The Muslim brotherhood after Mubarak
The writer’s hypothesis is whether or not the Muslim brotherhood will have domination over the politics in Egypt after the Mubarak era comes to an end. Since this is the largest group of opposition in Egypt, Wickham (2011) argues that there is no doubt the group will seek a responsibility in the creation of a new Egyptian government. However, it is uncertain what will happen in Egypt if this group takes over. This is because it was established as an anti-system group. The Muslim brotherhood has committed violence on those who opposed it in the past, and even makes use of anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-Western rhetoric up to date. Therefore, there is fear of what violence it may cause once it takes over power.
However, the writer also argues that the group has also gone through changes with time and thus a picture should not be painted of it being an unruly group only. For instance, when it was first founded, the Muslim brotherhood had a call on the Egyptians to express unity and pursue matters of developing the economy as well as social justice. The Muslim brotherhood also influenced the movement of free officers to seize power in 1952. However, the group was viewed as a rivalry group during the Nasser regime and it was because of this that one of their members tried to assassinate Nasser.
Though it was not right for the group member to do this, the act was influenced by the treatment they got. Further, they were interned into desert camps something that forced others to go underground or to exile. Therefore, the group also faced a lot of suffering. When the group run candidates in elections, they also had opposition to participation since they were afraid of being compelled to compromise the principles of the group but they later justified this participation. Instead of changing the system as they had hoped to, they were themselves changed. Among the changes that they went through was the acceptance of democracy, freedom and human rights respect. Because of the ideological changes of different members, the group split. However, in the past protests, the groups managed to reunite and formed a strong opposition front. This is what is feared that they may take a leading role in the governance of Egypt.
The Muslim brotherhood has however gone through transformations and it has expanded to include professionalism and diversity. Through the recent demonstrations, the Muslim brotherhood was aimed at ending the Mubarak era of dictatorship and corruption. According to Wickham (2011), the brotherhood is very cautious and thus does not want to waste the reputation that they have gained from the Egyptians and will thus not attempt to seize power.
The author is optimistic that the Muslim brotherhood can have respect for the rights of all people of Egypt and thus address the problems that the country faces both economically and socially. This conclusion follows the evidence since the group has shown its capability of transforming with time. Therefore, it would be best if the Muslim brotherhood would be included in the process of politics in Egypt. Since it has shown an almost 30 year responsibility in their behaviors, the brotherhood has a strong position in the era after the rule of President Mubarak.
It is clear that any transition that would happen democratically will need the Muslim brotherhood. Therefore, the fears that the brotherhood would turn Egypt into an Islamic tyranny are most likely misled. This is because the brotherhood united to fight against the dictatorship era of Mubarak that is also manned by corruption. Unlike their actions are rhetoric, one can conclude that the Muslim brotherhood will fight for the restoration of Egypt’s economy and also address the social issues.
Green movement 2.0
After the stepping down of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the Iranian opposition activists revived their besieged movement. This is something that led to thousands of people protesting on the streets. This has happened despite the fact that demonstrations have been banned in Iran. These are protests that were aimed towards changing the governance of the country. The author has named his article as green movement 2.0 because the protests had sentiments that were similar to the 2009 sentiments when the green movement protested against a reelection that was disputed. However, the 2009 protests did not succeed. These Iranians were convinced that the U.S government would back them and thus giving the opposition the power it would have needed so as to confront the country’s rulers. However, as Abdo (2011) writes, it is yet to be seen if the Obama government would offer the support it has to the Egyptians to the Iranians.
After the protests of 2009, the Iranians were barred from accessing social sites. The same thing happened when the Iranians went to the streets on Monday. BBC which is the main information source was blocked, and the leaders of the green movement were arrested. Further, the leaders in Iran announced the creation of a media crimes court. This then means that the people and especially the media are deterred from making public any information that relates to these protests. Therefore, the people in Iran live in fear and are not free to express their views. It can be seen from the way they have been treated and even leaders have been calling for the trial and execution of the opposition leaders.
This then shows that the Iranians need help more than the Egyptians did. Therefore, the endorsement of the west could lead to the strengthening of the opposition in Iran. Since the Iranians have been anti-Americans, the public support from Washington would mean the deprivation of this anti-Americanism which has been a weapon of the regime of Iran. That is why the government of Iran has been trying to convince the people that the U.S is aimed at making them hurt. This has led to the Iranians believing that the U.S does not care about their well being but rather it does not want Iran to develop nuclear weapons since this may cause fear to the United States. Despite this, most of the Iranians would still want to be in close relations with the west.
As the writer concludes, there is need for the Iranians to focus more on the violations of human rights. Because of the evident dictatorship that the Iranians are going through, it is clear that they need some help. However, the United States should be careful to offer this help since this may result to the inspiration of young Iranians who are non-ideological. This means that they would openly make confrontations on the security forces in Iran and thus causing even more trouble. According to Abdo (2011), a good step would be the establishment of UN human rights would be responsible for tracking and making public the Iranian situation. Therefore, one can conclude that the U.S will have offered the best help to the Iranians since through these human rights movements, there would be assurance of better living for the people of Iran.
References
Abdo, G. (2011). Green Movement 2.0? How U.S. Support Could Lead the Opposition to Victory. Retrieved on February 21, 2011 from: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67458/geneive-abdo/green-movement-20?page=show.
Wickham, C. R. (2011). The Muslim Brotherhood After Mubarak What the Brotherhood Is and How it Will Shape the Future. Retrieved on February 21, 2011 from: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67348/carrie-rosefsky-wickham/the-muslim-brotherhood-after-mubarak?page=show.
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