What I have is more like an impression and a feeling that Ikhwan has been unjustly demonized in the Western media. This serves both the anti-Islamic interests of the West (look, they are having a difficulty in calling the coup a coup) and the old autocratic rulers of the Middle East. In Egypt, Ikhwan traditionally represents democracy on the grass-root level. It has given a voice to millions of oppressed people. Among ordinary street men Ikhwan was mainly a charity organization which has established hospitals and social welfare centers as well as helped people to deal with the corrupted authorities in order to get their rights. All this began long before they had any chance to act as an official political force.
Muslim Brotherhood had an orphanage in the same house where I used to live in Cairo. To take a child from the street and to give him a home and education is one of the biggest good deeds I can imagine. I have also written about my experience of the Egyptian believers in another thread here:
http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_53127, post 10
The support of the Ikhwan has not come from out of nowhere. They did not distribute rice and corn oil to the poor in the streets just in order just to win the election - they had been doing the same for 80 years. Ikhwan was a forbidden political party in Mubarak’s Egypt and its members suffered harsh treatment by the despotic police force. At times the members were arrested in big numbers. Ikhwan were represented in politics and the judicial system but officially only as individuals.
I am not sure if it is the ideal situation that a religious party rules any country. Probably not. Mohamed Mursi at least was not able or did not want to unite the whole people. Instead, like your Erdogan he was content with the support of his own voters which is not stateman-like behaviour. This is when the army saw its chance. Don’t tell me Abdelfatah al-Sisi is any more interested in democracy or human rights. What interests the army is the army.
What we can’t understand is what a deeply religious country Egypt still is. It is impossible to think of the future of Egypt without a strong influence of the Muslim Brotherhood which in its political agenda is not as strict or scary as militant Islamists. In Egypt, until today the strongest weapon against ignorance, corruption and abuse is religion whether we like it or not. Maybe the influence of Ikhwan will weaken in the future as societies modernise and global influence reaches the slums and outlying villages of the Nile valley but until then it is very annoying that the army tells who is admissible to be chosen the leader of Egypt and who is not.
Thank you.. It is a great help to understand the situation for us.
