Gerald
07-13-11, 07:26 AM
Nearly 60 years ago, the Egyptian military faced a similar political dilemma to the one it confronts today.
"If I held elections today, al-Nahas would win, not us. Then our achievement would be nothing," Maj Gamal Abdel Nasser told a meeting of army officers and Muslim Brotherhood leaders on 29 December 1952.
Nasser was discussing the future of political transition in Egypt after the July coup, led by the Free Officers' Movement, that overthrew King Farouk and eventually saw Nasser installed as Egypt's president.
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9531/54024303304nasser.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/94/54024303304nasser.jpg/)
Nasser (left) with Muhammad Naguib in Cairo a year after the 1952 coup that toppled King Farouk.
The rest of the story is well-known: parliament was dissolved, political parties were banned, basic freedoms were suspended, and the army dominated politics. In short, Egypt lost its freedom.
The man who stood to win - had an election been held in 1952 - was Mustafa al-Nahas, the head of the secular-liberal Wafd Party, once the most popular political party in Egypt.
Worried by the prospect of a liberal electoral victory, the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood supported the decision of Nasser and his Revolutionary Command Council to ban all political parties.
The reasons were pragmatic, not ideological. The Brotherhood's leaders thought that this would give them an advantage in a political sphere free of strong actors. That, of course, was an enormous miscalculation.
By 1954, Nasser and his clique dominated the army and had ousted pro-democracy officers, marginalised the liberals and then heavily suppressed his former allies, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The brutal crackdown significantly diminished the local networks of the Brotherhood until the mid-1970s. But it never destroyed them.
Roles reversed:
Today there is no Revolutionary Command Council. Egypt is governed by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.
In the role of the working-class, young, radical and charismatic Maj Nasser is the 75-year-old Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Under his command, the council speaks of democratic transition, with a special status reserved for the military, its institutions and interests.
The analogy with events nearly 60 years ago is not perfect. Some of the roles have reversed. In the place of the liberals of the Wafd is today's Muslim Brotherhood.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14112032
Note: 13 July 2011 Last updated at 07:15 GMT
"If I held elections today, al-Nahas would win, not us. Then our achievement would be nothing," Maj Gamal Abdel Nasser told a meeting of army officers and Muslim Brotherhood leaders on 29 December 1952.
Nasser was discussing the future of political transition in Egypt after the July coup, led by the Free Officers' Movement, that overthrew King Farouk and eventually saw Nasser installed as Egypt's president.
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9531/54024303304nasser.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/94/54024303304nasser.jpg/)
Nasser (left) with Muhammad Naguib in Cairo a year after the 1952 coup that toppled King Farouk.
The rest of the story is well-known: parliament was dissolved, political parties were banned, basic freedoms were suspended, and the army dominated politics. In short, Egypt lost its freedom.
The man who stood to win - had an election been held in 1952 - was Mustafa al-Nahas, the head of the secular-liberal Wafd Party, once the most popular political party in Egypt.
Worried by the prospect of a liberal electoral victory, the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood supported the decision of Nasser and his Revolutionary Command Council to ban all political parties.
The reasons were pragmatic, not ideological. The Brotherhood's leaders thought that this would give them an advantage in a political sphere free of strong actors. That, of course, was an enormous miscalculation.
By 1954, Nasser and his clique dominated the army and had ousted pro-democracy officers, marginalised the liberals and then heavily suppressed his former allies, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The brutal crackdown significantly diminished the local networks of the Brotherhood until the mid-1970s. But it never destroyed them.
Roles reversed:
Today there is no Revolutionary Command Council. Egypt is governed by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.
In the role of the working-class, young, radical and charismatic Maj Nasser is the 75-year-old Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Under his command, the council speaks of democratic transition, with a special status reserved for the military, its institutions and interests.
The analogy with events nearly 60 years ago is not perfect. Some of the roles have reversed. In the place of the liberals of the Wafd is today's Muslim Brotherhood.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14112032
Note: 13 July 2011 Last updated at 07:15 GMT