The results are in and the candidate for the Islamic Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, has won the Presidency of Egypt. It appears to me to be a most fair and orderly run election and the results are the decision of the majority.
The various factions that made up the opposition feel a great sense of loss, but their personal political agendas never seemed to be anywhere near as focused and unified as was the Muslim Brotherhood. The various members of the old elite had very little in common with the young disenfranchised who took to the streets to lead the revolution in those early days.
The Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, seemed content to watch from the sidelines as the truly brave and dangerous confrontations happened around them. This does not ignore the many decades of repression suffered by millions of members of the Brotherhood over the life of its existence. They just did not seem to be there in the early days of the push for jobs and social equality.
I believe this is because it was indeed primarily, in those early days, about jobs and social equality. These were not agenda's primary to the thinking of the Brotherhood.
It was only, as in Tunisia, when the powers that be pushed back too hard and the focus turned to opposing the ruling elite did the Brotherhood find its way to the streets and to add to the opposition.
Then, as victory for the revolutionary factions, joined by the military intervention, and the old ruling elite finally end did the Muslim Brotherhood begin to push aside the early and courageous pioneers of the revolution.
The beginning themes of jobs and social equality also seemed to be forgotten as well.
Now the question before the Egyptian people is, after this most recent election, does the Muslim Brotherhood have a plan or the goal of job creation and social equality. This will be the paramount problem for the new government going forward.
It was also, in the days just before the Presidential election, that the Supreme Court of Egypt found the recent legislative body to be unconstitutional. How this too plays out will be of extreme importance to the future of Egypt.
It is widely known that a substantial portion of the Egyptian economy is controlled by the upper echelons of the military. Besides what is now assumed to be a firm lock on control of the military itself, the generals are also loathe to relinquish control of their vast economic dominion.
Then there is the economic elite who are still in power after the revolution. Much of the financial wealth is controlled by but a few. Between the elite and the military the economic levers seem to have not changed much even after the revolution.
The political, economic, military and social control of Egypt are all in a great state of flux. The decisions made at this time and the future course for these four goals are of extreme importance to the success of a more open and economically viable Egypt.
And it goes almost without saying that the groups least likely to have a voice in the great decisions to be made are those few who were the first to step forward to demand jobs and social equality.
But just as the Muslim Brotherhood lived in the shadows of minority status in nation after nation across the Arab world, so too are those early groups of youth and religious minorities to be found in virtually every country across the Arab world. They are in many ways exactly the same and in many ways could not be more different.
What they do have is the desire to live a life of economic and social advancement. Just as in the early days of the Muslim Brotherhood, these groups must reach out to their fellow minorities and disenfranchised throughout the Arab world to find common solutions, common voices and the resolve to be found in strength in numbers.
It will, I predict, be this group who will lead sometime in the near future for the unification of many nations of the Arab world. This I predict will happen even more quickly than calls for such unification by members of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region.
In any case, which ever group or groups strive for such unification, those still on the outside looking in, or living in fear of their lives because of their minority status, must be prepared to unite with their fellow minorities to advance and protect the rights of all in any country in which their goals are found in jeopardy.
Reach out now and find those with whom you strive for economic advancement and social equality. Much can be done in unity and numerical strength. The new forms of communication make it easy to do.
Gary Tucker
