Egypt to end 1967 State of Emergency, allowing greater room for Muslim Brotherhood
An interesting story is developing in Egypt where, according to Sky News, the government is planning to end the State of Emergency that was initially imposed after the country’s defeat in the 1967 war. Sky quotes unnamed “sources” as saying the State of Emergency will be repealed in advance of the parliamentary elections this year and the presidential elections next year.
The core issue of interest here is that any such move would allow greater freedoms for Egyptians to engage in political debate and campaigning: a good thing in itself, but something which risks handing the initiative in the country to the Muslim Brotherhood.
That, of course, has been one of the great worries about democratisation in the Arab world generally. We all want it to happen, but given the utterly degraded state of the political culture in that part of the world we are all equally nervous that it might lead to a one-person-one-vote-once scenario in which Islamist rabble rousers seize the initiative on the lines of Algeria in the 90s and Gaza much more recently.
And if Egypt goes down to the Islamists, we really got problems…
I suppose this is one of those watch-this-space issues. No one knows what’s really going to happen. But it is definitely a matter of the utmost importance. So, just keep it on the radar…
Tags: Israel
May 11th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
The thought of the Iranian theocracy in the East an Egyptian theocracy in that already impoverished and unstable country in the West is extremely worrying and why Israel has never agreed to allow any substantial Egyptian forces into Northern Sinai, even with the problems they both face in Gaza.
Israel has had years of cold peace with Egypt – if the Moslem Brotherhood took over and moved to war against Israel (which, once again, they would lose and suffer from greatly), I would only hope that this time the world powers would let Israel keep Sinai as a much needed buffer.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
If you are correct – or rather if Sky’s report is correct, the prospect of ‘normalisation’ is bad news, indeed. It’s important to flag this development and to be reminded exactly how dangerous the Muslim Brotherhood is, something I’ve written about previously [see: http://www.axt.org.uk/HateMusic/Pickett%20&%20Gardner.pdf. Let’s wait and see if this report gets further corroboration.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Bearing in mind the ‘successful’ deployment of democracy here in the UK just a few days ago, how can we justify exporting our flawed system elsewhere, especially to the middle east, where tribal allegiances hold far more sway than the rule of law or democratic institutions?
As you clearly point out, democracy in Gaza has been as successful for its inhabitants as it was in 1930′s Germany – any system can be hijacked if those involved are not of good faith but seek to run with their own malign agenda. I one hundred percent share your disquiet about Egypt ending its state of emergency, if the Muslim Brotherhood are then able to make gains. As you say, then we really got problems!
May 11th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
RS: “An interesting story is developing in Egypt where, according to Sky News, the government is planning to end the State of Emergency that was initially imposed after the country’s defeat in the 1967 war.” Sorry, but this is ioncorrect. The state of emergency in Egypt was called in 1981 after Sadat was assisinated, not ’67. That is one. The other is Robin’s other post that deals with Israel’s imminent OECD memebership and the PA’s “moderate” – at least compared to the antisemites, let’s rightly call them so – lobbying to hinder Israel’s OECD acccession. Again, reports vary, but most say that “Prime Minister” Salem Fayyad actively took part in this campaign days before the final voting imploring high level politicians to block the move.
May 18th, 2010 at 7:31 am
@Winston Pickett
Your article: Precisely.
The worry and effectiveness of the Muslim Brotherhood is of major concern. Not too long ago I spoke with a friend from Sudan, who highlighted to me how serious this is.