With over 95 million inhabitants, Egypt is the biggest country in the Arab world.
And yes, I know what you are thinking, aren’t Indonesia and Pakistan bigger than Egypt?
Aren’t they Muslim too?
Yes, my dear viewers… but make no mistake.
There is a difference between Arab and Muslim.
Islam is simply a religion while Arabic is a culture, a race and, especially, a language.
And, inside this Arab world, Egypt isn’t only the most populous country--it’s one
of the most influential.
This is why the Arab League has its headquarters on the TAHRIR square, in the very centre of
CAIRO.
And why news like this is so worrying.
Death toll in Egypt rises to 305 people in their deadliest terrorist attack.
Nonetheless, despite the latest news, Egypt is changing faster than we might think.
Do you remember the Arab spring?
In 2011, thousands of people protested for days to overthrow HOSNI MUBARAK, the dictator
who ruled the country back then.
A year later, the Muslim Brotherhood gained power, ready to turn the country of the pyramids
into an Islamist Republic.
But now, in 2017, Egyptian politics are taking a 180 degree shift.
Egyptian government closes 27,000 mosques in move to fight terrorism
So now the question is…
How did we get here?
Is Egypt becoming a secular country?
Today we are going to answer these questions but before we do, let’s take a look back
at history.
THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
There are three names who define Egypt’s history in the last 60 years: Nasser, Sadat
and Mubarak.
These three politicians have a common ingredient: they were all dictators that followed the
principles of arab socialism.
This was the trendy ideology back then.
A cocktail that combined a centralized economy, authoritarian leadership and secularism.
But… make no mistake.
As Socialist as they claimed to be, none of those leaders had any problem with changing
their RUBLES into DOLLARS as soon as the Soviet Union disappeared.
In fact, Sadat recognized the State of Israel and, during the 80s, Egypt was already an
ally of America.
And, as you know, befriending America in this part of the World puts you on the radical
islamists bullseye.
This is why Mubarak prosecuted every Islamic movement.
Part of this repression was to avoid the terrorist attacks that became pretty frequent in the
90s.
But Mubarak had other motivations too.
He wanted to stop any potential challenge to his authoritarian rule.
And, guess who was the only organized group who could replace him?
Exactly!
The Muslim Brotherhood!
Despite being a clandestine movement since 1954, the Muslim brotherhood is the most organized
grass-root organization since Egypt’s independence.
They have thousands of members and millions of sympathizers.
Their goal is to turn Egypt into an Islamic Republic, compliant with Sharia Law and the
principles of the Koran.
Nonetheless, the muslim brotherhood isn’t the only radical group in this country.
Here we can also find the SALAFISTS, who pursue the same goals by different means.
Look, the guys you see on the screen are Muslim brothers.
As you can see, they dress in a very Western fashion, right?
Jeans, T-shirts, hoodies, etc…
Now, these other guys are salafist members.
Do you see the difference?
Salafis have traditional muslim clothes, beards, and the ZEBIBAH on their foreheads created
after hitting the ground so many times while praying to MECCA.
As you can figure out by their name, the SALAFISTS want to live like the first Muslims, the so-called
SALAF, did.
However, the Muslim Brothers are way more pragmatic and better organized.
Their members infiltrate Government institutions.
And they have no problem disguising their intentions when they speak to the Western
media.
We are not terrorists.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s philosophy is inspired by an understanding of Islam that emphasizes
the values of social justice, equality and the rule of law.
–Gehad el-Haddad, spokesperson from the Muslim Brotherhood
In other words… both the salafists and the muslim Brotherhood have the same goals, but
different strategies.
Today, the salafists have a political party called AL-NOUR that has nothing to do with
the Muslim Brothers.
And, as you can imagine, the radicals don’t like each other very much.
Remember this because we will go back to it later on.
Anyway, during the 80s, the military dictatorship of HOSNI MUBARAK attacked both of these groups.
In fact, since the year 1981, Egypt has been in a neverending State of Emergency where
every political dissident is sent to jail.
This means thousands of salafists and muslim brothers spending decades between bars.
As you can imagine, neither the European Union, nor the United States did anything to stop
this.
At the end of the day, nobody wanted to see the Islamic radicals in the Government.
If this was not enough, after the YOM KIPPUR war, Egypt had become a good ally of Israel.
And their economy was on fire.
Think about it… this country has all the ingredients for a World class tourism industry:
the pyramids, the Nile, the desert and the red sea…
You can say that, by the year 2000, you couldn’t label yourself a traveler if you didn’t
have an Egyptian stamp on your passport.
