Brotherhood Charting a Different Revolutionary Course

While there are continuing signs of political "wheel spinning", like the desire for the tourism sector to be "properly represented" in the drafting of the constitution (see this article), there is momentum in an alarming direction.

The Muslim Brotherhood's new presidential candidate (see post on this irony), Khairat al-Shater, spent several hours broadly defining the goal of "Sharia law" for Egypt.  Not only would such an Islamic-state be contrary to earlier statements of the Brotherhood's political parties throughout the first year of revolution and re-organization, but he went on to articulate some other positions counter to the spirit of the revolution.

He articulated desire for some control of future media, stating that the media was a weapon of the revolution--he says that this weapon was wielded against the revolutionaries and Islamists in particular; however, it was through news outlets as well as the freedom of expression through social networking such as Twitter and Facebook that the revolution found strength and accountability to prevent situations that squashed similar "Arab Springs" in neighboring countries.   Currently, the ongoing debates among the universities, in media, and by young adults in open-mic forums to bookstores is on the issues of "freedom of expression."  Such debates have been the dominant result of the revolution among the people while the politicians attempt to sort out governance issues.  If the Brotherhood, either by the new Presidency or their majority in Parliament, attempts to censor media and/or freedom of expression, the previous revolution could look like a "hiccup" compared to the "seizures" that would result through the country.

In addition, al-Shater apparently also prefers a "semi-presidential" system, though would go along with a parliamentary system if that's what is decided.  Semantics aside, this sounds like a candidate who is a bit power and control hungry.

It will be interesting to hear the resulting conversations and debates among the people we've been interacting--both the Christians and the more moderate-Egyptians.   We will be traveling to Alexandria and Kafr el-Dawarr this weekend, as well as meeting with several Christian and community families throughout the next 2 weeks for Easter holidays (remember, there are 2 Easter here; the 15th is Orthodox and the 8th is Western).  Continue to pray for Egypt...