MUST WATCH NOW....10,000s Pro and Anti Morsi forces attacking each other

[ErikJ]

19. Tea Party and Muslim Brotherhood: twins separated at birth

The very socially conservative Muslim Brotherhood was trying to put lots of religious Sharia Law into the new Egyptian constitituion which is what sparked this huge protest and ousted Morsi.
Just as the very socially conservative Tea Party is trying to legislate lots of Christian law (abortion, gays, etc) into our government today. 2 Peas in a pod!


May 06, 2013 By Carlos Torres
Tea Party and Muslim Brotherhood: twins separated at birth

Carlos Alberto Torres is a critical social theorist and Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and Director of the Paulo Freire Institute at UCLA. This op-ed appeared originally on May 4 in Truthout.org.

If one were to attend a rally of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt today, one would find faces resembling the uniform phenotype of the Arab world: Women carefully conforming to a self-effacing code of dress with the niqab — a cloth to cover the face — as an emblematic sign of modesty, along with deeply pious followers holding the Misbaha, prayer beads by which to count the 99 Names of Allah. Everyone would adhere to the values of Sharia, a guide to Islamic Law that not only dictates behavior for one's personal or spiritual life but for one's political and social life as well.

The political methodologies of the Muslim Brotherhood employ mass mobilizations, confrontation, and heavy-handed negotiations whereby political capital serves as leverage to preach to and reach the poor while coalitions are driven with other political parties. A key demand for the faithful is the unquestioned application of Sharia law. The Muslim Brotherhood demands that foreign powers cease and desist from any interventions in the Arab world. It seeks to delegitimize the state of Israel. While the Brotherhood has stood in the shadows of Egyptian life for a long time, the Arab Spring of 2011 fueled its participation in electoral politics and opened the door for it to take control of Egypt's parliament and presidency.

If one were to attend a Tea Party rally, however, on the surface one would see a crowd that looks very different: a group of white middle-aged and older men and women, many of whom are retired. One would find people who vote with the Republican Party, and large numbers related to some form of Christian conservatism or born-again philosophy, and who hail largely from the South. These folks reflect middle-to-upper-class America.

Tea Party members participate massively in Republican primaries, and push for selecting highly ideologically pure candidates. Politically, they want to repeal Obamacare and oppose any and all stimulus programs. They reject not only taxes of any kind but also any form of political cohabitation with Democrats.

If one were to look at the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tea Party and see two contemporary social movements that are very different, one must look again: They are twins who were separated at birth. How so? Their contempt for the democratic process, for one, their explicit and overt attempt to undermine any form of a democratic welfare state if they do not explicitly benefit from it, for another. Then there is their inability to establish a democratic dialogue given their vocal distaste for any expression of bipartisan cooperation.

http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/tea-party-and-muslim-brotherhood-245860.aspx