Egypt’s Friday Morning Movement Party..by Jamil Shawwa

I cannot help but to see a birth of a new political party in the Middle East, in Egypt, that should be called the “Friday Morning Movement party”.

It is a party that ended thousands of years of dictatorship and now is trying to make the case and put the pressure on the winning party in the last elections, the Muslim Brotherhood, not to turn Egypt, in the name of Islam , into another dictatorship but this time a religious and not as it has been, a military dictatorship.

In the Name of Islam, a sentiment that is so high and deep in the Egyptian mind but in the same time, not a sentiment that the Egyptians, many of them, are willing to condone or have it employed politically.

The Friday party does not have leaders , does not have a central committee, it’s a mixture of Egypt’s society, all religions and political affiliations, social and economic classes. The back to back Friday demonstrations -they have become a way of life in Cairo-could result in the birth of a political movement if leaders are found to lead and inspire and provide programs, on target programs, that can reach the average Egyptian and relate to them.  

I understand that many Egyptians are complaining and even frustrated of these Friday protests, but to me, they are starting to look like a significant political movement, and not only a one time historic event,  that want to put  pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood and become parallel to it- even when some of the protesters actually voted for the Brotherhood in the last parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Egyptians by nature are moderates in their beliefs , in general, a peaceful people and they have proved it when they led the Arab countries in the Middle East towards peace with Israel and moving towards establishing a state for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Unlike the savagery of the Syrian, the Lebanese , and  the Iraqi political systems, Egypt stands out historically as a civil country with civility in transitioning powers , even from dictatorship to democracy.

*picture is via Ahram online.