Written evidence from Strong Egypt Party (ISL0056)
A View of Islamic Movements
There is no doubt that the lack of dialogue and communication is a major factor in spreading fear and doubts about the convictions and ideas of the others. Thus, interpretations were moving under repression and disregarding values of democracy and constitutional rights in an authoritarian regime.
At this stage, Islamists or what can be described as the Islamic political current that constitutes the backbone of the movement of change resulting from the Arab Spring in the Middle East. This paper attempts to describe the current situation of Islamic political currents all as their positions and priorities at this stage, without necessarily adopting these positions.
Islamic Political Movements
What we are discussing here is the so-called Islamic political movements. It is important to emphasize that we are not talking about Islam, which is broader than all these movements which interpret Islam according to their literature in the light of their experiences with tyranny, colonialism, or even foreign dominance. Therefore, it should be clear that discussing these movements is different from discussing Islam as a divine religion that encompasses the finest values that guarantee equality between all human beings in rights and duties. I also want to point out that I decided to use the expression “Islamic political movements” as it is more accurate labeling of these movements than “political Islam”.
Based on this, we can say that diversity of literatures interpreting religious texts created different Islamic movements, which are social movements with educational, political and social agendas, which inspire the principles of Islam and Islamic civilization. The vast majority of Islamic political movements agree on the non-violent nature of the process of change.
In fact, armed movements are the least existing among Islamic movements and the Muslims in general. Numerical estimate of «ISIS», for example, is no more than some thousands of individuals of more than 1.6 billion Muslims, which reveals the size of rejection and lack of sympathy among Muslims. If the armed movements were the most vocal, this would be due to their activity on one hand and on the other hand, the media focus on them to maintain the image of the enemy standing behind the door, allowing any local or international regime to apply extraordinary measures to confront them.
Against those armed movements, there are other schools of thought that do not use armed confrontations with autocratic regimes or regimes that are dominated by foreign powers. These schools of thought maintain non-violent struggle, believe in values of cultural and political pluralism; that instability in any region threatens everyone; and that all parties should unite in order to resolve tensions and conflicts. These views rise from the belief that all people have the right to live in prosperity and in security, considering that the main way to protect communities is democracy and the autonomous development of democratic concepts in the communities, without enforcing them at gunpoint. Convictions take root quietly and require the will of the society itself, So that disputes are managed well, the rule of law is invoked, and all people are respected, including political minorities.
Islamists between Integration and Exclusion
It can be said that all non-violent Islamic political movements in the region have not matured adequately, and some of them tend to lack clarity in democratic concepts. This should not be inconvenient, but rather should motivate the exchange of knowledge and experience. If they generally believe in values that do not exclude the others, it would be possible to Integrate them into their communities as long as they accept elections. While excluding them and supporting authoritarian regimes leads to feed currents of violence. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which extends back to about ninety years ago is a non-violent group which have been participating in the parliamentary elections for more than three decades, which wasn’t allowed before. The point is that their performance was evolving over time, acquiring more expertise. Muslim Brotherhood’s women participated in electioneering and running for elections. A draft agenda of a political party released by Brotherhood in 2007 states that neither women nor Christians are eligible for running for the presidency of the state. However, that clause was deleted after the revolution of January 25, 2011. Muslim Brotherhood took part in all the electoral votes and they urged people to participate in. Thus, it seems that integration contributed to the evolution of ideas, and exclusion contributes to extremism.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's experience is not the only one that shows the importance of movements’ integration in the community and providing opportunities of political action for them. In Tunisia, the Nahda Movement is significantly more advanced than its Egyptian counterpart. In Morocco, there is also the Justice and Development Party. It would not be an exaggeration to add Turkey's Justice and Development Party, a party that has roots in the Islamic political movement. All these currents played fairly the game of democracy with the democratic mechanisms, giving their opposition fair opportunity. However, they were backfired as happened in Egypt in 2013 and the failed coup attempt in Turkey recently.
Generally speaking, he Islamists can reach common ground with others on a democratic basis; while excluding moderate Islamists strengthens the views of militants who reject democracy, it also contributes to break down the convictions of some moderates regarding the feasibility of the peace process.
