By MOHAMED ABUL-GHAR
Fascist organizations started appearing as of the 1930’s in Europe & particularly in Italy under the leadership of Duce Mussolini. These groups of young people were totally under the ideological spell of their charismatic leader who believed that use of power, force and repression with citizens was the easiest way to consolidate his régime and achieve progress in Italy. These militias used to scare, beat and terrorize any citizen who would express an opinion opposite that of the Duce or interfere in his politics. This could often end with the shedding such opponents’ blood.
These young militias were known for their strong belief that what they were doing was out of love for their country and in order to regain their nation’s dignity. Some of their fascist leaders had enough charisma to encourage these young people into believing that what they were doing was synonymous of real patriotism and that democracy meant no less than retarding nations on their way to progress. Shirts of the same color were sewn in uniform for these young militias who scared the whole of Italy. Yet the popularity of these terrorist militias was so high that it spread among the Italian communities of the Mediterranean before the 2nd world war started, particularly in Alexandria and in Libya. These fascist groups provided the main support to Mussolini’s régime for a number of years. At the same time, Hitler’s Nazi régime was performing the same atrocities in Germany but in a more subtle way. Hitler contained all the different means of terrorizing citizens within the horrendous Gestapo security apparatus.
This fashion began to spread in Egypt at the same time. Misr Al Fataah party, known for its extreme nationalistic tendencies, started to emerge forming popular militias to terrorize the party’s street opponents to the extent that the democratic Al Wafd party began to consider the creation of a similar movement. However, its great leader, Mustapha Al Nahas totally dismissed this idea.
During this period in the 1940’s, the Moslem Brotherhood was openly and actively working in its quarters all over Egypt. At the time, it had decided to create its own secret apparatus that used to terrify Egyptians and plan for a number of well-known assassinations, including that of the Judge Khazendar. After the creation of this secret apparatus which started a series of terror acts, there was a mutual display of terror acts between the Ministry of Interior and the Moslem brotherhood which ended with the assassination of Prime Minister Nokrashy Pacha, and that of Sheikh Hassan El Banna, supreme guide of the MB. With the arrival of the 1952 revolution, all political parties were compelled to put an end to their activities.
I can clearly see that what happened last Tuesday (January 31) in front of the National Assembly, was a crystal-clear plot with nothing mysterious hidden inside it. The MB is trying to turn some of its active young supporters into militias. A few weeks ago, the MB had asked to be in charge of the security of some public institutions, and the government refused. On that day, everybody knew, including the MB, that a pacific demonstration was going to take place in front of the Assembly. Therefore, both the army and the police should have been present to ensure the peacefulness of the demonstration. However what happened was that the young members of the MB came under the pretext that they were protecting the parliament and its deputies. This is very serious because the young protesters were not planning to attack the parliament. In fact, ever since the revolution started, these young protesters had never attacked any private or public building. They were always the victims aggressed and left behind as dead or wounded. Nobody has the right, in any case, whether as a person or as a group to stop a demonstration made by another movement because this in itself is pure fascism.
The truth of the matter is that the MB ordered its youth to go to the streets in a show of power, and not to defend the parliament. What I fear is that the next step might be arming this youth with sticks and knives as was the case with the MB militias during the 1940’s and early 1950’s. This could be followed by an infiltration of the Egyptian security apparatus so as to make it become the security apparatus defending the MB and its régime — not defending the security of Egypt — exactly as it was the case with the Mubarak régime.
The cause of the tragedy that took place in the Port Said stadium last week was arming a group of young people with sharp weapons and pushing them to attack the Ahly club supporters. Nobody knows who exactly pushed them into this. The solution does not lie in having one group of youngsters interfere by forbidding or punishing another group. Maintaining order and security should be the duty of the state.
After the MB takes power, Egyptians might feel an improvement in the security conditions for a limited time, the way this happened after Nasser consolidated his régime in 1954. But the subjugation which the whole of Egypt went through under the hands of Nasser’s fearful security apparatus, has deeply marked all Egyptians creating horrendous fear and terror, throwing thousands of MB, leftist and liberal opponents into prison for whole decades. I am afraid that we might be on the same path now with the arrival of the MB rule. Allowing enthusiastic youngsters the possibility to take power over others, is the biggest catastrophe in the history of humanity.What happened in Iran is similar because it is the revolutionary guard who subjugates the Iranian people. These are the same fascist popular militias. In Syria we can witness today how “Alaouite” militias are killing Syrian people in open day. In Libya too, Kadhafi had resorted to African militias for the same role.
Fascism can be very much worse than military dictatorship, because a population can rise together against the oppression and violence of a military power, but fascism can end up with a civil war and an enmity between members of the same population This would be the biggest catastrophe that can happen to a nation.
The MB must put an end to this thinking immediately before it leads to the end of Egypt. Their militias would use the “weapons of religious ideology” to subjugate others as was the case numerous times during the history of Islam. In all cases, this always ended with a catastrophe.
Moslem Brotherhood… Beware! People of Egypt …Beware!
This must ne stopped right from the start. It is in the interest of our dear country. Egyptian fellow citizen, get up … Egypt is calling you now as always!
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Dr Abul-Ghar is a founder and leader of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party which won 20 seats in the current People’s Assembly. Article published in Arabic by Al-Masry Al-Youm, http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=327163&IssueID=2402. Translated by Coptic Solidarity (S.R).