Egypt After the Arab Spring Essay

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Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 when Great Britain was still in control of Egypt. World War I had effectively ended the Muslim caliphate, and it was this entity that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood sought to restore. Even though there is broad recognition by the organization that this goal will not be quickly achieved with estimates considering several decades of effort will be needed to accomplish the objective.

A teacher from a middle class, educated family, Hasan al-Banna had participated in demonstrations against British colonial rule since he was a youth (Warner, 2013). Al-Banna was respected as both a preacher and an unorthodox thinker, attributes which led disgruntled workers from the Suez Canal zone to seek him out. Encouraged by their approach, al-Banna began a "pan-Islamic revival and solidarity movement" henceforth referred to as the Muslim Brotherhood (Warner, 2013).

According to Yasser El-Shimy, an Egypt and Middle East Analyst for the International Crisis Group based in Cairo and former diplomat of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood "has worked assiduously to build the kind of conservative religious society and eventually build a kind of religious conservative state that would serve as a nucleus for the reestablishment of the caliphate" ("NPR," 2013). In the beginning, the Muslim Brotherhood emphasized education and organization -- but also agitation, as the group was targeted the remaining British influence in Egypt and the emerging Zionism occurring in Palestine, which was a British mandate (Warner, 2013). Interest in the Muslim Brotherhood rose rapidly, prompting a move to Cairo where the organization was increasingly attractive to middle class members and sympathizers (Warner, 2013). Egypt was destabilized by high rates of unemployment and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Al-Banna protested the establishment of a military wing of the organization, but he did not prevail (Warner, 2013). As a result, the Secret Apparatus emerged and conducted attacks on police stations belonging to both the British and the Egyptians (Warner, 2013). When the Secret Apparatus killed a judge, official sanctions included an order to disband the organization; the authorities conducted a violent crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood (Warner, 2013). The situation continued to escalate: a member of the Muslim Brotherhood assassinated the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mahmud al-Nuqrashi (Warner, 2013). In 1949, al-Banna was murdered by gunmen in what was believed to be retaliation by the government (Warner, 2013). Anti-British sentiment and nationalism continued to escalate, and 1952 brought a violent skirmish between British soldiers and Egyptian police: arsonists nearly burned Cairo to the ground (Warner, 2013). In July of that year, a coup by the Free Officers Movement, which was a clique of army officers, brought down the British puppet, King Farouk (Warner, 2013). The new government was headed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, whom the Brotherhood supported at the beginning of the revolution, but soon mistrusted as Nasser gave no indications he was interested is sharing power (Warner, 2013). In 1954, a failed attempt to assassinate Nasser led to waves of arrests and torture of prisoners. The Muslim Brotherhood was blamed for the attempted assassination (Warner, 2013).

Over the years, attempts were made to repress the Muslim Brotherhood, with both Mubarak and Nasser cracking down on the organization ("NPR," 2013). During the 1960s, the Muslim Brotherhood was fully in opposition of the new Egyptian state -- and the Brotherhood was experiencing profound persecution by a government that routinely detained, arrested, and then brutally tortured members of the organization (Warner, 2013). 1965 brought a particularly devastating round of brutal suppression intended to wipe out the Muslim Brotherhood once and for all (Warner, 2013). A plot was prefabricated that was used as a pretext to arrest roughly 18,000 people and imprison hundreds of them (Warner, 2013).

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was forced to go underground to survive during this time of extreme repression ("NPR," 2013). By establishing social support networks and continuing their social and religious activities -- such as charity -- the functioning of the Brotherhood was viable ("NPR," 2013). Indeed, a tacit arrangement of semi-tolerance existed between Mubarak's regime and the Muslim Brotherhood since the Egyptian state was unable to maintain some social services and the Muslim Brotherhood stepped in support the people ("NPR," 2013).

The influence of the Muslim Brotherhood spread throughout the Muslim world, and as different regions adopted its tenets, they also put their own spin on the organization, developing several affiliated political parties (Warner, 2013).

