the german priest martin niemoller (1892-1984) wrote the following literary text in the form of a confession, after the end of the second world war, describing the state of cowardice that had befallen german intellectuals and some clergy, including himself after the nazis came to power and executed their opponents:
first, they came for the communists and i did not speak out because i was not a communist; then they came for the socialists and i did not speak out because i was not a socialist; then they came for the trade unionists and i did not speak out because i was not a trade unionist; then they came for the jews and i did not speak out because i was not a jew; then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
it is not easy to be educated and liberal. the real intellectual is the one who believes in human rights, according to the universal declaration, and not as he believes. it is not possible to acquire culture and liberalism in a short period of time or from reading a few books and newspapers or even millions of tweets.
rather, it requires great efforts in studying, reading, and polishing all of that with sweet and bitter experiences and being in an intellectually sound environment. getting rid of the previous cognitive heritage, and accepting what the soul was not accustomed to accepting and is a difficult issue, especially in closed environments which are limited to one sect, religion, or thought like most of our societies.
humans love and feel comfortable with what they know of customs and traditions. it is also not easy for the rest of society to accept those who oppose their beliefs and ridicule their customs, foods, and traditions because of their sanctity and this makes the role of those who wish to be freed from the restrictions of their society difficult.
moreover, our societies push even those who claim openness and liberalism, and graduates of western universities, to support a close person even if he is a member of the most racist, extremist, and backward parties and gatherings.
the egyptian muslim brotherhood party has planted its roots in our homeland since the mid-1940s, and everyone was silent about its presence among us at the time due to their ignorance of the reality of its goals.
they expanded over time in their activities and were joined by almost all the young men from middle-class families, and their work was characterized by silence, focusing on religious issues, and staying away from politics so as not to provoke the authorities.
little by little, those who belonged to them assumed the highest positions upon their return from studying abroad, and this also did not attract anyone’s attention. the sixties marked the beginning of their penetration into the joints of the state especially after they reestablished their party in 1963 under a new name of, wealthy and authoritarian leadership, thus it was the beginning of their golden age which lasted especially after they abandoned their previous prohibition of elections and their false belief in democracy as a means to gain power. this also did not raise the suspicion of the authority.
the power of the party grew politically and financially, and the authority’s fear of some national and sectarian tendencies pushed it to use them, so it supported them in various ways, so they were able to consolidate their victory in every parliamentary election, association, or companies and they were allowed to establish huge financial institutions and charitable societies, so their wealth grew and their greed increased.
however, they mostly chose to appease the government, supporting it with the votes of some of their deputies, and opposing it with the votes of others. it did not take long before they were allowed to control the educational curricula, so they changed it and the teachers’ association, and supplied the schools with an army of brotherhood teachers. they also managed to take over the authority and the ministry of awqaf and the pulpits of mosques and all of this did not raise anyone’s suspicion.
during half a century, the brotherhood became the largest, most important, and most powerful political force on the scene to the extent that they succeeded in removing the accusation of high treason from them when they met with those who occupied their homeland during the occupation and this also did not attract the attention of the authorities.
they also succeeded in covering up all the accusations of financing terrorism, and all that was said about their loyalty to the guide and to the international organization, which never fulfilled the dreams of establishing a caliphate state.
the danger of this party is clear, and we will not be silent and will not be deceived by the claim of some that it is part of kuwait and that its founders were from the nobles. rather, it is a foreign body from society and must be eradicated, and we will continue to strip it until it is revealed to all as happened to them in egypt, the emirates, saudi arabia, sudan, and tunisia and recently in morocco!
note: sudan has confiscated all hotels, real estate, exchange companies, and others belonging to the hamas brotherhood movement.
the question is: what is hamas’ money doing in sudan, which was mainly collected to spend on palestinian education and training?