- EGYPT
- December 11, 2012
- 3 minutes read
Rafiq Habib: Violence in Egypt Product of Secular-Old Guard Alliance
Dr. Rafiq Habib, the Coptic thinker who retired from political life a few days ago, said: "We are witnessing a new phenomenon of political violence, born this time of an alliance between secular forces and former-regime officials. This has kicked off a relentless campaign of bloody rampant violence and wanton widespread destruction against the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party, in brutal attacks across the provinces of Egypt that ransacked and torched dozens of Brotherhood offices.
"Under the repressive Mubarak regime, leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were unjustly thrown in prison. Now, their headquarters are being smashed up and burnt, as secular politicians and the media provide frantic delusional cover for this wave of violence which they aid and abet quite openly."
Habib further said, "Some of this violence is committed by certain opposition groups. That is dangerous, no less dangerous than violence committed by mercenaries, i.e. paid thuggery. Moreover, looking at the various contentious points between Islamists and secular forces, since the fall of the Mubarak regime, we find that violence is used frequently, mostly by former regime officials, cronies and loyalists.
"Every time, former regime holdovers use violence to impose a political reality hostile to the revolution. But because of occasional compatibility and convergence of interests between former regime hangovers and secular forces, this violence sometimes enjoys deceptive political cover. Secular forces use such twisted violent situations to impose their vision on Islamists, although the objectives of former regime hangovers are strictly against the revolution. It is as though some secular forces found in the old guard a safe haven of sorts: secularists rely on old guard ‘muscle’ and the violence they inflict, sometimes involving certain political groups and parties."
