"Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood appears at risk of falling apart"

[applegrove]

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood appears at risk of falling apart

by Liz Sly and Mary Beth Sheridan at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypts-brotherhood-says-struggle-will-remain-nonviolent/2013/08/20/dd95747a-0991-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html?hpid=z1

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Throughout its history, the Brotherhood has repeatedly clashed with Egypt’s authoritarian governments, enduring arrests, torture and imprisonment. But what’s different now, analysts say, is that it’s battling not only a military-backed government but also the disdain of a broad swath of society. Many Egyptians are irate at Morsi for the country’s economic slide and the rise in crime during his one-year rule. Others complain that the Brotherhood tried to grab power by excluding minority political groups and trying to insulate its decisions from judicial review.

“It’s the first time to see the Muslim Brotherhood in conflict not only with the state — but with the whole of the state, [including] the bureaucracy, and the political elite, and an important part of society. It’s not a limited confrontation,” Rashwan said.

The Brotherhood has traditionally insisted on strict discipline from its followers. But with the leadership severely weakened, it is much less able to execute a strategy.

Ibrahim el-Houdaiby, a political analyst who belongs to a prominent Muslim Brotherhood family but left the organization in recent years, said, “There is no Brotherhood in terms of hierarchy and decision making. All decisions are being taken on a very local, individual level.”


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