The Poor, Persecuted Muslim Brotherhood!

by Henri Boulad, sj

17 August 2013

The entire Western world is outraged, offended and scandalized because the Egyptian Army has dared to dislodge the Muslim Brotherhood from the two bastions of Rabia and Nahda, where they had been barricaded for several weeks. Bottom line: more than six hundred dead in the two camps.

In no time at all, the right-thinking Western media uttered cries and whimpers asking the Security Council and international human rights associations to condemn this savage aggression with the utmost firmness.

The poor Muslim Brothers! Victims of violence! Those gentle lambs, well known for their sweetness and innocence! The object of unacceptable brutality. Consequently, it’s a duty to defend them against the devouring wolves of the Egyptian army and police. The USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, the UN... then, should rise as one man to denounce injustice, defend those innocents, and invite the world to fly to their rescue. The international media instantly leapt upon Pegasus to charge at the guilty ones…

This lifting of shields to claim and proclaim the right of all citizens to protest "peacefully" has something tragi-comical about it.

Consider the facts:

-the Rabaa mosque, where the Brothers were holed up was a real armory where incredible arsenal of war was discovered. No denunciations from the West.

-For weeks, the Brotherhood’s militias, armed to the teeth, sowed terror among the whole population of Egypt: killings, abductions, kidnappings, ransom demands, abductions and rape of girls forcibly married to Muslims. No reaction from the West.

-More than 20 police stations looted and burned; nearly fifty policemen and officers killed and tortured in the most savage way. Silence from the West.
- Sufi mausoleums destroyed and Shiite families massacred raise NO international emotion.

-Some 50 churches, schools and Christian institutions burned in the single day of August 14. No protest on the part of the West.

-Priests and Christians attacked and killed - including children of tender age - for the sole reason that they were Christians. No Western denunciation appeared which might be accused of "Islamophobia", which today is the crime of crimes.

-Nearly 1,500 people massacred by Morsi militias during its one-year reign. Silence from the media.

- Secret agreements from Morsi to sell Egypt, piece by piece to its neighbours: 40% of the Sinai to Hamas and the Palestinians, Nubia to Omar al-Bashir, and the western portion of the territory to Libya... This is a gift for the West, since it is their doing…

When Egypt finally decides to react and put some order in the house... the West cries ‘persecution’, ‘injustice’ and ‘scandal’!

It’s a secret to no one that the presidential elections were a broad farce and that the election was tainted by massive fraud. Nevertheless, the media persisted in asserting that Morsi was the first president in Egyptian history to be 'democratically' elected and that he achieved 'legitimacy'.

The Egyptian people are easy to blame, since they agreed to play this game, saying to themselves: ‘Let’s see what they actually do.’ The result was so catastrophic - insecurity, unemployment, inflation, bread and gasoline shortages, the economy in free fall, moribund tourism - that at the end of one year the entire population requested Morsi to clear out.
Within two months, the Tamarrod movement collected more than 22 million signatures calling for his departure. In vain! Facing his obstinacy, tens of millions of Egyptians - the majority of which were the humble people who had been his former supporters - turned out on the streets of major cities to demand his departure. Still in vain!

The Army - neutral until then - decided to intervene to support the people and toss the bums out, keeping them under house arrest. During long hours of interrogation, the Army got revelations of exceptional wrongdoings that compromised both the Muslim Brotherhood and a number of foreign countries.

Faced with the Army’s power grab, the West immediately cried ‘coup d’état’. If it had been a ‘coup d’état’, it was a ‘people’s coup’, rather than military one. The Army had merely acquiesced to the will of the people. The people were fed up with a president who had betrayed, flimflammed and hoodwinked them, and they reacted with a survival reflex, calling for his departure.

A delightful little story illustrates what I am saying. A guy buys a can of something at the grocery which, once opened, appears to be spoiled. What’s he going to do? Eat it or toss it? Toss it, obviously.

It's kind of what did the Egyptian people did after Morsi and the Brothers promised the moon and the stars. Once the can was opened, they realized that it was all rotten. And so they reacted by rejecting them.

Following Morsi’s house arrest, the Army still wanted to have the Muslim Brotherhood contribute to the new Government, offering them to team up with other parties. That met with systematic and stubborn refusal.

