Egypt – on the path to Nazism

The political atmosphere in Egypt today closely resembles that experienced in Germany 1933 after the accession to power of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party in an equally narrow democratic electoral victory.

Both Hitler and ex-inmate Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi show the same desire for revenge against the established social order and intolerance toward adversaries. During the past six months Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood have taken all necessary measures to consolidate his grasp on power, matching similar measures taken by Hitler in 1933 including controlling all media, the army, local municipalities, police force and jurisdictional institutions, appointing allies to key positions while viciously removing technocrats and bureaucratic employees who do not show complete obedience.

Accusations of corruption and loyalty to the old regime (of Honsi Mubarak) are readily used whenever the Brotherhood wishes to assert control, in an intense purging campaign. Most of these public employees accept the new reality silently to avoid public humiliation.

EVERY TREE is known by its fruit, and no matter how much the Muslim Brotherhood portrays itself as benevolent and compassionate, the actions taken by its leaders and members parallel those of the Nazis. These include disrespect for political opponents; discrimination against minority groups; immediate subjection of vocal opponents to vicious defamation campaigns (in the modern era, via an Internet army of holy warriors) to publicly humiliate the unfortunate victim in every possible way, including accusations of betrayal, atheism, dishonesty, espionage, allegations of corruption and defamation of family members.

Prominent leaders of society such as Amr Mussa (former diplomat), Hamdin Sadahi (left wing) and Mohamed el-Baradi (liberal) have been constantly targeted by these holy e-warriors. Additionally, on the ground mosque Imams are instructed to engage in propaganda campaigns favoring the new regime, in a battle between the Holy and the Evil.

Mass rallies and assemblies organized by paramilitary groups in green shirts linked to the Islamists take over the streets whenever there is any political debate, stretching the political muscle of the Brotherhood and intimidating adversaries, a tactic very well known in Nazi Germany, widely used first by the SA and later by the SS.

The leader and sponsor of these paramilitary wings is Khairat al-Shater, a businessman who spent 20 years in prison on terrorism-related charges. These groups have the additional duty to sabotage any demonstrations organized by political opponents, to accomplish which they resort to all possible means, including firebombs and sexual harassment of female opponents.

Since the Islamists are motivated by a holy ideology and are ready for personal sacrifice, while their opponents lack such motivation, the streets belong to Islamists and their paramilitary wings.

During the current political turmoil the president gave himself complete power, decreeing judicial immunity for his “holy” decisions and ordering the unilateral drafting of a new constitution.

Many intellectual Egyptians think that the content of the proposed document is not the main cause of concern, but rather the complete indifference and disregard for all other political movements and aspirations demonstrated by claims this unilateral declaration represents 90% of the Egyptian people. Opponents, meanwhile, are portrayed as “a bunch of morally dishonest traitors,” an expression coined by Safwat Hegazi, the Brotherhood’s fanatic propaganda mastermind, whose speeches and tactics show an astonishing similarity to those of Joseph Goebbels.

Unfortunately, a narrow majority of the impoverished and deprived Egyptian people still hope that this new regime will change their fortunes, and the Muslim Brotherhood is taking advantage of this fact by promising them a better life on Earth and a prominent place in Heaven.

History has shown that fascist and fanatic ideologies flourish in times of chaos and depression, and after securing complete internal authority, their savage hunger for power leads them to engage in disastrous military adventures, which finally cause their downfall and collapse.

In fact, Safwat Hegazi has publicly declared in an emotional speech that the ultimate goal of the Brotherhood is to establish the “United Muslim State” with Jerusalem as its capital. The astonishing silence of the US administration and Western democracies regarding these critical developments painfully reminds us of Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement.

I can only hope that the modest and ordinary Egyptian people read more and learn from the lessons of history, and take a shortcut to avoid this catastrophe, but unfortunately this is not likely, and our nation is heading for the abyss.

The writer is an Egyptian citizen. His name has been changed to protect his identity.