From: ilyess@Davinci.Concordia.CA (Ilyess Bdira)
Subject: Re: Egypt and the Arab world
Organization: ECE - Concordia University
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 17:50:52 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.040250.26218@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> abde@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Tamer A. Abdelgawad) writes:
>

>Sure, to supress the tens of millions who want nothing to do with them!
>
I do not have time to answer your false claim here, I will just give you
the ast news about Egypt, maybe the give a partial answer:

Keywords: international, organized religion, religion, political extremists,
	politics, non-usa government, government
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 21:08:03 EST
ACategory: international
Slugword: egypt-islamists
 adv thurs nov 5 or thereafter

	
	CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) -- As Islamic extremists step up their violent
clashes with security forces for control of Egypt's poorer towns in the
south, a quieter but no less spectacular Islamic insurgency is taking
place at the ballot box.
	Muslim militants have waged a campaign of violence since March to win
approval for their fiery brand of fundamentalism, through assassinations
and attacks directed against Christians and other ``enemies of Islam.''
	But the older, more experienced side of the movement, typified by the
veteran Muslim Brotherhood, is meanwhile making dramatic inroads into
mainstream politics.
	The fundamentalist organization -- still technically illegal and
banned from participating in general elections -- two months ago won a
sweeping majority of seats on the council of the country's oldest and
most influential professional union, the Bar Association.
	The resulting 70 percent of the vote offered stark evidence that
piecemeal democratic gains made in recent years by Muslim
fundamentalists were not isolated successes.
	``The influence of the Islamists is increasing, but gradually,''
political analyst Wahid Abdel Meguid said. ``This is kind of a guarantee
in Egypt against the sort of confrontation which happened in Algeria.''
	But, he warned, ``This (increase) doesn't preclude a confrontation at
the end of its momentum, if it continues in the absence of (full)
democracy.''
	Political parties founded on religion are barred by Egyptian law.
Candidates from those parties generally campaign under the auspices of a
legal opposition party, a practice quietly sanctioned by the government.
	The Bar Association is the latest among the country's independent
professional associations -- which include those of doctors, engineers
and pharmacists -- to have come under the control of Islamic
fundamentalists.
	But the Islamists' victory at the bar took the country by surprise.
Their candidates had occupied only a single seat on past councils, and
the lawyers' union in particular had a tradition of liberalism and
leftist leanings.
	``There had been a kind of thinking that (the Islamists) weren't
powerful, that they contradicted the general atmosphere of liberality at
the bar,'' Meguid said. ``From here came the surprise.''
	Lawyers have played a major political role in Egypt's recent history,
both before and after the 1952 revolution. But lately their organization
has been criticized for ignoring the problems of its younger lawyers,
including unemployment and government harassment. It also has been
accused of being too close to the government.
	Observers say these factors helped the rise of the Islamic
fundamentalists, whose combined message of reform and piety seemed to
have won the confidence of many voters.
	Meguid, who described the Bar Association as ``the most important
non-governmental association in Egypt,'' said Muslim fundamentalist
activists for the first time enjoy a large presence in mainstream
politics.
	``In winning the (lawyers') association, they have a new access to
strengthening their influence in society,'' he said.
	Ahmed Hassan Elbanna, the leader of the Islamic bloc in the newly
constituted council, said in an interview that his immediate agenda
would be to ``restore the prestige of the association and...demand the
changes of some laws.''
	Asked which laws needed changing, Elbanna said most members of the
bar advocate amending all laws in Egypt's penal code that do not conform
to Sharia, the code of Islamic religious law.
	The bar has traditionally been able to influence lawmakers in Egypt's
Parliament, the People's Assembly, by submitting memoranda on a given
issue before the Assembly.
	The Islamic trend has few supporters in the Assembly because of a
boycott during the 1990 elections, although the Brotherhood has reached
Parliament in two of the last three elections in dubious alliance with
other opposition parties.
	But Elbanna feels that the trend will reassert itself in coming
years.
	``This Islamic current has the true majority in Egypt, not only among
the non-political, but among the political people as well,'' said
Elbanna, son of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Elbanna.
	If free general elections were possible in Egypt, the Islamic
fundamentalists would do well, winning ``no less than 30 percent'' of
the vote, said Meguid, an analyst at the Al Ahram Center for Political
and Strategic Studies.
	The Islamic trend has gained considerable news media and government
attention since last March, when militant groups from the countryside,
known as Jamaat Islamiya (Islamic societies), began to wage pre-
meditated attacks against state security personnel, Coptic Christians
and fellow Muslims opposed to their goals. More than 60 people have been
killed in extremist-related violence.
	The Brotherhood and other more moderate fundamentalist groups have
been careful not to be seen as allies of the militants -- and their
tactics seem to be working.
	``The unions are dominated by groups from the Muslim Brotherhood,''
said Nour Farahat, a university law professor and activist with the
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.
	``They are more rational, peaceful, intellectual and they have
traditions and experience in political action. You can't compare them
with the Islamic societies, who only understand visual appearances (of
violence),'' he said.

END QUOTE
>
>Tamer Abdelgawad
we have a Tunisian singer with that name, and I was wondering where i 
heard it!


>