After numerous unsuccessful attempts of dialogue and negotiations with them, a new provisional Government was set up.

It was then they decided then to go underground and sow terror; in this they were highly successful. But this strategy has only increased their unpopularity and we can say today that the Egyptian people despise and abhor them.

Equipped with the most sophisticated weapons, the Brothers are everywhere burning, attacking, killing, destroying…

The Army then decreed a State of Emergency and imposed a curfew from sunset to sunrise. But the Muslim Brotherhood considered themselves exempt from compliance. Yesterday, August 16, in my room near Ramses Avenue and Ramses Square (that were swarming with their militias), I heard explosions, single shots and submachine gun fire from the surrounding streets.
After several warnings to young people to go home, the Army decided to send in tanks to enforce the curfew. Seeing the collateral damage, well-thinking Westerners indicted the Army for having the nerve to attack 'peaceful’ demonstrators!

Whom are they trying to kid?

The people’s coup (San Diego Daily Transcript)

The people’s coup

By Dina Touta

Thursday, July 25, 2013

The people of Egypt have said their word. They have lined their future and nothing could stop them, they made a choice and are more than willing to pay the price of their freedom. They said no to radicalism and disguised terrorism, as the whole world watched, and remained mute.

So Egyptians walked out in their millions, they walked out against a year of misery the likes of which Egypt had not witnessed in all of its ancient or modern history

Exactly a year earlier, on June 30, 2012, the first democratically elected president had been chosen, Mohamed Morsi. A turning point in the modern history of Egypt that some received with immense hope while others received with great apprehension, Morsi, after all, had a long history as a devout member and a leader of the Moslem Brotherhood, a secret society for over 80 years of plotting, conspiracies, violence and blood, in Egypt, and in many other Arab and Muslim Countries.

But still, in the first free democratic presidential elections after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Mohamed Morsi narrowly won, a very doubtful and controversial 51 percent of the votes, against his pro-Mubarak opponent’s exact share of 49 percent. Many Egyptians refused to vote for either candidate, for either’s notorious background, yet when all the signs pointed to a win by the old regime of a pro-Mubarak candidate, and under the nose of the interim governing Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), there was the last minute surprise Morsi-Muslim Brotherhood win. It is rumored and still believed till now that the Muslim Brotherhood threatened to burn Egypt down if they lose and that SCAF rigged the election results for fear of that. Egyptians stood hopeful and tried to overlook the fact that the president belongs to an organization that promotes terror openly, that is holy blessed by Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman Al Zawahry himself, and that even the Iranian Ayatollah, the Iranian God Father, gave a speech describing Egypt under the Brotherhood’s rule as “The New Iran.”

So Egyptians walked out in their millions, they walked out against a government that never kept its support of terror and terrorism a secret, shamelessly, whether inside Egypt or Internationally.

For it was among Mohamed Morsi’s early requests of the U.S. government was the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, the infamous blind terrorist who master minded the world trade center bombings of February 1993, and also known to be the head of Gama’a Islamiya, the Egyptian terrorist group, responsible for many horrific atrocities in Egypt, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre where 58 foreign tourists were killed and mutilated. Locally though, and to the shock and dismay of Egyptians, he released over 2,000 criminals already convicted in terrorist crimes (some facing the death penalty), and even allowed members of Jihadist groups, Egyptians and foreign, to flock back to Egypt.

And on Aug. 5, 2012, 16 soldiers were shot to death on the borders with Gaza, a brutal massacre that took place during the Holy Month of Ramadan as they were breaking fast. This accident would be one of many to be conducted on the borders with the Gaza Strip. The massacre left the army in fury, and it immediately launched a military operation to destroy the numerous tunnels that have been illegally dug from Gaza into Sinai, but lo and behold, Mohamed Morsi personally intervened (on behalf of the fellow Muslim Brotherhood of Hamas) and stopped the operation in its tracks, stopped the destruction of the tunnels, and gave a public speech that he would personally conduct investigations to reach the identity of the criminals, which he never did, as it turned out that one of them is a convicted terrorist who had been released through Morsi’s Presidential pardon.

