It's true that the Nour Party is supporting the military-appointed transitional government. But I don't see how that fact undermines anything in the NYT piece. It's a description of how Egyptian liberals have changed, and not only how most are supporting the coup, but how most have gone over to a very illiberal point of view more generally: celebrating the military, celebrating repression of the Muslim Brotherhood, denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign conspiracy, celebrating the exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood from politics, etc.
This is a very different vision from January 25. On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 10:09 PM, ken hanly <[email protected]> wrote: > The problem with this article is that it describes the situation as the > Islamists against liberals. It ignores that fact that most of the more > radical Salafist Islamists are supporting the military-backed transition > government. The Nour Party that came second in the elections seems content > to see the Muslim Brotherhood trampled on by the military. The liberals not > only will confront the army but a growing and more radical Islamist force > within the transition government. > > Khaled Montaser, a liberal columnist, declared that the Islamists were > worse than “criminals and psychopaths” because they could never reform. > “Their treason, terrorism and conspiracies are an indelible tattoo,” Mr. > Montaser wrote. “They do not know the meaning of ‘homeland.’ They only know > the meaning of ‘the caliphate’ and their organization first.” > > > > Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html > Blog: http://kencan7.blogspot.com/index.html > ------------------------------ > *From:* Robert Naiman <[email protected]> > *To:* Progressive Economics <[email protected]>; lbo talk < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Monday, July 15, 2013 7:07:21 PM > *Subject:* [Pen-l] NYT: Egyptian Liberals Embrace the Military, Brooking > No Dissent > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/world/middleeast/egypt-morsi.html<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/world/middleeast/egypt-morsi.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Findex.jsonp> > > The New York Times > July 15, 2013 > Egyptian Liberals Embrace the Military, Brooking No Dissent > By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK > > CAIRO — In the square where liberals and Islamists once chanted together > for democracy, demonstrators now carry posters hailing as a national hero > the general who ousted the country’s first elected president, Mohamed > Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood. Liberal talk-show hosts denounce the > Brotherhood as a foreign menace and as “sadistic, extremely violent > creatures” unfit for political life. A leading human rights advocate blames > the Brotherhood’s “filthy” leaders for the deaths of more than 50 of their > own supporters in a mass shooting by soldiers and the police. > > A hypernationalist euphoria unleashed in Egypt by the toppling of Mr. > Morsi has swept up even liberals and leftists who spent years struggling > against the country’s previous military-backed governments. > > An unpopular few among them have begun to raise alarms about what they are > calling signs of “fascism”: the fervor in the streets, the glorification of > the military as it tightens its grip and the enthusiastic cheers for the > suppression of the Islamists. But the vast majority of liberals, leftists > and intellectuals in Egypt have joined in the jubilation at the defeat of > the Muslim Brotherhood, slamming any dissenters. > > “We are moving from the bearded, chauvinistic right to the clean-shaven, > chauvinistic right,” said Rabab el-Mahdi, a left-leaning scholar at the > American University in Cairo. > > Many Egyptians are overwhelmed with dual emotions: relief at the end of an > Islamist government that many called arrogant and ineffective, and thrill > at their power to topple presidents. The voices on the left who might be > expected to raise alarms about the military’s ouster of a freely elected > government are instead reveling in what they see as the country’s escape > from the threat that an Islamist majority would steadily push Egypt to the > right. > > Many on the left are still locked in an battle of semantics, trying to > persuade the world — and perhaps one another — that the overthrow of Mr. > Morsi was not a “coup” but a “revolution.” The army merely carried out the > popular will, they insist. On Sunday, one private satellite network in > Egypt was running commercials of citizen testimonials proclaiming as much. > > Some have begun to voice doubts. Amr Hamzawy, a political scientist who > held a seat in the dissolved Parliament, was among the first to condemn the > military’s shutdown of the Islamists’ satellite networks, the arrest of > their staff members, and the detention of Mr. Morsi and hundreds of other > Islamist leaders. > > Mr. Hamzawy objected in a recent newspaper column to “the rhetoric of > gloating, hatred, retribution and revenge against the Muslim Brotherhood.” > After the mass shooting, he called the celebration of the military takeover > “fascism under the false pretense of democracy and liberalism.” Fellow > intellectuals who said nothing, he wrote, were “the birds of darkness of > this phase.” > > But he was almost alone. A chorus of liberals and leftists rushed to > denounce Mr. Hamzawy for defending the Islamists. > > Khaled Montaser, a liberal columnist, declared that the Islamists were > worse than “criminals and psychopaths” because they could never reform. > “Their treason, terrorism and conspiracies are an indelible tattoo,” Mr. > Montaser wrote. “They do not know the meaning of ‘homeland.’ They only know > the meaning of ‘the caliphate’ and their organization first.” > > Ahmed Maher, a founder of the left-leaning April 6 group, initially joined > a small volunteer team who tried to enlist Western support for the ouster. > But after the arrests and shootings of Brotherhood supporters, he began to > recall the generals’ long hold on power after mass protests drove President > Hosni Mubarak from office two years ago. > > Mr. Maher put his worries about the generals in an online message to > another activist: “If we assume it’s not a coup, and I tell people it’s not > a coup, when they screw us again like they did in 2011, what would I tell > people?” > > His allies responded by trying to drum him out, not only from the > volunteer team but also from the April 6 group. Esraa Abdel Fattah, a > prominent activist, campaigned against him in the media and circulated a > list of his statements questioning the “coup.” And Ms. Fattah insisted that > the Muslim Brotherhood, whose political party won the post-Mubarak > elections, amounted to a foreign-backed terrorist group. “When terrorism is > trying to take hold of Egypt and foreign interference is trying to dig into > our domestic affairs, then it’s inevitable for the great Egyptian people to > support its armed forces against the foreign danger,” Ms. Abdel Fattah > wrote in a newspaper column. > > In the turbulent period of military rule after Mr. Mubarak was ousted, > many liberals and leftists stood shoulder to shoulder with Islamists to > demand that the generals relinquish power to elected civilians. Now the > liberals appear to have joined in a public amnesia about the abuses and > scandals of that period — the forced virginity tests of female protesters; > Coptic Christian demonstrators shot by soldiers or run over with armored > vehicles; the videotaped stripping and kicking of a female demonstrator who > became known as the Blue Bra Woman. > > The activist Hassan Shaheen was captured in the same video, bleeding from > the head as a soldier stomped on his chest. But this spring he helped lead > the petition drive asking the military to remove Mr. Morsi. And he joined > in the rejection of Mr. Maher, saying that by calling the ouster of Mr. > Morsi a “coup” he was “following the rhetoric of the Muslim Brotherhood.” > > “We will stand together, the people and the military, in the face of > terrorism,” Mr. Shaheen wrote in an online message, arguing that the > Brotherhood’s political party “must be dissolved and all its leaders must > be arrested.” > > “No negotiation, no reconciliation, no going back,” he added. > > Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Right, said > that the liberals’ goal — an Egypt governed by an inclusive civilian > democracy — appeared to be further away than when Mr. Mubarak fell. Now, he > said, the old institutions and elites from the Mubarak era are emboldened > to push for a full return of the old order. “There is a powerful and > well-resourced player now trying to push Egypt back to 2010,” he said. > > Even those on the left who are critical of the military overthrow fault > Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood for their actions in power, for excluding > other groups from decision-making, accusing critics of treason and > exploiting religion as a political tool. They say that in recent days some > Islamist leaders have told their supporters to prepare to use violence to > defend Mr. Morsi, as they did during a crisis in December. > > Brotherhood leaders say their organization has not condoned violence in > Egypt since the days of British rule. They say that private media outlets > have worked for months to stir up nationalist sentiment against them, for > example by circulating false rumors that they were considering giving away > the Sinai or selling the Suez Canal. Over the last week, many news outlets > have claimed that Brotherhood leaders invited foreign interference by > appealing for help from Washington to hold off the military takeover. > Television hosts even assert that the crowds at pro-Morsi rallies are > actually full of Syrians and Palestinians. > > The military has set the mood as well. Before the takeover, it broadcast > aerial images of the protests against Mr. Morsi, set to soaring martial > music. On Sunday, it released another 30-minute broadcast depicting > soldiers protecting the public, set to a similar score. > > State and private television channels also broadcast images of Gen. > Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi in his trademark black beret, explaining to admiring > soldiers the military’s obligation to intervene in the national interest. > “Egypt is the mother of the world, and Egypt will be as great as the > world,” he declared. > > Much of the public, fatigued by revolutionary turmoil, has embraced him. > “The people had been saying ‘down, down with military rule,’ but Sisi > completely changed them,” said Mohamed Mofeed, 38, a barber in downtown > Cairo. “They love him.” > > Mr. Morsi “should have been tougher with the media,” he added. “They were > disrespecting him all over the place.” > > Osama Mohamed, 20, a student sitting with a group of friends, said they > wanted General Sisi to “leave his office and elect himself president.” > > Mohamed Abdel Fattah, 24, an advertising manager, agreed. “For Egypt,” he > said, “democracy is chaos.” > > Mayy El Sheikh and Asmaa Al Zohairy contributed reporting. > > > -- > Robert Naiman > Policy Director > Just Foreign Policy > www.justforeignpolicy.org > [email protected] > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected]
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