Muslim Brotherhood leader calls for "historic turn"

Submitted by martin on 20 February, 2011 - 4:53

According to a startlingly frank interview given by Khaled Hamza, editor of the Muslim Brotherhood's English-language website, to the Swiss-based researcher Patrick Haenni, the upheavals in Egypt have provoked major dissent - with which Hamza plainly identifies himself - in the 80-year-old Brotherhood.

The interview suggests that if secular socialists can organise themselves rapidly and strongly enough in Egypt, and present a sharp alternative to the Brotherhood's historic demand for an "Islamic state", then they can win over sizeable numbers from the Brotherhood's youth.

Hamza says that the Brotherhood was first pulled into the movement by "a certain number of MB dissidents, who had quit the movement following their activity on blogs and Facebook.

"Those dissidents played the role of a link between the student sections of the Brotherhood and the protest movements...

"The young ex-Brothers were the link, and pulled the young Brothers from the universities into the movement while the Brotherhood leadership was hesitating about throwing the Brotherhood into the protests. On the one hand, because they distrusted these protest movements which they knew little about. On the other, because they fear the blows of repression.

"But they did not want to repeat the mistake of 6 April" [2008, when the Brotherhood did not support the general strike in support of the workers of Mahalla].

The dissident and semi-dissident youth threw themselves into the movement. "The leaders of the Brotherhood knew what was happening, and let it go".

Haenni put it to Hamza that the Brotherhood leadership changed line on 28 January.

"Yes, on the 28th, when repression had already begun to appear, the Brothers decided to commit the core of the organisation. They were convinced that this time they would be in the midst of the population, that they would not be alone.

"Besides the numerical mobilisation, we should note a fundamental about-turn: for the first time in their history, the Brothers abstained from brining out their big slogans like 'Islam is the solution' and did not wave copies of the Quran. Instead, they spoke of democracy, bread, and revenge for the martyrs who had fallen. It was a historic shift...

"In their discourse, the Brothers had the good sense not to Islamise the revolution. Our revolution is not Islamist, and we have no Islamic demands, for that is the reality of the Egyptian revolution. We then immediately rebuffed the attempts to Islamise the revolution as manifested in the declarations of Al Qaeda and Khamenei...

"Among the young Brothers, the dominant idea now is that the historic choice of Hassan al-Banna [founder of the Brotherhood] for progressive change in society 'from below' [by changing individuals, families, etc.] was a mistake. The youth understand that they are not trapped in a dilemma between a strategy of transformation from below via the [religious] reframing of society, or a putschist and violent strategy 'from above'.

"Beyond those two alternatives, they are discovering a third way: mass civic peaceful protest, the strategy of 'million-strong demonstrations'.

"A whole debate is now underway within the Brotherhood on the very nature of the state. The youth say: we want a state for Muslims, not an Islamic state".

That historic demand of the Brotherhood is still upheld by the MB English-language website which Hamza himself edits. Despite launching a “Freedom and Justice Party” (21 February), Brotherhood leaders have said that they are not abandoning historic Brotherhood doctrine. Tension and splits within the Brotherhood look more likely than a wholesale move to “Muslim-democratic” politics.

• Interview: http://bit.ly/f2PQ61
• MB English website: http://ikhwanweb.com
• Classic Brotherhood doctrine: http://www.workersliberty.org/qutb

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Submitted by martin on Sun, 20/02/2011 - 22:15

Al-Ahram Online (20 February) reports on the Muslim Brotherhood's plans to set up a formal political party, under the headline "Muslim Brotherhood expected to win legality, lose popularity". It suggests that many Brotherhood leaders are not as keen as Hamza to revise their movement's policies.

The group plan to use a preliminary draft for a civil party which they created in 2007 and presented to 40 intellectuals, journalists and analysts for feedback to form a program for their planned party. Although the draft included eight sections covering everything from economic reform to solutions to the various problems in the Egyptian society, it was two controversial points that attracted particular attention.

The first was the prohibition against women and Christians from running for president, which meant that at least 51 per cent of the Egyptian population would be ineligible to run, raising questions about how the group’s attitude towards equality of citizenship. The second was the idea of creating a “Supreme Ulama Council” – a body of religious figures who would review executive decisions to ensure they comply with Islamic law. The opinions and approval of the Muslim clerics in the council would be crucial on all matters relating to government, by consulting “proven Islamic texts.”

