Wednesday 2 February 2011

PEW Research suggest the Muslim Brotherhood will be a shoe-in

The demonstrators in Egypt want democracy.  That fits with the PEW research findings: 59% say they “prefer democracy”.
But who will they vote for?
Look at the PEW figures on the attitudes of Egyptian Muslims (90% of the Egyptian population).  They:
·      Support Hamas: 49%
·      Think Islam playing a large role in society is a good thing: 95%
·      Believe there is a struggle between modernisers and fundamentalists: 31%
o   And side with the fundamentalists: 59%
·      Believe in gender segregation at work: 54%
·      Believe in stoning to death for adultery: 82%
·      Believe in whipping and/or cutting off hand for theft: 77%
·      Believe in the death penalty for apostasy: 84%
Now, I ask: which political group in Egypt is most closely aligned with those attitudes?  Clue: it’s not the Egyptian Greens or the Egyptian Liberal Party (both of these are real parties!).  Clue: it’s the Muslim Brotherhood.  Whoops, let it out of the bag….
[BTW: some of those figures on stoning, whipping, death, etc, are pretty scary aren't they?  For a seemingly secular society with a long and distinguished history?]
Source:
“PEW Global Attitudes Project”, December 10, 2010.  Here.