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Africa North | ||||||||||
Egypt's 'liberal' leaders duped by army | ||||||||||
2012-06-17 | ||||||||||
They were naïve, they say, strung along by the generals who seized power in their name.
Some said they had become too taken with their own fame, distracted by the news media's attention, and willing to defer to their elders in the Mubarak-era political opposition. They failed to build a movement that could stand against either the Muslim Brotherhood or the old elite. "We are the spark that ignites the world; we know how to inflame things," said Ahmed Maher, 31, a leader of the April 6 Youth Movement and one of the early organizers. "But when we have a strong entity that can stand on its own feet -- when we can form a government tomorrow -- then we become an alternative." He said his group was embarking on a five-year plan to start building such a movement. Some said they almost welcomed the rise of Mr. Mubarak's former protégé, Mr. Shafik, because his return could help them rally the public once again. "When you think about it, the revolutionaries were never in power, so what kind of revolution is it?" said Sally Moore, an Irish Egyptian leftist who was at the forefront of a movement to boycott the elections. Many of the young leaders say that in those early days they were too afraid of appearing to grab power for themselves. Some say they were just intoxicated by their victory over Mr. Mubarak. "You could say we just wanted to be happy," said Asmaa Mahfouz, another early organizer. Activists like her became celebrities overnight, she said, and some wrongly believed that appearing on television would spread their ideas and mobilize the public. "We didn't understand that the media isn't an alternative to the streets." All now say they were successfully manipulated by the military leaders.
"They betrayed us at the first corner and continue to betray us," Ms. Moore said. The resulting timetable killed any hope of unity against the military among those mobilized by the revolt. "Even though not many of the revolutionary movements got into the Parliament, they were still affected by the polarization," Mr. Maher said. "They were accusing each other of treason, even among the youth groups." Mr. Lotfy, the Brotherhood's former rising star, was expelled from the group and founded a political party, the Egyptian Current. It allied with the presidential campaign of the dissident Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, trying to combine an Islamist background with liberal positions on individual rights and social justice.
"Egyptian liberals are not real liberals," he said, accusing many former allies of "Islamophobia."
He then joined Ms. Moore in pushing to boycott the election that is now in doubt altogether, hoping the effort would give rise to a broader movement in opposition to the Brotherhood and the old military-business elite. "You don't find a lot of people around us now," Ms. Moore said. "And we are fighting on two fronts, which makes it difficult." Mr. Ghazali Harb said he and the others had fallen out of touch with perhaps their group's most prominent member, Ziad el-Elaimy, who was elected to Parliament. Mr. Elaimy has receded from public view since he was censured by parliamentary leaders a few weeks ago for comparing Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the governing military council's leader, to a donkey. Mr. Elaimy did not respond to requests for an interview. "He disappears a little bit," Mr. Ghazali Harb said, suggesting that perhaps Mr. Elaimy considered his seat in Parliament to be enough for now. Many young activists who helped start the revolt are returning to Mr. ElBaradei. After he quit the presidential race, saying it was doomed under military rule, he is trying to organize a political movement for liberals opposed to Islamists and military-backed authoritarianism. Mr. Lotfy, Mr. Maher and Ms. Moore, however, are each going separate ways. Whoever wins the presidency, all vow to keep fighting. "If it is Morsi, I will be in the opposition," Mr. Lotfy said. "If it is Shafik, asylum."
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Posted by:Steve White |
#4 There have been quite a few Irish leftists who've converted to Islam in the last few years. |
Posted by: lotp 2012-06-17 20:39 |
#3 Sally Moore, an Irish Egyptian leftist I feel like my brain just left my skull and slapped me. |
Posted by: Charles 2012-06-17 18:37 |
#2 A different set of rubes self-identify.... |
Posted by: Barbara 2012-06-17 15:06 |
#1 |
Posted by: Pappy 2012-06-17 11:01 |