Letter to the Editor: “Nonviolent resistance by the people”

In an article on Egypt in the last publication I feel the protests and the Muslim Brotherhood were both portrayed unfairly and would like to clear up some misconceptions.  First, the protests described as violent in the article were mostly nonviolent protests.  Protest organizers, like Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, promoted nonviolent resistance and the majority of attacks were against protesters by Mubarak supporters.  It’s truly incredible how little fighting came about when you consider how violent revolutions tend to be.  The French Revolution and English Civil War (1640s) demonstrated that getting rid of a bad leader never guarantees a better government will come, but as of Feb. 12 the military has promised to help establish a civilian government.  If successful, this revolution will change the Middle East by setting an example of successful reform through nonviolent resistance by the people.  In contrast, the American military has been fighting in Iraq since 2003 and still has no permanent government set up.

Second, the article includes a quote predicting the Muslim Brotherhood will “destroy the country” and I’m afraid the Brotherhood is mistakenly associated with Al Qaeda.  To be clear: Al Qaeda hates the Muslim Brotherhood because the Brotherhood renounces violence and supports participating in elections.  The Brotherhood is the worlds’ largest and oldest Islamic movement, a grass-roots organization founded by a school teacher.  Although it’s unfortunate that the Brotherhood is against Zionism, the sad truth is that the majority of the Middle East hates Israel.  We don’t, however, need to worry about war because the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel has been promised to be upheld and we have supplied Israel with enough nukes to assure the destruction of any country attacking it.  I don’t know why the United States gave a tyrant $1.5 billion a year in aid to begin with, but this movement should remind us all that people can work together to take control of their own fate against oppressive power much like we did July 4, 1776.

Ben Eversole