According to newspaper reports, a group of 50 students wearing uniforms and black hoods held a martial arts show (karate and kung-fu, apparently) in front of the dean’s office. Security troops were present but did not intervene. The students claimed to represent a part of the “militia” of the new Free Students Union, a recently created parallel union not recognized by the university and dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood at al-Azhar University (different universities have created different parallel student unions representing each campus’ political map. Al-Azhar is traditionally conservative.) The anti-Islamist state press, such as Rose al-Youssef, is having a field day showing pictures of the event and comparing it with pictures of Hizbullah or Hamas militants.
(The top three pics are of the martial art show, the ones in the middle are of Hizbullah in Lebanon and Geish al-Mahdi in Iraq. The bottom pics are of Deputy Guide Muhammad Habib and TV show host Amr Adib, who argued over the incident. The big headline on top says, “The Brothers’ Army”)
For many commentators the event was reminiscent of the MB’s paramilitary wing, which was active between the 1940s and the 1950s and is alleged (although this is much disputed) to have taken part in political assassinations. The MB disbanded the group, called alternatively the tanzim al-khass or tanzim al-sirri (Special Organization or Secret Organization) and by the 1970s it officially renounced violence. Other interpretations say that the more violent wing of the MB split and eventually went on to form Egypt’s two main Islamist terrorist groups, the Gamaa Islamiya and Islamic Jihad. The former was crushed by the authorities in the early 1990s, while the latter was driven out of the country and now forms a core of al-Qaeda, most notably represented by Ayman al-Zawahri. Amr al-Choubaki, a leading Egyptian analyst of the Brotherhood, called the development “extremely worrying” in a recent interview, arguing it may point to a radicalization of parts of the Brotherhood.
The MB’s Deputy Supreme Guide, Mohammed Habib, has denied that the organization has a secret paramilitary wing and said that an internal investigation had been opened into the events at al-Azhar University. He is hinting at an independent initiative of the al-Azhar student Brothers that did not receive approval from senior leaders, and has even suggested that the people who organized it will be punished. But the MB’s leadership is now largely in damage control mode, with the regime getting its revenge for the Farouq Hosni/veil debacle in many ways. For the MB, which has spent much of the past year trying to reassure people about its ascendency, this incident is deeply embarrassing and only serves to confirm widespread, but hereto unjustified, claims that they continue to have a violent branch. It is almost tempting to think that agitators are behind this, judging by how uncharacteristic this seems, but that is probably not the case. After three months of demonstrations and clashes with university authorities — especially at al-Azhar where the expulsion of Islamist students from university housing in September began mobilizing students even before October’s student elections — it is not surprising that exasperated students would engage in these kinds of displays, especially when the Hizbullah model is on everyone’s mind at the moment. Not to mention of course the now year-long campaign against the MB, which has seen more than 800 members arrested this year.
Although I have not really investigated this in any serious way, it reinforces my impression that the MB, as a “big tent” movement, has members who would like to take a much more aggressive stance towards the regime and impose itself on campus. This divide is probably across generational lines, with younger members disappointed that the MB leadership is not doing more political mobilization. Watch this space.
Update 2: I forgot to mention that a common theme to Egyptian press commentary about the MB militia is a reference to Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef’s offer last July to send 10,000 troops to Lebanon to fight alongside Hizbullah. A lot of anti-Islamist commentators, notably but not only in Rose al-Youssef, are saying that this “army” actually exists and has been trained for the last two years in Marsa Matrouh and Abou Kir. They gloomily write of an impending insurrection and call for the government to react swiftly (“as it reacted in the controversy over Farouq Hosni’s comments on the veil,” in the words of one writer.) They also insist that Egypt is at risk of having an armed opposition, as in Lebanon and Palestine, is this phenomenon is not fought more insistently.
This “masked militia” business was blown out of proportions…
http://arabist.net/arabawy/2006/12/14/state-security-crackdown-on-mb-activists/
Seems to me a pretty natural reaction to the “karate teams” of the 1980s and beyond that would attack leftist and islamist students during their demonstrations. Only a month or two ago we had posts of opposition students being beaten up by goons during elections and protests — why not develop your own karate team to hold them off?
Issandr,
I would just like to add that the people down at al masry al yom are also deeply troubled by this event. I personally found it worrying. So it’s not just a government press thing against the MB, although it would be expected from its mouthpieces like Rose el Yousef to take this stand. I haven’t read their take yet but I would also note that Al Ahram and Al Akhbar avoided mentioning the episode in their front pages up until now.
What we should be investigating is whether these are real militias or not as you ask in your post.