Then on Oct. 6, 2012, when Egypt annually celebrates a National Victory Day, the date of the last confrontation with Israel in 1973, masterminded by the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and with teary eyes, a shocked nation watched Morsi celebrate this day of honor with his special guest of “honor,” the infamous Aboud Al Zomor, one of the assassins who shot President Sadat to death on the same day in 1981.

So Egyptians walked out in their millions, they walked out against a governing entity set out to control all aspects of life in the country, with the sole purpose of extending their power from the formidable Middle Eastern core, Egypt, to all over the their planned targeted Arab, Muslim, and world domination.

The incompetence of Mohamed Morsi and his Brotherhood in steering state affairs had become as obvious as daylight as time passed by. He systematically changed and removed all heads, subheads, key figures and influential staff members of almost all state and civil ministries, organizations, and civil bodies, replacing them with members, followers and sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood who, mostly unqualified or fit for the job, caused only catastrophic problems and stirred national public anger. He appointed a governor of Luxor (where one-third of the world heritage exists; the pharaohs’ temples, treasures and artifacts), a member of, again, Gama’a Islamiya, the same terrorist group, with the blood of the Luxor massacre of 58 tourists on its hands. Deterioration befell the nation on every level, the increase of poverty became a time bomb. The Egyptian economy and stock market collapsed as never before. This in turn led to an unprecedented increase in crime rates and an unfamiliar state of absolute chaos. Morsi deliberately acted with great carelessness toward tourism, so it was only normal that historical sites became filled with thugs who terrorized and scared off tourists. And with the decay of tourism, the backbone of Egyptian economy, companies were closing up in their hundreds, so in his infinite wisdom, he tried to make up for the nose diving economy by indirectly introducing the idea of renting the Suez Canal to the state of Qatar for a 99 year lease, or, on another occasion, the idea was introduced to rent Egyptian antiquity; The Pyramids and the temples. Only the Muslim Brotherhood would contemplate a horrendous unthinkable idea of renting such a world heritage to the highest bidder.

Gas problem in Egypt escalated, Egyptians queued for hours at gas stations. Egyptians for the first time stayed in darkness and heat as electricity went out on neighborhoods for hours every single day. The president, as well as dominant figures in his organization, boldly gave speeches that it is the national duty to share fuel with his fellow Brotherhood in Gaza, as it turned out he was paying off an old debt to Hamas who helped him escape jail on the night of Jan. 28, 2011, when Mubarak’s regime was days from coming to an end.

So Egyptians walked out in their millions, they walked out against the Brotherhood of Darkness, the darkness that was set out to kill and extinguish any hope of democracy, and foundations of a free civil society.

Mohamed Morsi further dug his grave when he tailored a constitution of his own, on his own. Egyptians witnessed the constitution committee members resign one after the other, from a dummy body of legislators, yet he proceeded with his constitution. A constitution that gave no freedom to minorities, women, and more dangerously that gave him only, as the president, to decide where the borders of Egypt end and start, paving the way for him to give away land on the Gaza borders to Hamas militants, and on the Sudanese and Libyan borders to the extremist governing Muslim brotherhood there.

A self-proclaimed protector of freedom of speech in Egypt, his actions, as had become accustomed, never matched his words. The number of lawsuits the Egyptian presidency filed against journalists and anyone who dared to publicly oppose the Muslim Brotherhood, in one year, had exceeded the number of cases conducted by Mubarak in 30 years, not to mention the blasphemy cases, the hate preachers on religious channels, the public sermons inciting hate, the increase in violence against women, and the ever constant exponential rise in attacks against the Christian minority (nearer to 20 million minority), whether these attacks are physical; killing and kidnapping, or against the churches; burning and demolishing, or public and media stark direct mockery, foul verbal attacks and made up accusations, culminating in the infamous mob attack on the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral on April 7, 2013.

So Egyptians walked out in their millions, they walked out in a man made coup d’état, a nation made coup d’état, an Egyptian people self conceived and publicly unanimous coup d’état.

