Let’s Be Adventurous

I promised to write a short message to the Muslim Brotherhood youth; the ones I’ve met in prison and on the streets; the ones I consider comrades. However, it’s very difficult to write anything these days and avoid mentioning Lebanon, so let’s go with the flow.

I’m sure most of you support HizbAllah just like me. I’m sure most of you got excited about their recent actions and I’m sure most of you are as annoyed as I’m with the people criticizing HizbAllah for their “adventure”

There are many things I don’t like about the Muslim Brotherhood, but the one thing that annoys me the most is their tendency not to be adventurous. I’ve heard many arguments from respected Brotherhood leaders about how a large organization like the Ikhwan needs to move with caution, and how it is a duty to protect the Brotherhood members and their families from our tyrannical government. There is no doubt those are very reasonable arguments, however, when people say these arguments while discussing HizbAllah’s adventure we defend it, we find answers to these reasonable arguments. We argue that sometimes staying safe is not an option, and that you have to sacrifice and pay the price of your adventure
than pay the price of sitting idly and waiting.

look at the state we live in, look at how hopeless we Egyptians have become; look at how the government cracks down on citizens even if they don’t get involved in politics at all; look at how optimistic and proud HizbAllah’s adventure made us. Yet you [Muslim Brotherhood] remain conservative in your actions and moving slowly. Even the younger generations od the Muslim Brothers are cautious!. Isn’t it part of being young to be daring and a bit reckless? don’t you all burn inside with the need to act, the need to do something? the urge to engage in an “adventure”?
 
Whenever someone tries to convince me that the Brotherhood is no good, that as a secularist and a leftist I should consider them my enemies instead of my comrades; I think of two adventures that the Brotherhood youth shared with other political powers in Egypt; one is the Free Student Union and the second is the judges solidarity protests. These two adventures are an example of when creativity, energy, daring and sense of adventure in us the youth of Egypt, were coupled with the courage and compassionate support of the not so young Egyptians who are a bit more experienced in political work came together and united us all in beautiful acts of resistance and made me feel as proud and optimistic as I felt when I first heard the news about HizbAllah’s adventure.

I guess what I’m trying to say albeit very clumsily is let’s take a
leaf from HizbAllah and go on more adventures together.

cheers,
Alaa

Ikhwanweb: Alaa Abd El Fattah is a famous Egyptian blogger whose writings have inspired many young Egyptians to be more engaged in political activites. Alaa was recently released from jail after he was arrested during latest protests in solidarity with Egypt’s pro-reform judges. You can visit his website at www.manalaa.net which is maintained by him and his wife Manal.

Commentary by Ikhwanweb

Dear Alaa,

You are right. What our beloved Egypt needs the most during these stagnate times of its political life is the energy and the creativity of its youth coupled with the wisdom of its elders in order to sail safely towards freedom and prosperity. We have to understand that Hizbollah is fighting a ruthless occupation that has no regard to the sanctity of human life, and the struggle that Hizbollah is enduring is quite different from that of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Yes, it is sometimes healthy for any political movement to be adventurous if the surrounding circumstances force it to go that route, however, any adventure has to be always calculated especially when the future of a whole nation is at stake, otherwise we will create chaos and enable our adversaries to undermine our cause.

As you alluded to in your message, the Egyptian opposition is always able to deliver when it is united and this is what we should all make it a top priority. There is no difference between Muslim Brothers, leftists, or liberals as long as we are all united in our love to this country and in our pursuit of democracy and reform.

Sincerely,

Khaled Salam

Editor

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