Egyptian Coptic activists declare creation of Christian Brotherhood

[YankeyMCC]

"A group of Coptic activists in Egypt announced the establishment of the Christian Brotherhood to counter the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood especially after their candidate Mohammed Mursi won the presidential elections."

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/05/224648.html

To be fair reading the entire article if the statements can be taken at face value perhaps it isn't as confrontational as I fear it will be. But most of my brain is filled with that sarcastic/ironic voice saying "I'm sure this will go well."

[onager]

1. They got a LOT of catching up to do.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1926, by Hassan el-Banna.

Weirdly enough, his younger brother Gamal el-Banna became one of the most liberal voices in Egypt. He wants nothing to do with the fundamentalists. Gamal is 92 years old and still apparently going strong.

Short history from a foreign infidel: The MB played a big part in throwing the British out of Egypt, culminating in the 1952 revolution and the regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Nasser was the first Egyptian to rule Egypt since the Fourth Century BCE, when Pharoah Nectanebo turned the country over to Alexander The Great. That's why Egyptians are always touchy about that whole "colonialism" thing.

Nasser tried to bring the MB into the government, but it wanted to BE the government. Hassan el-Banna finally achieved martyrdom when Nasser had him executed.

From the article: “The idea started in 2005 with the rise of Islamist groups, but it had not been put to action since then,” Michel Fahmi told Al Arabiya in a phone interview.

Strange. Islamist groups were "rising" long before then. I first went to Egypt in 2005 and they were certainly already in full force.

I lived in Alexandria and saw two major riots in that city, both of them almost certainly instigated by the MB. Rumor said an MB candiate for Parliament was losing big in the November 2005 elections...until riots conveniently broke out around St. George's (Coptic) Church.

That happened on Friday, which was also conveniently when most religious trouble happened in Alexandria. I'm sure fanatics bellowing propaganda from the storefront mosques had nothing to do with it...