Egyptian media from 1981 to 2013: Part 3

Originally Posted on The Maine Campus via UWIRE

Romany Melek

For The Maine Campus

Just after the Egyptian revolution, the United States tried to read the scene in order to decide which side to support — the winning side. The White House thought that the Egyptian people were clinging to a government and president with a religious background, or more precisely, an Islamic background. To some extent, the White House was right.

 

It’s complicated. The way people think and act after revolutions is too difficult to predict. Were the Egyptians eager to have a sort of religious regime? Yes. But, at the same time, Egyptians have always loved and respected religion, but historically have avoided extremism.

 

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis, along with the White House, did not realize this until it was too late.

 

The United States acted according to their intelligence and thought, politically and economically, they were supporting the winning side  the Islamic trend. A similar kind of alliance took place during the USSR invasion of Afghanistan, from December 1979 to February 1989.

 

The U.S., among other countries, supported the Mujahideen — Islamist fighters — with military training, as well as with weapons and billions of dollars.

 

So, I can say this is the first extensive open support the United States gave to the Islamists in the Middle East since Sept. 11, 2001.

 

In my first column I discussed the fear many institutions and governmental bodies felt when the Islamists came to office in Egypt. Now I am discussing the fear the people felt — something that, in my opinion, did entirely tip the balance of the whole political situation.

 

During the first days of the revolution, Mohamed Morsi was in jail. Once he was elected as Egypt’s president in June 2012, he issued a general pardon for some of his fellow prisoners who were in jail on murder and terrorism charges. Pardoning them was a big mistake.

 

On Oct. 6, 1981, the anniversary of Egypt’s crossing of the Suez canal, Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated by a group of Islamists. Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli emptied his rifle onto Sadat’s body with the help of Abbud al-Zumur, the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which the United Nations has labeled as an affiliate of al-Qaeda.

 

The assassination came after Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Islamist, issued a fatwa approving the assassination after he, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and United States President Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Peace Accords. The Islamists saw believed Sadat deserved death because he signed a peace agreement with Jews, who are, in their opinion, non-believers.

 

The assassination is something that has remained in the minds and hearts of the Egyptian people for decades, much like the Kennedy assassination.

 

Shortly after Mohamed Morsi was elected as the first Islamic president in Egypt, he received Abbud Al-Zumur, one of the assassins of al-Sadat, in the presidential palace. This meant two things to the Egyptian people: One, the Muslim Brotherhood is not that different from other bloody Islamic trends. Two, Morsi supports terrorism. The second was a bigger problem.

Morsi, then, selected an Islamist from an Islamic group that killed 55 tourists in Luxor in 1997 to be the governor of the same area where the attack occurred. That was a much bigger blunder.

Luxor is one of the most famous touristic destinations in the world; it has more than third of the world’s antiquities. The media, tourism laborers, public opinion and the residents of Luxor led massive protests until Morsi named another governor.

If leaders don’t have good relations with media, every single mistake they make is magnified and often exaggerated. Mohamed Morsi couldn’t build bridges with the media and kept making mistakes that were sometimes disastrous. So the result eventually was just one year in office — one tough year in office.

Read more here: http://mainecampus.com/2013/12/08/egyptian-media-from-1981-to-2013-part-3/
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