Yes it is a coup. A coup led by 33 million Egyptians who went out on the streets of Egypt. One third of the Egyptian population walked out to say “No” to Tyranny. And the Egyptian Armed Forces, that will always remain the jewel on the people’s crown, had a choice between giving in to terror or upholding their oath of honor to protect the Egyptian people, and they chose honor. They chose the people and sided with their future. In Egyptians’ Eyes, their Armed forces are the light that burnt the Muslim Brotherhood forces of darkness and evil. Today Egyptians tell the whole world “check mate.” They might not have much, but they are eternally gifted by a massive 7,000 year civilization backbone, that they will never shame.

So I walked out amongst the millions, I walked out and said “No.”

Touta, independent Egyptologist for over 20 years, is a popular speaker and lecturer at some of Egypt’s universities and international organizations. Touta lives in Egypt and is an advocate of women rights, secularism and civil transitions in evolving democracies.

DON’T WORRY, WE’RE HAPPY!

A great article by Adam Mowafi: 

DON’T WORRY, WE’RE HAPPY!

Though the mission of Egypt’s revolution is not yet complete, the return of the Egyptian identity that came with the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood is a step in the right direction, says Adam Mowafi.

If you are someone who spends time following the political Tweets in Egypt, your state of mind is somewhere between a mental break down and a panic attack. Tweet after tweet, there’s nothing but negative commentary and links to American articles of how Egypt destroyed democracy, despite the big elephant in the room – that it was more like Islamic fascism to begin with. You would also think Egypt is teetering on the edge of disaster with millions of pro-Morsi protesters roaming the streets, proving a 50/50 split in the nation’s political views.

The reality is Egyptians are happy again. While the Muslim Brotherhood can bring out numbers by bussing them into Raba’a El Adaweya and Cairo University from across the country, the word “protest” was given a new meaning on June 30th when millions came out to show their dissonance for Morsi’s government. Frankly, people do not seem that bothered about the MB anymore as we are no longer intimidated by them or their ability to mobilise because June 30th outdid them without any busses. It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off everyone’s shoulders. Maybe the foreign correspondents do not get it because they just aren’t Egyptian, but the last year felt like a nightmare where the MB would blatantly lie to our faces and the rest of the world would accept their nonsense. It felt like we were in a parallel universe.

Despite the MB’s best efforts to reform Egypt in their likeness, the state, the people, the poor and the rich were battling them every step of the way. While some people cite this as stubbornness on the Egyptian people’s part and a refusal of democratic principles, for the majority of Egyptians, the fight ceased to be about politics. We felt our identity was being threatened by an invading force. While it might seem odd to the outside world, most Egyptians have far more anger for Morsi than they did for Mubarak because of the perceived attack on our Egyptianess. Whether this perception is right or wrong, there’s a strong feeling that, although founded here, the Muslim Brotherhood just doesn’t care about Egypt.

This Egyptian identity has been ingrained into us and, as a civilisation which has lasted millennia, throughout countless occupations, it is all we have to fall back on when times are tough and it’s where our sense of pride stems from. It is also the reason that even though we were occupied by both the French and the English, unlike other colonies, by the time they left we had barely learnt a word of either language or changed our habits.

We also love our army and this is not something likely to change anytime soon. Frankly, I hope it doesn’t. I just want a slow reform process to happen from people we trust. The army has learnt a lot and, as an institution, has realised it must change to survive in the long run. What they did on June 30th should be commended; while wrong in the democracy book, it is what suits Egypt and Egypt’s rule book. We might be the only case where democracy was achieved through a military coup. It is not definite but it is a possibility.

Anyone ruling Egypt will have to understand that whatever you do and how ever good your policies are, if we do not feel you are Egyptian, it just won’t fly. Today, as you walk down the streets, you’ll see people are happy again. The world will never get Egypt because there are three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way and the Egyptian way.

Here is an aerial footage of the biggest demonstration in history against a regime on June 30th 

and this is how it looked like on July 26th .. Egyptians against Muslim Brotherhood Terrorism & Violence .. 

Church Bells chiming with Mosque Azan at sunset in solidarity against terrorism on July 26th .. 

A Message To Erdoğan From The People Of Egypt

It seems that Erdoğan got all matters confused .. he might have even forgotten how military coups look like to call our revolution of June 30th a coup .. he really needs to read more history books to refresh his memory .. The 1980 Turkish military coup was launched “to

bring peace to a polarized society where thousands of people were being killed on the streets,” according to the coup generals and their supporters. 