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In the Sudan, the Muslim Brotherhood had a presence that went back to about 1949 and generated an outgrowth that became the National Islamic Front, which grew to dominate Sudanese politics in about 1989 (Warner, 2013). In Palestine, Hamas founded a political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987; the two organizations in Egypt and Palestine share linkages that continue into the present (Warner, 2013). After an uprising in Syria the early 1980s, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was brought down, until the Syrian Civil War (Warner, 2013). The chaos that emanated from the civil war in Syria provided cover and incentive to a resurgence of power in the country, centered predominantly on opposing Bashar al-Assad's government (Warner, 2013).

One individual from the 1950s and 1960s in Egypt is particularly notable: Sayyid Qutb studied in America and was shocked by the loose culture associated with jazz and feminist women (Warner, 2013). Imprisoned by Nasser in 1954, Qutb spent his time developing a radical and ruthless ideology that was bent on destroying any aspect of culture and society that he did not perceive as purely Islamic (Warner, 2013). Qutb was executed in 1966, but his writings were disseminated and inspired a young Muslim brother, Ayman al-Zawahiri (Warner, 2013). The Muslim Brotherhood disavowed Qutb's writing, but that did not stop al-Zawahiri from leaving the Brotherhood and establishing an Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Warner, 2013). Al-Zawahiri leads al-Qaida and is one of the most prominent spokesmen ("BBC," 2014). He has been featured in dozens of audiotapes and videos from 2003 to 2014 -- in September of 2104, al-Zawahiri called for an Islamist resurgence in India ("BBC," 2014). Zawahiri was indicted by America for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, and -- for his activities with Islamic Jihad during the 1990s -- was sentenced to death in absentia by Egypt ("BBC," 2014). Again making headline news, in June of 2013, Zawahiri called for the radical Islamic State (IS) to focus on Iraq and leave Syria; by February of 2014, al-Qaeda had severed all ties with the Islamic State ("BBC," 2014).

Anwar Sadat ascended to power in 1970 following the death of Nasser. Sadat viewed the Muslim Brotherhood as useful competition to the residual left wing Nasserists, and issued an amnesty to the Brotherhood in 1975 (Warner, 2013). Even as the Muslim Brotherhood moderated its public rhetoric, it stood firm on many of the conservative elements of its platform. Notably, the Brotherhood would not consider as viable presidential candidates any women or Coptic Christians (Warner, 2013). Sadat was too modern and conciliatory for the times -- and the place -- as the 1978 Camp David Accords peace treaty wrought a huge backlash against him -- and, ultimately, brought about his death when he was assassinated in 1981 (Warner, 2013). Hosni Mubark, Sadat's vice president, took power after the assassinations -- and he subsequently ruled Egypt for 30 years (Warner, 2013).

Mubarak ignores the illegality of the Muslim Brotherhood, seeing it as a counterweight to the violent Islamic groups that present an immediate threat to his regime (Warner, 2013). The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood grows throughout the 1980s, until 1992, when Mubarak believes he must crackdown on the increasingly powerful organization (Warner, 2013). In a move that has become drill, in excess of 1000 Muslim Brothers are arrested during he period between 1995 and 1996; they are accused of planning to overthrow the government (Warner, 2013). In just four short years, the Muslim Brotherhood is permitted to offer independent candidates for Parliament, and they win some seats despite suppression by the government (Warner, 2013). By 2008, the Muslim Brotherhood has won many seats in the election as independents, and the largest of the opposition blocs is formed (Warner, 2013). The threat is too much for Mubarak, who again cracks down on the Brothers by amending the constitution in 2010 to cripple independent parliamentary candidates: thousands of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members are arrested (Warner, 2013).

Unrest in the Middle East was increasingly focused on freedoms -- as in the Arab Spring revolt in 2010 -- as social media made communication between free people and oppressed people possible whenever they could establish an internet connection. In 2011, following the tragic self-immolation of Mohd Bouazizi, the harassed and humiliated fruit.....

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