In this context, it should be noted that there are small groups broke away from some Islamic political movements that call for violence as an alternative option and adopt discourse of revenge and revolutionary punishment, despite their lack of effectiveness, the distinctions should be clear between these groups and the organizations that espouse violence as their core ideology, such as “Qaeda” and “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant”.
With regard to the organization of “state of Sinai” (previously, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis) which declared oath of allegiance for “ISIS” about two years ago, there are three observations: 1) this movement represents, at least partially, continuous sufferings of the people of Sinai from marginalization, suppression, discrimination and displacement; 2) the Egyptian regime has committed a number of massacres against unarmed civilians, of which the most horrific massacres were raiding two camps of protesters in Cairo at Rabaa al-Adawiya Squar and al-Nahda Square, which led to more provocation to violent groups in the northern Sinai; 3) thus, in case of starting a broad dialogue for national reconciliation and returning to democracy; it is likely that these groups would review their position and strategy in the light of new changes in the direction of reconciliation and non-violence.
Up to this moment, we cannot definitively judge the (Arab) Islamists experiments in power, but we have observed that that their record of corruption and human rights violations is far less than the former and subsequent regimes. The incidents of such violations are very limited during the short era of Islamists rule. The Brotherhood's experience in Egypt was marked by a very advanced stage of freedom of expression, that Egypt has never seen before. The constitutional referendum process was conducted without interference from the government; as the Muslim Brotherhood has proceeded in the democratic process “rule of the commoners” that brought them to presidency. On the other hand, they did not establish special courts that undermine the rule of law, or human rights. They even surpass this as an Islamist extremist has been imprisoned for insulting Egyptian actress, who is known for her opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood regime, and he was banned from media appearance for 60 days. This incident was an indicator of respecting Law. The elected President, Mohamed Morsi, even quickly has withdrawn a constitutional declaration, which was seen as a manifestation of tyranny days after releasing it when backlashed by popular anger.
Apropos Pluralism
The nature of communities requires cultural, religious and even ethnical plurality, so it becomes inevitable that everyone consists of finding an optimal formula for living together. In Egypt there was harmony in successfully bringing about change during the revolution, which succeeded in removing one of the oldest dictators in the region, and it was not a fleeting moment, in fact, it represents the authentic culture of most Egyptians. However, it seems that someone interfered attempting to destroy this elevated national situation, turning it into Islamic-secular polarization. This interference was created by some Islamic parties and active secular parties as well as remnants of the former regime and the deep state.
I absolutely believe that this state of harmony can be reproduced in Egypt if the right circumstances are provided as before. My belief is based on the experience of presidential campaign, which brought together several parties from the Egyptian political, cultural and religious, in light of the weakness of the possibilities available at the time. Egyptian situation accepts coexistence of all parties as long as they remain committed to the rules of justice and democracy in the management of differences. This situation will motivate making real advancement in development; we understand multiculturalism as multiplicity of knowledge that leads to greater prosperity. Islamic non-violent political movements accept the democratic principle and political pluralism as a basis for the Constitution and the political system. They approve submission to voters and ballot boxes and went through five electoral and constitutional occasions, which everyone acknowledged as being fair in the period 2011-2012.
On the other hand, the power of the more moderate Islamic movements will reveal in democratic pluralistic climate; as this form of Islamic movements stand as natural and solid bulwark in front of extremist movements, which by the way thrive under security repression and purely authoritarian practices. It is no secret that the Muslim peoples are the party most affected by the prevalence of extremism and violence, as happens almost daily in Iraq, for example. Indeed, the violence of extremism has recently arrived in the vicinity of the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him).
Therefore, the Islamic movements of Da‘wah, i.e. education and propagation, should refrain from partisan practices, and the government should allow the religious institutions to play their function of education and guidance, and allowing whoever want to do partisan action as an individual, not as an arm of a party of Da‘wah whether it was “popular or official."