 The results, however, were devastating:

1. 650,000 people were under arrest.
2. 1,683,000 people were blacklisted.
3. 230,000 people were judged in 210.000 lawsuits.
4. 7,000 people were asked for the death penalty.
5. 517 persons were sentenced to death.
6. 50 of those given the death penalty were executed (26 political prisoners, 23 criminal offenders and 1 ASALA militant).
7. The files of 259 people, which were asked for the death penalty, were sent to the National Assembly.
8. 71,000 people were judged on account of the articles 141, 142 and 163 in Turkish Penal Code.
9. 98,404 people were judged on charges of being members of a leftist, a rightist, a nationalist, a conservative, etc. organization.
10. 388,000 people were not given a passport.
11. 30,000 people were dismissed from their firms because they were suspects and therefore inconvenient.
12. 14,000 people were removed from citizenship.
13. 30,000 people went abroad as a political refugee.
14. 300 people died in a suspicious manner.
15. Documented that 171 people died by reason of torture.
16. 937 films were banned because these were found objectionable.
17. 23,677 associations had their activities stopped.
18. 3,854 teachers, 120 lecturers and 47 judges were dismissed.
19. 400 journalists were sentenced to a total of 3315 years’ imprisonment.
20. 300 journalists were attacked.
21. 3 journalists were shot dead.
22. 300 days in which newspapers were not published.
23. 303 cases were opened for 13 major newspapers.
24. 39 tonnes of newspapers and magazines were destroyed.
25. 299 people lost their lives in prison.
26. 144 people died in a suspicious manner.
27. 14 people died in a hunger strike.
28. While fleeing, 16 people were shot.
29. 95 people were killed in combat.
30. “Natural death report” for 73 persons was given.
31. The cause of death of 43 people was announced as “suicide”.

 This is how a military coup looks like Mr. Erdoğan .. and since none of the above happen in Egypt after June 30th we would like to advise you to keep your opinion to yourself and concern yourself more with the demands of your people who have took to the streets against your policies since May 31st and were and still are being brutally cracked down by your police .. one who has a house of glass should not throw stones at others .. especially if it is non of his concern .. or are you just terrified you will meet the same end of your colleague Morsi ?? Well, we think you should ..

Don't Worry .. We're Happy ! The Egyptian Way ..

A great article by Adam Mowafi: 

DON'T WORRY, WE'RE HAPPY!

Though the mission of Egypt's revolution is not yet complete, the return of the Egyptian identity that came with the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood is a step in the right direction, says Adam Mowafi.

If you are someone who spends time following the political Tweets in Egypt, your state of mind is somewhere between a mental break down and a panic attack. Tweet after tweet, there’s nothing but negative commentary and links to American articles of how Egypt destroyed democracy, despite the big elephant in the room - that it was more like Islamic fascism to begin with. You would also think Egypt is teetering on the edge of disaster with millions of pro-Morsi protesters roaming the streets, proving a 50/50 split in the nation’s political views.
The reality is Egyptians are happy again. While the Muslim Brotherhood can bring out numbers by bussing them into Raba’a El Adaweya and Cairo University from across the country, the word “protest” was given a new meaning on June 30th when millions came out to show their dissonance for Morsi’s government. Frankly, people do not seem that bothered about the MB anymore as we are no longer intimidated by them or their ability to mobilise because June 30th outdid them without any busses. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off everyone's shoulders. Maybe the foreign correspondents do not get it because they just aren’t Egyptian, but the last year felt like a nightmare where the MB would blatantly lie to our faces and the rest of the world would accept their nonsense. It felt like we were in a parallel universe.
Despite the MB's best efforts to reform Egypt in their likeness, the state, the people, the poor and the rich were battling them every step of the way. While some people cite this as stubbornness on the Egyptian people’s part and a refusal of democratic principles, for the majority of Egyptians, the fight ceased to be about politics. We felt our identity was being threatened by an invading force. While it might seem odd to the outside world, most Egyptians have far more anger for Morsi than they did for Mubarak because of the perceived attack on our Egyptianess. Whether this perception is right or wrong, there’s a strong feeling that, although founded here, the Muslim Brotherhood just doesn’t care about Egypt.
This Egyptian identity has been ingrained into us and, as a civilisation which has lasted millennia, throughout countless occupations, it is all we have to fall back on when times are tough and it’s where our sense of pride stems from. It is also the reason that even though we were occupied by both the French and the English, unlike other colonies, by the time they left we had barely learnt a word of either language or changed our habits.
We also love our army and this is not something likely to change anytime soon. Frankly, I hope it doesn’t. I just want a slow reform process to happen from people we trust. The army has learnt a lot and, as an institution, has realised it must change to survive in the long run. What they did on June 30th should be commended; while wrong in the democracy book, it is what suits Egypt and Egypt's rule book. We might be the only case where democracy was achieved through a military coup. It is not definite but it is a possibility.
Anyone ruling Egypt will have to understand that whatever you do and how ever good your policies are, if we do not feel you are Egyptian, it just won’t fly. Today, as you walk down the streets, you’ll see people are happy again. The world will never get Egypt because there are three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way and the Egyptian way.

