“The Brotherhood has two tongues for two kinds of people: To the international community they talk like the Gulf States. But to their own members they send a different message,” Said Sadek, a political analyst in Cairo, told Now Lebanon.
By Raphael Thelen
1/25/2012 Egypt (Now Lebanon) – Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been displaying great skill in handling the media over the past year. Since the revolution last January and the party’s electoral success in the recent round of polls in the country, the Brotherhood’s media outlets have tirelessly tried to project an image of moderation. But many secularists and leftists remain suspicious.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), have invested considerable human and financial capital in their marketing campaign over the past twelve months.
“The Brotherhood is very savvy and clever when it comes to the media, and they know their audience very well. They certainly have very good media advisors,” says Khaled Fahmy, professor of History at the American University in Cairo.
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Sadek, along with other liberal and leftist commentators in Egypt, believe that the Brotherhood’s efforts aim at concealing their real intentions. “The Brotherhood and the FJP are trying to appease the growing fears of an Islamist takeover. They want to appear liberal. But what they are saying is just lip service,” he says.
Since the Brotherhood did not take part in the recent round of Tahrir protests in November and December, many liberal and leftist commentators talk of an alleged deal between the body and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which critics say is attempting to monopolize power in the wake of the revolution.
“The Brotherhood and SCAF are the most important stakeholders in the country now,” says Mara Revkin, analyst at the US think-tank the Atlantic Council. “They have a lot to gain and a lot to lose.”
Critics claim SCAF wants to hand over internal powers to the Brotherhood while it remains in charge of defense and security and gets to keep control of its enormous budget. SCAF’s assets are estimated to be worth between 10 and 30 percent of the country’s formal economy.
“The Brotherhood has always publicly insisted that there is no deal. But especially since they offered immunity from legal action to the SCAF for its actions since the revolution, the allegations grew louder,” says Revkin.
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“The Brotherhood has two tongues for two kinds of people: To the international community they talk like the Gulf States. But to their own members they send a different message,” says Sadek.
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