Saturday, February 5, 2011
Debunking Myths about the Egyptian Revolution - Tariq Ramadan and Slavoj Zizek
Here is a comment by Atef Said on the current situation in Egypt
"There is a dominant narrative that if there is regime change in Egypt, this will bring a radical extremist government. This narrative is spread by Mubarak’s regime, Israel, U.S. government officials, and the mainstream media in the U.S. This is absolutely not true. In fact, the Muslim Brotherhood refused to participate in the January 25 protests, watched for three days, and then decided to join them. In 2005, the MB struck a deal to win 88 seats in parliament -- according to interview with their former leader. Youth in the streets denounce the religious chants encouraged by the Muslim Brotherhood.
A common slogan in the demonstrations nationwide is: We need a democratic civilian government, not a sectarian government, not a government of thieves. On January 30, Mubarak pressured Christian leaders and the al-Azhar Shaikh to say in public that they still support Mubarak. Today in response, many Egyptian Christian demonstrators carried crosses. Some demonstrators have chanted: Shaikhs and Popes, shut the Fuck Up.
Christians and Muslims were injured and killed together in these demonstrations. No single Muslim Brotherhood leader who was interviewed in the media dares to claim the revolt for their organization. They cannot steal this revolution.To be fair to the Muslim Brotherhood, they have paid a heavy price under Mubarak’s repression. Moreover, they are known to be quite pragmatic in their politics"
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