From Egyptians To The People Of The World

We, the Egyptian people, who have decided to take to the streets on the 30th of June 2013, would like to make our voices heard .. Following the success of the People’s Revolution, and the ousting of the Fascist regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, we have witnessed Western media reports call our revolt – a military coup – well, it certainly is NOT .. More than 20 million of us took to the streets to say (GO) to a president who was not only incompetent in governing the country, but who also, with his group of fascists, threatened the very existence of Egypt .. We said NO to a regime that wanted to eradicate a 7000 thousand year old civilization; a regime that called opposition traitors and heretics, and a fascist group that incited Egyptians against each other and called for violence and bloodshed ...

Can people in the West condone such a regime? Would you have liked to live under a regime that ostracized women and minorities? Would you have liked to be ruled by a man who worked for the best interest of his own faction, ignoring the rest of the population, and encouraging exclusion? How many of you would have accepted the appointment of incompetent people in high office just because they are members of the ruling faction? Would you have liked to live under the rule of a government that encouraged nepotism? How would you have felt when you heard, on a daily basis, these horrible TV channels, encouraged by the Muslim Brotherhood, threatening all those opposed to the regime with violence and murder? Could you have appreciated a government that did nothing to stop, or end, the siege of the Supreme Constitutional Court and the Media City? Will you accept a regime that did nothing to stop the attack on the major Cathedral in your country, or punish those who have burned down churches and forcibly displaced hundreds of Christian families? Will you condone the thousands of lawsuits brought against journalists and artists? How would you have reacted when you had to go for days – in 2013 – without water, electricity or gas, just because those in office are totally incompetent? Tell us, will you have tolerated living surrounded by garbage because your government could not find a solution for garbage collection in this day and age? And finally, who in the West would have accepted a president who issued a constitutional declaration that gave him unlimited powers?

Nobody would have tolerated such excesses – SO WHY SHOULD WE? 

Dear world, To be informed by MB representatives and sympathizers in Egypt, and elsewhere, is certainly a biased act that only goes to prove that the media industry is directed by official government attitudes and is far from being honest in transferring the truth to the people. When in January 2011 Egyptians ousted Mubarak, all Western media hailed this as a revolution, despite the fact that he (unconstitutionally) delegated the power to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which ruled for 18 months! Why was it not called a military coup then? Strange! Well, it was encouraged because it was in the best interest of some governments to have this state of affairs. And today, when double the number of people in 2011 took to the streets against Morsi, and the head of the Constitutional Court is sworn in as interim president - it is labeled a “military coup”- double standards – to say the least!We fail to understand the rationale behind marring the image of an exceptional, truly magnificent great mass revolt against tyranny, fascism and terrorism .. Unless, indeed, it is in the best interest of governments who have invested in supporting religious fascism in Egypt! 

People of the world, please see the truth as it really is: we rejected a regime that was destroying our very identity and our homeland, we revolted and the army responded to our demands .. It is that simple .. Egyptians are inventing their own history, and that is how we want it, and the governments that are going against this had better understand that they are really going against the people of Egypt ..

Long live Egypt .. Egyptians & Proud.

via http://www.causes.com