Mohamed Morsi wins Egypt's Presidency

[Kavkaz]

Well, it was just announced; the crowd's going wild with elation in Tahrir Square. So what do the rest of you think of an Islamist at the helm of Egypt? Does it encourage you? Concern you? Don't care?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... amed-morsi

[Ludwig Whitby]

As long as the military leaves power it's all good, I guess. Better him than Mubarak's right hand man, right?

[Kavkaz]

Well, I don't know much about Mubarak's right-hand-man, but I suppose it's guilt by association, eh?

I should append my original post by clarifying: I understand that a President in a parliamentary system is not the same as a President in the American or French style systems of government, but it's obvious Morsi has a lot of support among the people; whether that will affect his clout will be seen.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, the election seems to be legit. Third-party watchdog groups were present in Egypt throughout the process and reported very low levels of funny business, so Morsi seems to have won fair and square. But on the other hand, I staunchly oppose religion mixing with politics, whether that religion be Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or what have you. It is, of course, unrealistic to call for the complete and surgical separation of the two, but the overtness of a party named "The Muslim Brotherhood" causes me a lot of concern. I only hope that Egypt becomes a more stabilized nation that increases the standard of living for all citizens, regardless of creed.

[Ludwig Whitby]

Well, I don't know much about Mubarak's right-hand-man, but I suppose it's guilt by association, eh?

No it is not. He was Mubarak's last hope to remain in power. He himself was the last attempt to save the dictatorship. Besides, he is an army general or something, who can expect him to fight the military junta that is in charge?

Still, Morsi will probably work closely with the junta as well. As Žižek said at the very start of the revolution, the power will probably be held by an unholy alliance of the military and the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Saim]

Were I Egyptian, I would've voted for Morsi too (not in the first round or at the parliamentary level, though, there I'd've voted Revolution Continues or Egyptian Bloc). A choice between a right-winger who might respect democracy and someone who represents a brutal dictatorship? The right winger, every time.

You can't expect the country to become 100% secular after just one election, especially since we haven't fully won the battle here in the "developed" world. I mean, the US is a classic example of "mixing religion and politics", what's all that "In God We Trust" nonsense about? And my own Australia has its problems too - in Queensland religious education is (was?) semi-mandatory (you could opt out, but if you opted out you'd still be , and politicians still use religion as an excuse to deny gays rights (although they've tried to switch to the more secular but equally nonsensical "this isn't a priority issue to most Australians").

[Tenebrarum]

Evil Versus Evil. Sigh.

I hope the liberals will play it smart from now on - letting the Islamists and the military screw each other up and try to benefit from their mistakes.

[Kavkaz]

Were I Egyptian, I would've voted for Morsi too (not in the first round or at the parliamentary level, though, there I'd've voted Revolution Continues or Egyptian Bloc). A choice between a right-winger who might respect democracy and someone who represents a brutal dictatorship? The right winger, every time.

You can't expect the country to become 100% secular after just one election, especially since we haven't fully won the battle here in the "developed" world. I mean, the US is a classic example of "mixing religion and politics", what's all that "In God We Trust" nonsense about? And my own Australia has its problems too - in Queensland religious education is (was?) semi-mandatory (you could opt out, but if you opted out you'd still be , and politicians still use religion as an excuse to deny gays rights (although they've tried to switch to the more secular but equally nonsensical "this isn't a priority issue to most Australians").

Well said. I think Egypt is a nice example of the US government finally reaping what it's sown for so many years. After meddling with the internal affairs of countless nations for countless years, they finally become involved with and support the whole independence zeitgest that swept over North Africa and the Middle East. They turned their back on the dictators they helped place and maintain. And what did the freedom of choice produce? Leaders that may end up being much more hostile to America than their stooge dictators. Can't say it wasn't deserved, though I do hope no violence comes of it, to either Egyptians, Libyans, Tunisians, Americans, or anyone in between.

[Saim]

Were I Egyptian, I would've voted for Morsi too (not in the first round or at the parliamentary level, though, there I'd've voted Revolution Continues or Egyptian Bloc). A choice between a right-winger who might respect democracy and someone who represents a brutal dictatorship? The right winger, every time.

You can't expect the country to become 100% secular after just one election, especially since we haven't fully won the battle here in the "developed" world. I mean, the US is a classic example of "mixing religion and politics", what's all that "In God We Trust" nonsense about? And my own Australia has its problems too - in Queensland religious education is (was?) semi-mandatory (you could opt out, but if you opted out you'd still be , and politicians still use religion as an excuse to deny gays rights (although they've tried to switch to the more secular but equally nonsensical "this isn't a priority issue to most Australians").

Oops I forgot to finish this sentence;

"if you opted out you'd not get an option to do anything else, you'd just sit around doing jack shit"

[KingHarvest]

As long as the military leaves power it's all good, I guess. Better him than Mubarak's right hand man, right?

Tell that to the Copts.

[Saim]

Is the Muslim Brotherhood really that anti-Copt? I mean, they're not Salafis.

[Kavkaz]

Morsi's rhetoric, at least, is conciliatory towards the Copts. We'll see how dedicated he is to allowing "churches to be built as easily as mosques are," when the time comes. Here's a short article which isn't politically enlightening, but at least it gives you an idea of the current state of mind of some average Copts living in Egypt just after the election.

http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-copts-disma ... 12384.html

[KingHarvest]

Is the Muslim Brotherhood really that anti-Copt? I mean, they're not Salafis.

Tunisia's ruling party now is a moderate Islamic party and not Salafist, but the police still seem to be overlooking Salafists terrorizing moderates.

[johnH]

Well, it was just announced; the crowd's going wild with elation in Tahrir Square. So what do the rest of you think of an Islamist at the helm of Egypt? Does it encourage you? Concern you? Don't care?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... amed-morsi

that is bad enough that if the army won't stand behind this man a military junta working in background might even be a good thing(relatively).
I don't care if the Christian Ellements of western systems are substituted by Islamic ones, but I do care that their are indeed islamic Ellements at all, some Ellements will need to be tolerated... Sag what I most certainly consider to be just Christian hogwash needs to be tolerated unfortunetly (*throbbing head* how the fuck does it come to having to tolerate the unreasonable... ) , so some Muslim hogwash will need to also be tolerated, but the Islamists are really over the top Atleast the reason to see what can be opposed and to oppose it.