Following several calls for solidarity with the Muslim Brothers pro-democracy detainees, leftist blogger 3alaa Seif sent a message to the Muslim Brothers youth, that Ikhwan Web ran today.
This is insane. Granted, Israel has unproportionally committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in both Lebanon and Palestine, this does not justify Hizballah’s firing at civilians in Haifa. A crime against humanity is a crime against humanity irrespective of any context. I am not sure how we can, with good conscience, support Hizballah for that. Unless we Arabs feel ok to respond to Israel’s racism with our own brand of counter racism: “17 Israeli civilians killed, now who gives a flying fuck about that!� And I am not sure what resistance Alaa is talking about. Hizballah has started this whole issue by abducting the two Israeli soldiers. Ok forget the backing from Iran and Syria theory. If Hizballah “adventure� was meant to show support for Palestinians, then it miserably failed. That was not an act of resistance, but a gamble at best. It gave Israel the perfect excuse for unleashing its own state terror. Now the whole Lebanese people need our support.
Very interesting. I think Alaa is right that the MB deserves the support of the left and others after they stood to the judges side. But while I disagree with his views om Hizbullah (for the timing and not thinking about consequences reasons I explained in an earlier post), I do believe he makes a good point in the Egyptian sense when saying more adventurism is necessary. It remains to be seen what “adventurism” means — in my opinion, non-violent but media-savvy and ‘spectacular’ acts would be the way forward, not just some boring conference about national unity in the face of the regime. Like for instance spray-painting stencils of “La vache qui rit’ everywhere, engaging in civil disobedience, etc. This is an idea worth pursuing, but I don’t see the Lebanese reference as important since we’re not about to see an armed militia going around the Said anytime soon — this is an Egyptian matter.
It’s as if he was “Islamicized” in prison. Thanks a lot Muburak, you idiot, way to go.
How can Alaa as a self-described “leftists” and “secularist” come out with a statement like that? It’s counter to those Ideals. It seems to me he is morphing into a different person. When i read his old (pre-prison) posts compared to his new (post-prison) comments.
I definitely agree with what BP said. Does he want to draw the region into a wider role in the current conflict? Is that what he meant by “adventurism?” WTF does that word mean? Muburak is doing good in keeping Egypt away from the conflict as is Jordan and Saudi.
And so just because many voices in Egypt came together in defense of the Judges does that mean that they are all allied together? That they all share the same vision going forward?
I was active in the doomed ta7alof between the brotherhood and socialists, after hamas won the elections I urged people to shout pro hamas slogans in Kefaya protests, etc.
as for adventurism, I did mention two very explicit examples of what I meant the free student union and the solidarity with judges protests, the two acts where very different from the typical ikhwan way of doing things.
so why did I mention hizballah’s adventure?
when people criticized HizAllah using the word adventurism they meant that HizbAllah took action without being sure about it’s outcome of the reaction of their enemy.
so this is what I’m asking the Ikhwan to do, to a slightly uncalculated risk from time to time, to take the initiative even when we are not so sure it will work and when we are not so sure how the government will react, this usually comes together with creativity and daring steps that try to raise the ceiling of what is possible.
I now realize that writing this in English meant that a large part of it’s audience will know nothing about the two example adventures I mentioned and will probably not recognise the reference in the word “adventure” to begin with, my bad. I should have added context or something.
and to avoid useless conversations, if you think Israel has the right to exist as a state or if you think the US invading Iraq is a good thing or if you think Iran having nuclear weapons is a bad thing or if you think we should avoid democracy in Egypt cause it might lead to the brotherhood coming to power there is no way I can convince you of anything and no way you can convince me of anything in this discussion so let’s just spare ourselves the trouble.
Thanks Alaa for the clarification – I think a lot of people thought you meant an armed insurgency when mentioning Hizbullah.
There’s a great book by the exiled Egyptian author Albert Cossery, set in Alexandria, where a group of almost nihilist dissidents bring down a corrupt and repressive governor by plastering posters praising him ridiculously all over the city. Ridicule can be a powerful weapon, has proven appeal (just look at how popular the satirical poems of Ahmed Fouad Negm are), yet doesn’t seem to be used that much against the patently absurd Mubarak regime. I’m not saying it’s something that might lead to political change in itself, but it could bring the “cause” a lot of mileage and do a lot to discredit the regime (which, it has to be said, still has a lot of credibility among some Egyptians),
Issandr, funny you should mention ridicule, judge Bastawisy was trying to convince us yesterday that we should use this approach 🙂
well the movement certainly lack a sense of humor (the ikhwan are even worse), Youth4Change where different but they went the way of the communist dodo (you know, factions, fighting, secterianism, hundreds of committees etc.)
but ridicule is dangerous, if down mubarak can be considered insulting the president, what do ou think will happen when we do la vache?
Yes yes, the Ikhwan needs to be adventurous like hezbollah and do to Egypt what Hezbollah did to Lebanon.
3ayez 2altom.
Pharaoh… that’s not what he meant, and you know it, so drop the straw man.