So, for 30 years, Mubarak had a free pass to rule Egypt.
But… hold on just a second because, in 2011, things changed!
Mubarak signals Egypt succession by taking son to washington
News like this one made both the citizens and some factions of the army equally enraged.
Having a dictator is one thing.
Having a hereditary dynasty of power is another.
This is how the Arab spring came to Egypt and Mubarak had to resign.
A year later, parliamentary and presidential elections were held.
We are talking about a country that has spent decades under a dictatorship.
A country where the only strong political movements, other than the Government itself,
were the salafists and the Muslim brotherhood.
So…
Guess who won those elections!
Exactly!
The Muslim Brothers, led by this guy you see on the screen, MUHAMMAD MORSI.
But wait a minute because things are way more complex!
Unless you are Saudi Arabia and you are sitting on a pile of oil, Radical Islamism isn’t
good for managing an economy.
So, in less than one year, Egypt’s economy sank.
Thousands of people lost their jobs and inflation skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, Morsi’s main goal was to Islamize the Government, stop the division of powers
and shield his power.
Add to this the army.
As we said before, Egyptian defense forces are no big fan of Islamist groups.
And this is how a new player came into the picture.
Marshal ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI was the head of the Egyptian armed forces.
He met the leaders of all the opposing parties, including the salafists, and said…
‘Look, Morsi and his friends are fucking up the government… help me set up a coup
d’etat and we’ll put things back in order’
And… as we say here at VisualPolitik… said and done.
LAND OF THE PHARAOHS
By the year 2013, the Egyptian army kicked Morsi out of the government.
Their first policy was to make the Muslim Brotherhood an illegal organization again.
Of course, protesters went to the streets, hundreds of them died and thousands were sent
to jail.
But in june, 2014, new “elections” were held.
And I say “elections” because there was, virtually, a single candidate: EL-SISI, who
had 97% of the vote.
The other accepted candidate was a guy with 0 chance of winning called HABDEEM SABAHI.
He got the other 3% of the vote.
Do you remember that scene in ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’ with the line ‘You either die
a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain?’
Well… this could have been coined by EL-SISI himself.
In fact, in the past few years, Egypt has become the World’s leader in the number
of people given the death penalty.
But not only that!
In just 3 years, the Government has closed over 27,000 mosques.
And there is no freedom of speech whatsoever.
And yes, I know what you are thinking!
The Islamic fanatics are pretty angry about this, right?
Well, the opposite is true.
Do you remember I said the Salafists and the Muslim Brothers aren’t good friends?
I was not kidding.
Egypt's ultraconservative islamists back SISI, seek to eclipse Brotherhood
But wait a minute because things are not good for the salafists either!
Of course, EL-SISI gave them enough freedom so they could fill the roles left by the Muslim
Brothers.
But those Egyptian believers who want to go to a Mosque have to go to those controlled
by the EL-AZHAR imamate which is under Government control.
But you know what’s the biggest problem here?
There are less and less believers in Egypt!
The percentage of youngsters who pray daily has halved in less than 5 years.
According to the Arab barometer, in the year 2011, 84% of the population supported SHARIA
law influencing politics.
In 2016, that percentage fell to 34%.
But not only that!
El-SISI himself celebrates the Christian Christmas in the COPTIC cathedral of CAIRO year after
year.
In other words…
Egyptian society is becoming more and more secular.
But… before you get too excited…
Wait a minute!
This could change at any moment!
First of all, EL-SISI’s popularity fell in 2017.
A good share of Egyptians do not like the fact that he gave Saudi Arabia sovereignity
over two islands in the Red Sea.
They don’t like the repression either.
In fact, news like this one resemble Mubarak’s times.
Egypt declares state of emergency after deadly church attacks
On the other hand, the economy is Egyptians’ main worry.
Despite the unemployment rate going down, it is still over 12%.
And these are the official figures.
Some experts say it might be over 20%.
And, despite all of this, the Government is working on these pharaoh-like projects.
Egypt to build new capital paid for by China
Add to this the terrorist attacks and we can only conclude that EL-SISI’s government
is failing more than succeeding.
So now the question is…
Do you believe Egypt can turn into a secular country, the way neighbouring TUNISIA did?
Or do you think EL-SISI’s government is DÉJÀ VU of MUBARAK’S and that, eventually,
we will see a brand new Arab Spring in this country?
Please, leave your answer in the comment section below.
And if you want to know what happened in TUNISIA, do click on this other video.
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video that are not mine.
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