Despite this criticism, Morsi maintains that the brotherhood intends to base its planned political party on the 2007 draft. People were quick to judge the program, he contends, and refused to enter into an intelligent discussion on the various points it raised.

“These people just wanted to attack for the sake of attacking,” says Morsi. “They preferred a monologue to a dialogue.”

El-Erian points out that the group spent 2008 gaining feedback for the program and, now they are preparing to launch a party, the program might be given a “major overhaul”, which may include a revision of the two controversial points.

Rather than implementing wholesale changes, however, Morsi says the group will focus on “editing” the program to clarify its meaning...

Regarding, the Ulama Council, Morsi... insists that their idea was misunderstood; they never said that the council’s authority would supersede that of the parliament.

“What our program suggests is that if the parliament has an issue of a religious nature that needs the opinion of a committee, they can consult the Ulama Council, but are not obliged to act on that advice,” he says. “The current parliament already has a religious affairs committee, so what we are suggesting is neither controversial nor new so why the backlash?”

The fact that their program stipulates that the president must be Muslim is nothing new either says Morsi, pointing out that seven western constitutions state that the leader must be of a specific faith.

“In Egypt, the president is also the commander of the armed forces, which means that religion may play a role, especially if they fight the Zionists for example,” says Morsi. “But a Christian can be a general or minister of defence, no problem.”

Then there is the big question – Israel. Since the revolution picked up and it became likely that the president will step down, the question of Israeli security in the case of a brotherhood takeover and whether or not they will commit to the Camp David agreement keeps being raised – to Morsi’s apparent chagrin.

“Yesterday we had a French journalist who kept asking me about Israel and I kept telling him: well how come you are not asking me about France? But to answer the question: no we do not recognize Israel, we only recognize Palestine as a land where Muslims, Christians and Jews can live equally.”

Nor does the brotherhood mince its words when it comes to Iran.

In an interview with Egyptian State TV, senior brotherhood official Saad el-Katateny said the group rejects Iran’s political profile because the reference in Egypt is the constitution, the Supreme Constitutional Court and the Legislative Council.

Israel aside, Morsi says that the brotherhood is now more focused on events in Egypt and the upcoming parliamentary elections, which they plan to contest. In 2005, they won 88 seats. Now, they say, if the elections are transparent, they may win more seats.

But Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and an expert on Islamist movements, says it is not yet clear how popular the brotherhood is anymore. In the old Egypt, it was the NDP versus the brotherhood, then considered the largest opposition group. In the new Egypt, however, the ball is up in the air.

Rashwan points out that the usual voter turnout of three million is just one million more than the number of protesters who demonstrated in Tahrir Square during the revolution.

“Now we have this huge number of people and nobody knows who they are and what are their political ideology is,” says Rashwan. “The brotherhood will do their best to reach out and spread their ideology among this new section of the population, but I doubt that they will be able to do it before the next elections and I also doubt that any of these masses are from the brotherhood.”

The brotherhood, adds Rashwan, are not as strong as people think.

“People always talk about pre-revolution and post revolution, but what about the middle period?” asks Rashwan. “If the brotherhood were so strong, how come they couldn’t trigger the revolution themselves? Because they are not strong enough to do so.”

Add to that, he says, the fact that many of the youth who initiated the January 25 revolution have lost faith in all the old political groups.

“They have not only lost trust in the former government and in the NDP, but in all the political groups of the past,” he explains. “That’s why they keep trying to come up with new political parties; they want something fresh, something new.”

But, says Morsi, everything takes time. As long as there is true democracy and transparent elections, he is sure the brotherhood has a chance to become a dominant player in the political arena.

“We are in no rush,’ says Morsi. “Yes we have great popularity, but we are still not experienced in the work of political parties and we need time to get ourselves together, earn experience and learn how to combine our political work with our da’wa (evangelism) message.”

http://english.ahram.org.eg.

Submitted by martin on Mon, 21/02/2011 - 16:50

Al Masry Al Youm reports (21 February): "The Muslim Brotherhood... is preparing to establish a political party named the 'Freedom and Justice Party', its Guidance Bureau (the organization’s highest executive body) announced Monday [21st]".

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