Islamists and the West
There is a great deal of mistrust toward the West, that was deepened due to Western positions in providing support for authoritarian regimes and the support of military coups on the democratic transition in the region. Added to this, other reasons related to invasion of Iraq and breaking it down, the continuation of the Palestinian crisis, and Israeli occupation and settlement of Arab lands.
Despite the complexity of the causes of dispute, it can be said that the positive interaction between Europe and the Islamic movements is possible if the causes of disagreement and tension were resolved. The first of these causes is ending double-dealing with the spreading tyranny in the region, and non-acceptance to disrupt the democratic transformation in the region or turn against it, regardless of the consequences and the nature of the freely elected entities, such as Islamic, or related movements, as long as they are committed to the democratic principle and peaceful transfer of power.
The integration of these movements in the non-violent transition to democracy contributes profoundly in removing fears and tensions. It also greatly contributes to the development of ideas. This cannot be verified without allowing the choices of peoples to go through normal path, only then can any party be judged. On the contrary, what we witness now is that Western powers are closer to authoritarian Arab regimes than the elites of Islamic culture or reference, which came to power with fair elections.
Western countries have to stop double standards and rejecting authoritarian regime that are being strengthened with arms and tools of repression. Western countries Western countries also should stop politically covering these regimes and refrain from interfere in the internal affairs of our societies which are able to choose their paths freely.
We call on the West not to be biased to tyranny and authoritarianism in the conflict, not to listen only to official view, not to be fooled by portraying Islamists and Islamist political movements as scarecrows, and to continue and to invest and expand economic aid to our countries, linking these aids to real progress in respect for human rights and freedoms and the progression of the democratic transition.
In another context, I would say specifically that despite the escalation of the spirit of racism and chauvinism in Europe towards Muslims, Britain still represents a mature state of tolerance, coexistence and cultural assimilation of Muslims.
We call on Europe and Britain to engage in cooperative relations with countries in which peoples have managed to put the representatives of Islamic political and other movements to the seats of parliament and official posts democratically. We expect that European and British interests would not be harmed, but thrive when dealing with the genuine representatives of the people and not with dictators. We also expect that Europe and Britain would help these countries to strengthen practices of regulation, transparency, freedoms, constitutional rights, independent judiciary, and separation of powers; all in the form of exchange programs and close ties.
Now, there is a golden opportunity for Europe, Britain and the Arab governments to overcome the historical gap between them and the Arab peoples and to support the democratic transition, freedoms and rights, which will support a historic understanding that goes beyond the colonial legacy in the region.
What happened in the aftermath of the Arab Spring makes the situation looks as if the Islamic political movements are not able to run a state, a perception that derives its validity from a lack of experience in ruling after decades of military institution’s monopoly of rule in our region. However, that does not mean a final judgment of any experience, I can say that the peoples of the region will choose again to elect Islamists who reconcile with their communities; learn from the Arab Spring experience, despite its pitfalls; and who have the ability to create realistic discourse and act to achieve development of the society. This is what is being formed after the setback taking place in Egypt, and the continuing pressures in Tunis. The Islamic movements have learned from the Egyptian model. This will be possible in the medium term, as I expect that the regional pressure will be reduced under the preoccupation of the players in the region with internal crises especially economic issues.
In light of the above, I expect that the continuation of the clashes with Islamic political movements will form a big barrier between the Arab East and the Western powers supporting tyranny, especially with the aspiration of peoples for freedom and the will to get rid of political tutelage. The integration of the Islamic movements in their communities will contribute in making a real difference in the coexistence values, at the local or international level. Matching values within and among societies is not always required to support understanding and coexistence. What needs consensus about is the existence of general basis that can be built upon or disagreed with in a civilized manner.
The results, whatever they are, of the big shifts that are taking place in the region would not be confined to it, as they are expanding positively or negatively. And, it would be wrong to ignore the aspirations of the people for democracy. Supporting those demands and enhancing their values would guarantee prosperity for al; and will allow the development of the practices of those peoples seeking to entrench the values of co-existence and the rule of law and human rights without regard to the other’s race, religion, or gender.
Dr. Abd Al Monem Abul Fetouh
Former Presidential Candidate