I think even if its a militia its a natural reaction. People have been demonstrating peacefully for God knows how long to change the regime but everytime there is a peaceful demonstration they get beaten up and women raped, people are just sick of it. The biggest problem is the west likes it this way especially that Bush uses Egypt and Jordan as his gulags where he knows he won’t get any opposition or scandels and the more ironic thing is that he calls Mubarak “a becon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East” which sounds a lot like what he used to call Sharon, so you draw the conclusion 😉
Wouldn’t you know it, the regime has pounced on the kung-fu demo to revive its scaremongering about the MB’s armed wing and promptly arrested lots of leaders:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/world/africa/15egypt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Suspect you’re right about the MB being a “big-tent” movement, Issandr.
Hossam notes that the FSU also contains socialists, al-Ghad, Tagammu, and other secular opposition types. Should we now be terrified of Ayman Nour’s militia?
Mahmoud Izzat told me yesteday that some of the senior MB members arrested, the al-Azhar professors, had chastized the students for the demo on Monday.
On Tuesday, the students issued a kind of snarky clarification correcting some factual errors in the media reports and denying that they were a militia.
By Wednesday, they were more contrite: “We apologize for this skit,� they said in a statement released Wednesday. “This is not our way. It reflected poorly on our school and ourselves by making us look like a militia. This image is absolutely untrue. We are students. We did this skit because we felt that no one was listening…to our requests for justice in the university….The university administration, in cooperation with the security apparatus, has denied us our rights to participate in student union elections.�
By Thursday, they were in jail.
While I agree the regime is milking this for all it’s worth, I would not dismiss the uproar over the martial arts show altogether. This is the kind of thing that, if unchecked, could lead to a very bad situation. The MB leadership is right to be apologizing and it will have to ensure nothing like it happens again. And if al-Shatir and other are wrongly paying the price for this, as they are, it is the fault of the FSU students who apparently never thought to check with senior leaders. The MB does not want to be thought off as a street gang with Gamaa Ismaliya type militias. The kung-fu fighters were far from a militia, but still very creepy. I don’t think you can dismiss it just because it was blown out of proportions by the anti-MB media. (this comment was edited, added a missing word)
But…the MB leadership has always boasted, cockily even, of how hierarchal and disciplined their movement is. I highly doubt that such a move has taken place without their explicit acknowledgment and permission.
Do you know of any political party or movement in the world that is willing to say “ah yes, we have no discipline and people run around doing whatever they like in our name”? Of course the Brothers are going to boast about their discipline. Doesn’t make it true.
Ok fact # 2, SP. The brotherhood didn’t issue their retractions except the day after the uproar over the event. They didn’t do so on the same day when the pictures were published.
They were testing the waters.
Fact, eh? Can you point to your evidence for this “fact” about them testing the waters? Could it just be that they felt the need to issue a statement after people started blaming the central MB leadership for the students’ actions?
It goes without saying that the MB leadership would be seen to be involved. Like I said the leadership has made it a point to boast of their disciplined hierarchy themselves. And where do you think these students printed their samedoun logos? Got their attire, or trained for their kung fu display? Is it a coincidence that so many of the students in this university happen to practice matial arts?
I can see you’ve made up your mind to be unconvinced…
Prior assumptions about tight discipline in the MB do not count as evidence for this particular case. I’m very willing to believe the MB leaders just turn a blind eye to what the students want to do, but if they really have that kind of control over the everyday decisions of the student groups affiliated with them, I’d be surprised. The brothers are so cautious about even anti-Mubarak chants that it’s hard to see them signing off on a silly martial arts demo.
Read Elijah’s post above which highlights that the FSU is not all MBs either.
Hossam says in his above post that he’s seen socialists and nasserists wear masks in other protests, not that they are FSU affiliated with this parade. If any socialists and tagamu’ joined this parade singing religious songs with the kung fu effect, then they must be extremely retarded people IMHO.
I know you are not suggesting the following in any way but just for fun’s sake let’s just imagine this different situation:
Mahdi Akef is the MB’s equivalent of Yasser Arafat. He has no control over his organisation which has disintegrated into militias, among them a group of disgruntled students threatening to shoot at his beard unless he increases their karate lessons from 3 to 4 days per week. “All hail the MB reformers of democracy in Islam and Toz fe Masr!”
BTW, these masked students are the ones that identified themselves as “Ikhwan militias” to the reporters of Al Masry al Yom in that first story of the event.
Anyway I’m not claiming the absulute truth here in our conversation, but these are my reasons for disagreeing with you on this matter. It was nice talking to you.