So I guess choosing hezbollah as an example of the “adventurism” that the ikhwan must have was not so accurate.
This is insane. Granted, Israel has unproportionally committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in both Lebanon and Palestine, this does not justify Hizballah’s firing at civilians in Haifa. A crime against humanity is a crime against humanity irrespective of any context. I am not sure how we can, with good conscience, support Hizballah for that. Unless we Arabs feel ok to respond to Israel’s racism with our own brand of counter racism: “17 Israeli civilians killed, now who gives a flying fuck about that!�
And I am not sure what resistance Alaa is talking about. Hizballah has started this whole issue by abducting the two Israeli soldiers. Ok forget the backing from Iran and Syria theory. If Hizballah “adventure� was meant to show support for Palestinians, then it miserably failed. That was not an act of resistance, but a gamble at best. It gave Israel the perfect excuse for unleashing its own state terror. Now the whole Lebanese people need our support.
Very interesting. I think Alaa is right that the MB deserves the support of the left and others after they stood to the judges side. But while I disagree with his views om Hizbullah (for the timing and not thinking about consequences reasons I explained in an earlier post), I do believe he makes a good point in the Egyptian sense when saying more adventurism is necessary. It remains to be seen what “adventurism” means — in my opinion, non-violent but media-savvy and ‘spectacular’ acts would be the way forward, not just some boring conference about national unity in the face of the regime. Like for instance spray-painting stencils of “La vache qui rit’ everywhere, engaging in civil disobedience, etc. This is an idea worth pursuing, but I don’t see the Lebanese reference as important since we’re not about to see an armed militia going around the Said anytime soon — this is an Egyptian matter.
What happened to Alaa?
It’s as if he was “Islamicized” in prison. Thanks a lot Muburak, you idiot, way to go.
How can Alaa as a self-described “leftists” and “secularist” come out with a statement like that? It’s counter to those Ideals. It seems to me he is morphing into a different person. When i read his old (pre-prison) posts compared to his new (post-prison) comments.
I definitely agree with what BP said. Does he want to draw the region into a wider role in the current conflict? Is that what he meant by “adventurism?” WTF does that word mean? Muburak is doing good in keeping Egypt away from the conflict as is Jordan and Saudi.
And so just because many voices in Egypt came together in defense of the Judges does that mean that they are all allied together? That they all share the same vision going forward?
Oh well…
Peace
must be the hair thing, as my hair grows I’ll grow less and less islamic 😉
it’s not true though that this is a major shift in my point of view, I wrote this a long time ago
http://www.manalaa.net/the_grand_islamic_experiment
I was active in the doomed ta7alof between the brotherhood and socialists, after hamas won the elections I urged people to shout pro hamas slogans in Kefaya protests, etc.
as for adventurism, I did mention two very explicit examples of what I meant the free student union and the solidarity with judges protests, the two acts where very different from the typical ikhwan way of doing things.
so why did I mention hizballah’s adventure?
when people criticized HizAllah using the word adventurism they meant that HizbAllah took action without being sure about it’s outcome of the reaction of their enemy.
so this is what I’m asking the Ikhwan to do, to a slightly uncalculated risk from time to time, to take the initiative even when we are not so sure it will work and when we are not so sure how the government will react, this usually comes together with creativity and daring steps that try to raise the ceiling of what is possible.
I now realize that writing this in English meant that a large part of it’s audience will know nothing about the two example adventures I mentioned and will probably not recognise the reference in the word “adventure” to begin with, my bad. I should have added context or something.
and to avoid useless conversations, if you think Israel has the right to exist as a state or if you think the US invading Iraq is a good thing or if you think Iran having nuclear weapons is a bad thing or if you think we should avoid democracy in Egypt cause it might lead to the brotherhood coming to power there is no way I can convince you of anything and no way you can convince me of anything in this discussion so let’s just spare ourselves the trouble.
Thanks Alaa for the clarification – I think a lot of people thought you meant an armed insurgency when mentioning Hizbullah.
There’s a great book by the exiled Egyptian author Albert Cossery, set in Alexandria, where a group of almost nihilist dissidents bring down a corrupt and repressive governor by plastering posters praising him ridiculously all over the city. Ridicule can be a powerful weapon, has proven appeal (just look at how popular the satirical poems of Ahmed Fouad Negm are), yet doesn’t seem to be used that much against the patently absurd Mubarak regime. I’m not saying it’s something that might lead to political change in itself, but it could bring the “cause” a lot of mileage and do a lot to discredit the regime (which, it has to be said, still has a lot of credibility among some Egyptians),
Issandr, funny you should mention ridicule, judge Bastawisy was trying to convince us yesterday that we should use this approach 🙂
well the movement certainly lack a sense of humor (the ikhwan are even worse), Youth4Change where different but they went the way of the communist dodo (you know, factions, fighting, secterianism, hundreds of committees etc.)
but ridicule is dangerous, if down mubarak can be considered insulting the president, what do ou think will happen when we do la vache?