Young Egyptian Bloggers Seek a More Democratic Muslim Brotherhood

By Joseph Mayton

Twenty-one-year-old Egyptian Abdel Rahman Mansour is one of many young Muslim Brotherhood bloggers who have taken it upon themselves to speak out for new ideas within one of the country’s oldest and most powerful organizations. Dispelling the Hollywood myth that Islamists all wear long beards, the young Cairene is clean-shaven and speaks some English. Our conversation encompasses both the serious and the frivolous.

When asked what he does for fun, Mansour, who works on the Brotherhood’s English-language Web site, replies, “I like Tom Cruise.” His is not the fire-and-brimstone Islam often portrayed by Western media and on the big screen. Mansour represents Egypt’s new Islamists.

“We are calling for many things on our blogs,” he explains, turning the conversation back to the issues at hand. “First, we want things to be more democratic within the Brotherhood. There needs to be new means to move up in the group, and we need openness and moderation.”

The era of blogging has dawned in Egypt, and represents a means of fighting back against the government and the elder echelons of society. Nowhere is this phenomenon as prominent as within the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most popular opposition movement.

Mansour is among a group of young Brotherhood members—male and fe­ male—who have begun to speak out on their personal blogs, voicing criticism of the Islamic organization.

“This is the generation of a new political awakening of the past five years,” explains Khalil Al Anani, an expert on political Islam and democratization at Cairo’s Al Ahram Foundation—and a Muslim Brotherhood leader himself. Anani believes that this awakening has made it possible for the Brotherhood’s younger generation to speak out against the injustices, and the future, of the powerful Islamist movement.

These young bloggers, the majority of whom are under 30, have been able to openly deal with new ideas and the emerging new technology because they did not experience the dichotomy of religious socialization that permeated Egypt and the region in the late 1980s and 1990s. This has given them a sense of confidence and strength within Egypt’s increasingly stifled opposition.

Indeed, these Islamists sound more like America’s new generation of young politically active students in their calls for the development of open dialogue on both political and religious discourse within the Brotherhood and Egyptian society. It ­ doesn’t end there, however, as they continue their boisterous requests for a more progressive and democratic Brotherhood.

“I think most Egyptians want democracy and more freedoms,” argues Mansour, who has spent a handful of nights in prison for his outspoken criticism as a result of the government’s crackdown against the Brotherhood. “I want democracy and freedom in my country, so why not start with the organization I can most affect?”

Although the Brotherhood has come further compared to Egypt’s other political parties and movements, there is still a long way to go, he maintains. Mansour points to the number of his fellow bloggers who have advocated advancing democratic values, but who have been somewhat rebuked by movement leaders.

“Sure, some of the leaders, including [Supreme Guide] Mehki Akef, support us and are open to discussing our views,” he acknowledges, “but others are still not willing to speak to us, and they urge us to stop making our ”˜dissident’ ideas public for all to see. They say it is a private matter.”

Essam El Arian, a leading Brotherhood member and father of two of the most outspoken women in the young blogger movement, says that the youths have a right to speak out and show their opinions, even if they challenge the leadership.

“They have a right to get out there and say what they want,” he states. “We are not authoritarian and are democratic. In the end, if they stay with the group then they will have to accept what the majority wants.”

One of the main mechanisms the young bloggers feel can and should be amended in the immediate future is the internal promotion process. To the assenting nods of his fellow blogger sitting next to him, Abdel Rahman Ayyash, Monsour describes the process as archaic.

Each young member is under the guardianship of an elder Brotherhood member, he explains—and without the approval of that “mentor” it is impossible to gain any status within the internal structure. Thus, many of the outspoken young bloggers have been unable to affect policy from within, but Mansour and Ayyash hope this will change and lead to the opening up of the group to a more encompassing movement.

“We want democratic ideas to be implemented in the Ikhwan [Brotherhood],” Mansour explains, “because this is the way for us to have a say in what the leaders do.”

El Arian agrees, saying that such open and non-threatening discussions are vital for the movement if it is to move forward and establish itself as a “real democratic voice for the people.”

Summarizing the bloggers’ views is tricky, however. On the whole, they are searching for the development of political and religious discourse among the elder generation of leaders in order for the Brotherhood to become more progressive and modernized. Some have gone as far as calling for the movement’s slogan—“Islam is the solution”—to be changed in order to address the larger Egyptian society and not alienate thousands of young people afraid of an Islamic organization.

According to the Brotherhood’s Anani, however, “The problem for them, despite how outspoken they have been, is that we cannot assume that all young people within the Brotherhood are reformist like this.” For the dozens of young bloggers calling for changes in the Brotherhood, he says, there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of others who remain stalwart in their conservatism.

However, Anani believes there is an opportunity for the American government in addressing these young bloggers. The reformers and their belief in democratic ideals could be a precursor to changing the Islamic face of the Middle East, the expert continues.

These young men and women may be the future of Egypt’s Islamist party, which makes it sensible for the United States to take notice of the most active participants among Egypt’s largely disillusioned youth movements. It would be an opportunity for Washington to gain inroads into an organization stigmatized by American politics for their Islamic leanings.

While Anani agrees with this argument, saying that for far too long the United States has left Islamist youth from the debate in favor of the so-called “secular” bloggers, Dina Shehata, a political expert at the Al Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, argues that Washington should keep away from focusing on a particular group.

“I don’t think this is the business of any American administration, young or old,” Shehata states, “because this is a dynamic that must be determined internally, both within the Brotherhood and within Egyptian society.”

She does admit that these youths represent an opportunity for new routes to be taken with Islamist organizations in the region, but argues that this must be done “with all young bloggers and activists” if it is going to have any effect.

For many analysts in the country, these young voices may hold the key to the very survival of Egypt’s most powerful opposition group. “I think the future of the Brotherhood depends on whether reformists and moderate voices are able to push the movement in a more centrist direction,” Shehata argues, although she is not convinced the young bloggers will achieve these goals.

Anani tends to agree. He makes it clear that, despite the amount of media attention the young bloggers have received in recent years, the fact remains that “they are not the majority.” In order to make real and lasting change within the movement, he says, other actors are needed in this role.

This has not stopped dozens of youth like Mansour and Ayyash from continuing their writing online in the hope of affecting changes in their Brotherhood—even as their online work has led to arrest. Ayyash was detained for six days in late July after returning from a trip to Turkey.

“I won’t stop my activities and writing,” he said after the incident. “In fact, it has given me renewed spirit to do more.”

Joseph Mayton is a free-lance journalist based in Cairo.