as in deciding the balance of power between president and Parliament.

Navigating all this will not be easy for a Muslim Brotherhood whose single focus at this point is just their long-term ability to stay in power......"