Squaring the circle
The Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to establish a party under the banner of Liberty and Justice. But what about equal rights, asks
Dina Ezzat
The Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to establish a party under the banner of Liberty and Justice. But what about equal rights, asks Dina Ezzat
The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 and outlawed since 1954, is set to establish a political party.
The party will not replace the outlawed but widely popular organisation and the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, will not be the party's leader.
The new party, according to a statement issued by Badie, will reflect and implement the "hopes and aspirations of the kind Egyptian people and its hope for a better and a more promising future that could help Egypt regain its [lost] leadership".
The statement promised that membership of the party, Liberty and Justice, will "be open to all Egyptians".
"This is not, to use your words, going to be an exclusive Muslim club. It will be a party for all Egyptians of all faiths and of all walks of life," said Essam El-Erian, a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on the phone on Tuesday evening.
"I had just met with Michael Mounir who was enquiring about membership of the party".
Mounir is a leading Coptic figure. Based mostly in the US, he has been a vociferous promoter of greater equality for Copts in Egypt.
Copts are not sceptical about the Muslim Brotherhood, and especially its would-be party, as they would have been before the 25 January Revolution, says El-Erian. He argues it is now clear that state security bodies, seeking to incite civil strife, were behind recent attacks against Coptic targets and not the Muslim Brotherhood.
"There is no one any longer who can speak for all of Egypt's Copts, not even the Coptic Church," argues El-Erian. In the first few days of the anti-Mubarak protests the Coptic Church came out against the demonstrations, advice that was ignored by many.
The manifesto of the new party, says El-Erian, is unlikely to be a replica of the blue- print first offered in 2007 and much critcised for its position on Copts and women. What the political guidelines of the new party will be, however, was a subject on which El-Erian preferred not to speak.
Other Muslim Brotherhood members say that the party's platform is likely to emphasise social justice, a better-managed economy, more job opportunities and freedom of speech and avoid more controversial issues -- including the right of Copts to occupy senior official posts and of women to retain the limited personal status gains granted under the previous regime -- in an attempt to avoid criticism.
Such rights, Brotherhood sources say, are counter to the group's strict reading of Islamic law.
"But we are not trying to intimidate anyone. We want people to believe that we are not trying to come to power and be there forever," said one source who requested anonymity.
The main objective, says El-Erian, is to join the democratic exercise "that we hope will be put in practice soon".
He hopes the board of the Liberty and Justice Party, selected from the Muslim Brotherhood and from other groups and independent figures, will be set up by the end of the month.
In recent TV appearances, members of the Higher Council of the Armed Forces said that any group of people, including from the Muslim Brotherhood, would be entitled to form a party that would then be obliged to act in line with the constitution.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood who spoke to the Weekly on- or off-record all insisted that the new party would act according to the constitution, with some choosing to emphasis that the constitution itself states in Article 2 that Islamic Sharia is a main source of legislation.
A member of a group working to remove Article 2 expressed concern about "the ability of the Muslim Brotherhood to play with words".
"They will argue they are not violating the constitution," she says, "and will attribute everything they want to do to Islamic Sharia."
But the chances of removing Article 2, inserted by late president Anwar El-Sadat as part of a wider political scheme to provide a counterbalance to socialism, are minimal.
A source close to the deliberations of the committee tasked by the ruling Higher Council of the Armed Forces to amend the constitution says Article 2 is simply not on the agenda.
El-Erian insists that the Muslim Brotherhood will not field a candidate in the next presidential elections and is not looking to secure a parliamentary majority.
The group, he says, is in contact with possible presidential candidates, including Mohamed El-Baradei and Amr Moussa, and will decide who it will back closer to the election.
"We are looking to win close to a third of parliamentary seats," said one Muslim Brotherhood source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Once in parliament, he added, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and those of the Liberty and Justice Party will seek, first and foremost, to pursue corruption.
Personal status issues, which they concede are not in line with their reading of Sharia, are not, say Muslim Brotherhood figures, a priority.
"This is very typical of the Muslim Brotherhood strategy. They stoop to conquer," argued a security source whose mandate under the previous regime included "following up on Muslim Brotherhood schemes to come to power".
"They will give themselves five years and then they will seek to assume power. It will then be impossible to remove them because they would claim to rule in the name of God. How can you demand of the representatives of God that they step down?"
Muslim Brotherhood expert Diaa Rashwan argues that the group's plans for a political party leave far too many questions unanswered.
"How can they combine the Muslim Brotherhood and the party? How can they square the tenets of the Brotherhood, which are purely Islamic, with a political party that must allow for Muslim and non-Muslim members?"
Convinced that any new regulations for establishing a political party will insist on the principle of equality among all citizens, Rashwan wonders how the Brotherhood's new party will be able to distance itself from the controversial elements of the platform it proposed in 2007.
The leadership of the 25 January Revolution has made it clear that any future political parties must operate on an egalitarian basis.
"The revolution's young leaders will refuse to accommodate an Islamist party, even if it is undercover," says Rashwan. He points out that they are already unhappy about the attempt by some Islamic clergy to take over the massive demonstrations held last Friday to celebrate the victory of the revolution.
"The Muslim Brotherhood were certainly with us in Tahrir Square and they are part of this victory but they cannot claim it for themselves," says Amina, who took part in many of the 18 days of demonstrations that brought an end to rule of Hosni Mubarak. Amina insists that "nobody will allow" the Muslim Brotherhood to assume a big brother role, even if preventing it from doing so means a new round of demonstrations.
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