Egypt’s Blind Alley; The Gota-Mahinda Riddle; Extremists Vs. Muslims

By Kumar David -August 25, 2013 |

Prof Kumar David

The style today is different; it’s not all on one theme, it is three short pieces on different topics for the reason that if I spread them over three weeks they would all be outdated. Timely comment assists in thinking through events as they unfold and is fodder for latter day historians reviewing analysts’ judgment of events and interventions prescribed. The sorry state of affairs in Egypt and crumbling of the Arab Spring is first. Second, I want to push on with a topic I recently injected into political discourse; is there a disconnect, or is it cunning coordination, between Rajapakse siblings, in recent events –Weliveriya, and violence against Muslims and mosques. The third matter is Sinhala-Buddhist (SB) extremism and the end of low key response by the Muslim community and leaders.

Revolution Betrayed

The debate whether the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or democratic-radical-secular (DRS) groups including the youth movement Tamarod, did more to destroy the gains of Egypt’s Arab Spring, can go on all night. Growling “a pox upon both your houses” is the most appropriate allocation of culpability for the period prior to the coup. The bigoted and sectarian MB-Morsi government alienated every other shade of opinion and drove Egypt’s minorities and the DRS to desperation and folly.  Then DRS jackasses, with a Judas kiss, delivered the people into the murderous jaws of the military.

The DRS first threw away the 2012 presidential election by putting forward a dozen candidates and opening the door for a runoff between Morsi and a candidate of the old establishment. From then it was all downhill as it staggered from blunder to blunder. Finally it paved the way for a coup and a de facto military regime. It is only a matter of time before the army shoots DRS activists like dogs on the streets if they venture out as the economy deteriorates and democratic rights are further trampled. (From Vannie to Weliveriya, a cynical Lankan would be wont to remark).  Elections next year! What elections with MB, the country’s largest party for better for worse, crushed? Banana republic elections under a military heel!             Read More