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We Are Yearning For A Viable Alternative
Last week, after the clashes in Tahrir, the Muslim Brotherhood Facebook account wrote a status saying that the MB supporters were not present in Tahrir after 6 pm. I clicked the comments button to know what people on the MB’s official fanpage thought of the MB’s attempt to distance themselves from what their supporters did on that day.
IPad has a very interesting feature, it refreshes comments on Facebook automatically. I held my IPad, rested on my bed pillow and watched commenters as they accused the MB of lying. Several expressed themselves by using cuss words. Not a single comment was positive! And that was the official MB fanpage.
The above story is just one example of how the MB is now losing support, especially among middle class university students who make up the majority of social media users. There is no clear data as to how much support the MB did loose, but any observer of Egyptian politics will tell you that “MB the victim” is definitely not like “MB the ruler”. The last presidential elections, especially round one, proved that there are million of Egyptians who are willing to vote for an alternative to the MB. A viable alternative though.
Does that mean that the MB will not be the majority in the upcoming parliament elections? No, because up till now we don’t have a viable alternative to the MB and the Islamists. We do ‘t have an alternative that is 1) organized 2) has money 3) and can convince people. If the opposition fared well in the upcoming elections, it will only be because the MB and the Islamists have messed up and not because the opposition has presented a convincing counter plan.
Nevertheless we have to admit that the opposition is starting to get their act together. For example, I have been watching the Dostour party very closely. I can see that their active members are working frantically to break the middle class bubble they’re cocooned in and reach out to other social classes in Egypt. Yet finances remain to be a major issue for these nascent parties and coalitions.
It won’t be enough to criticize the MB. An alternative must arise. Millions of Egyptian voters in the last presidential elections said it loud and clear: we are yearning for an alternative.
2012-10-20 23:07:52
Source: http://www.bigpharaoh.org/2012/10/20/we-are-yearning-for-a-viable-alternative/
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