http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0611/islamist_votes.php3
June 27, 2011 / 25 Sivan, 5771
In Egypt, stealthy campaign underway for big Islamist wins in parliamentary
elections later this year
By Hannah Allam
Strategy of how the West's worst fears will materialize
JewishWorldReview.com |
cAIRO- (MCT) Baheyya Ali, 65, nudged her way through a crowd that had
gathered one recent evening to watch men with bushy beards heave cooking-gas
canisters off a truck in a densely packed, trash-strewn Cairo neighborhood.
Her eyes widened when she learned that the men, Islamists from Egypt's
conservative Salafi movement, were selling the cans for less than a dollar
each, a deep discount from the usual price. She cursed the middlemen at
state distribution centers who jack up the prices fivefold, and complained
that the inflated price of cooking gas and other goods means she can't
afford her medicines.
"Where's the revolution?" Ali muttered. "Where's the youth revolution?"
"Here it is," one of the Salafis told her gently, gesturing to the truckload
of cheap fuel. She joined her neighbors in praising the men for easing their
burden.
That scene from the hardscrabble Talbiya district is playing out in dozens,
probably hundreds, of other teeming Egyptian neighborhoods where
conservative Islamists are in charge of "popular committees," the ad hoc
groups that have formed to guard citizens' interests in the bumpy transition
since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
Islamist leaders say the work is simply charity, a formalization of their
long-standing service projects.
But moderate and liberal political rivals consider the Salfis' charity to be
part of a stealthy campaign for big Islamist wins in parliamentary elections
later this year, and the Islamists themselves acknowledge inspiration from
the electoral successes of other regional Islamist factions with charity
wings: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Justice and Development
Party in Turkey, for example.
"We live among the people," boasted Ashraf Naguib, a database programmer
who's part of the Talbiya committee. "The liberals and secularists just talk
on TV and in the media, in their air-conditioning. They don't feel the
people," he added, echoing the Islamist complaint that their "Westernized,"
moderate political opponents spend more time on Facebook than in the
streets.
An Islamist-dominated Egyptian government is a nightmare scenario for the
U.S., which plied Mubarak with billions of dollars to keep regional
stability and uphold the peace treaty with Israel.
Egyptian liberals, moderates and Coptic Christians are likewise terrified
that Islamist parties would use elected office to reverse the revolution's
efforts to improve human rights, the status of women, and provide freedom of
religion and expression.
Salafis already have formed two political parties, at least one of which has
been recognized by the government. Other parties are still in the
development phase, though it is unlikely that the Salafis, who are a
minority among Egypt's 80 million people, could win an election on their
own. More likely, their support could propel candidates from the more
moderate Muslim Brotherhood.
With about a dozen satellite-TV channels at their service, Salafis also
spread their austere message to millions of viewers across the Arab world.
The ascension of a group that until recently shunned politics and lived
under enormous security pressure is remarkable, though not always smooth.
Salafis' tentative alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood, banned before
Mubarak fell, is under scrutiny as accusations of bigotry, violence and
intimidation mount against them. News reports have linked Salafis to the
brutal beatings of Coptic Christians, vandalism of Sufi and Christian places
of worship, the compulsion of women to wear veils, and other oppressive
behavior.
Salafis deny the accusations, noting that few arrests or convictions have
come from such incidents. They say their grassroots supporters are familiar
with their work and can distinguish between respected Islamists and rogue
extremists.
"If people are afraid of us, it comes down to a war of ideology and
thought," said Moattaz Reda, 25, one of the Salafi volunteers. "Lay down all
the ideologies and see which best suits the community, through elections. We
won't impose our beliefs on anyone."
The Salafis in Talbiya said their charity work predates the revolution and
wasn't as visible before only because of the Mubarak-era crackdown on
Islamist organizations. Most of the dozen or so volunteers said they'd been
imprisoned and tortured; authorities even shut down their soccer nights for
neighborhood children.
That's no longer the case. The military-led caretaker government,
overextended in its dual security-political role, now appears more than
happy to turn over some local services to the more efficient Islamists. In a
once-unthinkable partnership, the government now directly empowers the
Salafis to distribute state-subsidized goods without profiteering
intermediaries, a quick fix to widespread public complaints of spiraling
prices and the old regime's lingering corruption.
Members of the Talbiya popular committee said they'd persuaded the
government to trust them with the distribution of cooking gas and bread as a
pilot project. In one week this month, they distributed 10,000 loaves a day,
and 1,000 gas canisters by the weekend. The military council that rules
Egypt couldn't be reached for comment.
"What you're seeing now is a service we do for God," said Mohamed
Abdelfattah, 30, head of the Talbiya committee. "We've been fiercely
attacked in recent days, so this is to show we're not ear-cutters or
shrine-destroyers. This is the real face of the Salafi movement."
Recent surveys of Egyptians conducted by Gallup and the Pew Research Center
have found that Egyptians hold highly favorable views of Islamists, but
express similar approval for other actors such as the relatively secular
April 6 Movement and familiar statesmen Amr Moussa, the former head of the
Arab League, Mohamed ElBaradei, who once led the U.N.'s International Atomic
Energy Agency, and Ayman Nour, who was thrown in jail after he ran for
president against Mubarak.
A vast majority of Egyptians oppose a theocratic government, according to
the survey results. Most respondents said their priorities were economic
reforms and the creation of jobs.
"Ordinary people vote for whoever provides a service, whether it's the
Salafis or the Muslim Brotherhood," said Essam Shawky, a taxi driver who
watched the Talbiya scene unfold from his cab parked nearby. He was
clean-shaven and played Arabic pop music on his car radio.
When asked about the street-level visibility of the liberal opposition
parties, Shawky shook his head: "They don't exist."
Still, he couldn't say for sure that he'd vote for the Islamists.
"I'm not worried now, but I'm afraid they could change their ideology when
they come to power. We're afraid they're going to drag us backward," Shawky
said. "In Saudi Arabia, the debate today is whether women should drive cars.
We don't want to be like that."
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