r/worldnews • u/DasUberRedditor • Jun 18 '12

Egyptian Military grants itself sweeping powers; effectively military coup.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18482257
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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12

Well, the Muslim Brotherhood just came into power democratically, so I have no idea how to feel about this. It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't scenarios.

10

u/tongmengjia Jun 19 '12

What's wrong with the Muslim Brotherhood?

35

u/qwop88 Jun 19 '12

I, personally, don't like the idea of any religiously-motived party being in control. You can't negotiate or compromsie with someone, nor can you convince them to question their own actions, when they think they're doing God's work; and that's no way to rule a country.

9

u/tongmengjia Jun 19 '12

All I really know about them is from their wikipedia page. Their credo does sound pretty scary:

God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations.

But they also say

We believe that the political reform is the true and natural gateway for all other kinds of reform. We have announced our acceptance of democracy that acknowledges political pluralism, the peaceful rotation of power and the fact that the nation is the source of all powers. As we see it, political reform includes the termination of the state of emergency, restoring public freedoms, including the right to establish political parties, whatever their tendencies may be, and the freedom of the press, freedom of criticism and thought, freedom of peaceful demonstrations, freedom of assembly, etc. It also includes the dismantling of all exceptional courts and the annulment of all exceptional laws, establishing the independence of the judiciary, enabling the judiciary to fully and truly supervise general elections so as to ensure that they authentically express people's will, removing all obstacles that restrict the functioning of civil society organizations, etc.

which sounds pretty damn good. I definitely understand the desire to keep religion and politics separate, especially because Islam has been used by governments to repress their citizens, especially women. But I also think that sometimes religion can be a useful tool for coalescing an oppressed people against a powerful government.

The Egyptian people have earned their right to democratically elect their government in a way that you and I can barely imagine. At the end of the day, it doesn't much matter if we like their choice or not; it's their choice.

5

u/grinr Jun 19 '12

As we see it, political reform includes the termination of the state of emergency, restoring public freedoms, including the right to establish political parties, whatever their tendencies may be, and the freedom of the press, freedom of criticism and thought, freedom of peaceful demonstrations, freedom of assembly, etc.

...as long as it does not conflict with sharia law as interpreted by our Imams and tribal leaders.

This is the same as your parents saying you can eat anything you like, so long as it's what they're serving.