Egypt: The Brotherhood’s militia!

Like the Nazis in Germany, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Khomeinism in Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt used their militia despite the fact that the Brotherhood themselves are the ruling party. They are the ones who are in power and in charge of all security authorities; however they used their militia to confront the Egyptian opposition in the street. This tells us that the Brotherhood not just want to capture all powers in Egypt, but control the country as a whole, along the lines of the Khomeinist revolution in Iran. The Brotherhood’s militia is not just military, but this also includes the media, business sector, and more. They are all doing everything in their power today to enable the Brotherhood to rule Egypt, and this is something that is not just taking place in Egypt itself, but we can also see their activities in the Gulf region in defense of the Brotherhood’s coup in Egypt. We have never seen such a defense as this from the Brotherhood regarding Egyptian – Gulf issues, whether against Saddam Hussein, or even during Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait and his threats towards Saudi Arabia. I write this article as Islamist groups, in a clear game of splitting roles with the Brotherhood, are besieging Media City in Egypt’s 6th of October City, calling for the purification of the media! If the Brotherhood want to purify the media and the judiciary and the business sector and even their political opponents – which is something that the president himself hinted at – then what remains of the image of civil society in Egypt? As we said last week, Egypt and the Egyptians are fighting a battle for all the Arabs, and this is the battle over the state against those who want to hijack it. We previously warned, as did the intellectuals, that when each party has its own militia, media outlets and even its own flag, then what remains for the state itself? This is a terrifying issue that threatens the destruction of our Arab states, one after another, transforming them into failed states, as a result of the disruption of the economy, the breakdown of security and destabilization. Unfortunately, all the logical rhetoric regarding the prestige of the state, significance of stability and importance of not infringing social peace – which the Brotherhood supporters previously dismissed and made jokes about – whether in Egypt or the Gulf, is now being repeated by these same Brotherhood supporters today. This is after they previously described this as the “logic” of the “remnants” [of the former regime] and those who wants to defend Mubarak! The reality of the situation is that the Egyptian President today is walking in the footsteps of Mubarak in his dealings with the new Egyptian revolution against the Brotherhood. He is unaware of the seriousness of what is happening in the Egyptian street, whilst he is also issuing lengthy and escalatory speeches which are also too late in their response to the people’s demands. More dangerous than all this is the fact that the Brotherhood used their militia despite the fact that they are the ones in power and in charge of all security authorities today; this is the crux of the matter. This means that the Brotherhood do not truly believe in the rotation of power, the ballot box, the quest for consensus or balance [of power], which are the principles of the political process. Any party that uses a militia to suppress the opposition cannot truly believe in the role of the state, or respect its institutions, or want to preserve social peace. The Muslim Brotherhood’s militia in Egypt is a lesson to all Arab states that are keen on the concept of the state and preserving its institutions; when each party has its own media, flag and militia, we must be aware that we are facing an evil that must be guarded against, and the first disaster that this will create is the destruction of the state. There must be no Sultan higher than the authority of the state, regardless of what name this is under. Anybody who fails to see the danger of this must carefully consider what happened in Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza, Sudan, Iran, Yemen and finally, unfortunately, the Brotherhood’s militia in Egypt! --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.