The last thing Arab seculars
wanted was an Islamist being elected as president
of Egypt. Having said that, Mohammad Morsi's
victory is a glorious day in Arab history - a
benchmark for Arab democracy - that ought to be
appreciated and respected, regardless of what one
thinks of the Muslim Brotherhood that brought him
to power.
After almost 80 years spent in
the underground, the Egyptian Brotherhood finally
has been given rightful turn at the Egyptian
presidency. They achieved this through the ballot
box, rather than via a military coup, the route
for all the officers who had ruled Egypt since
1952.
Morsi is a civilian democratically
elected president, whereas all his predecessors
were officers. Seculars are furious, however,
arguing that the Brotherhood is as autocratic as deposed
president Hosni Mubarak
because their charter will be the Holy Koran,
rather than the Egyptian constitution that is yet
to be authored.
This is nonsense to those
who have faith in Egyptian institutions and the
judiciary. Some, however, are arguing that this
day marks the start of the Brotherhood's long
march into history, as it will walk a path taken
before it by revolutionary parties that performed
exceptionally well when serving in the Arab
underground, but faltered the minute they came to
power.
The case of the Iraqi and Syrian
Ba'ath parties are prime examples, and so are
Fatah and Hamas in Palestine. Catchy slogans from
the streets of Cairo and pointing to stories of
agony in Mubarak's jails are one thing, but
running a state is completely different.
Having battled the autocracy of King
Farouk, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Anwar al-Sadat, and
Mubarak, the Brotherhood's new battle will be
protecting its members from the temptations of
corruption, greed, nepotism, and embezzlement that
come with the reins of power in the Arab World.
What makes it more difficult is the Arab
Spring, though this paved the way for Morsi's rise
to the Presidential Palace. The Egyptian youth are
on high alert and ready - when the need may come -
to take to the streets again, and again, and
again, should Morsi transform into another
Mubarak. They did it once in February 2011, and
can do it again should Morsi fail to deliver. In
the hands of Egyptian youth, Egypt's future
remains safe.
For starters, the new
president-elect cannot rule Egypt in a similar
fashion to Mubarak. Nobody can anymore. He won't
be able to feed off the country's riches, nor can
he groom his sons for power. Certainly, he won't
be staying around for the next 30 years.
Morsi will get two terms - at best - at
the Presidential Palace. There is no more
"president for life" in the Arab world; that is a
fact.
It is already being said that the
new president will pack his administration with
non-Brotherhood politicians, and make Mohamed
ElBaradei the next prime minister. Morsi needs to
sit back and recall the long list of wrongs
committed by Hamas, Fatah, and the Ba'ath, to
avoid repeating their failures.
First and
foremost, he needs to come across as a statesman
of international caliber, rather than a bearded
Islamic leader feared by the entire world. He
needs to have an open mind, embracing Egyptian
Copts, for example, and accepting the Egyptian
Camp David Accords with Israel as a fact - unless
he can get legislative backing for its amendment,
or abolishment.
The Brotherhood still
views Israel as "an enemy" and is ideologically,
politically and emotionally attached to resistance
groups in Palestine, like Hamas. If the Camp David
Accords are unilaterally abolished, or modified,
the United States would surely freeze its annual
US$2.1 billion in military and development aid to
Egypt, which Washington has steadily provided
since 1982.
Although the Brotherhood has
said it would uphold cordial relations with the
US, the group remains staunchly anti-American,
despite the fact that Morsi was educated at the
University of Southern California and that his
children are US citizens. The Brotherhood victory,
in theory, spells out a u-turn for Egypt's foreign
policy, similar to the dramatic changes undergone
by Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that
severed relations with Israel and the US.
If Morsi abides by ideology, rather than
pragmatism, then alarm bells will ring for the
future of Egypt. This would mean a compulsory
hijab for women, for example, a major slump
in tourism, and zero innovation or courage in
Egypt's ever-booming artistic scene.
However, such moves would likely be too
difficult for the new president of Egypt, as he
will face strong challenges from parliament, the
military council, and the powerful judiciary. If
he does try to break with his conservatism, which
will be difficult, then the Muslim Brotherhood, as
we knew it, is finished.
Hamas, the world
remembers only too well, was bent on destroying
the state of Israel, not too long ago. Its bearded
leaders appeared wearing Islamic uniforms, quoting
battles from Muslim history, and praising figures
like Osama bin Laden.
When Hamas realized
that such rhetoric will not pass in the
international community, and scored poorly with
ordinary Palestinians, it quickly began to change
colors. In 2007, for example, Ismail Haniya said
that he was willing to start peace talks with
Israel, based on the 1967 borders of Palestine,
and not to obstruct the 2002 Arab League Peace
Plan.
Gone was the rhetoric that refused
to accept anything short of the 1948 borders of
Palestine. Sooner or later, the Egyptian
Brotherhood will come to that hard reality. When
that happens, they will have to market themselves
as moderate Islamists, like the Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development
Party, regardless if they really believe in that
moderation or not.
The Brotherhood needs
to invest in an unspoken truth - that the US and
other international players realize that seculars
in the Arab world can no longer deliver; neither
on nation-building nor on peace. If the world
wants the Arab world to move forward, it has to do
so while engaging, rather than shunning, Islamic
parties like the Brotherhood and Hamas.
The more these parties are engaged with
respect and confidence, the more they will
transform into Erdogan-like politicians, rather
than Bin Ladens. Barack Obama judges leaders by
what they are worth, and how beneficial they are
to world progress and regional development. Morsi
needs to prove that he is an asset to the Arab
world, rather than a liability, and the entire
world needs to give him the benefit of the doubt
and respect the will of Egyptian people.
Sami Moubayed is a Syrian
university professor and historian.
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