A misunderstanding of the situation in Egypt

Your correspondent Michael Moriarty (‘The threat from fundamentalists’, Irish Examiner, Aug 20) is basically arguing against doing anything to assist the four Irish citizens detained in Cairo. In doing so, he makes at least three unwarranted assumptions.

The first is that, having lived in Egypt in 1975-80, he understands the present situation regarding demonstrations. Things were very different then and demonstrations were much rarer. The current situation follows a revolution and a military coup — the society is in turmoil.

The second is that anyone taking part in demonstrations forfeits their democratic and human rights. The right to demonstrate and protest is a basic democratic right and there is no evidence that these Irish citizens did other than exercise this right.

The third is the description of the demonstrators as ‘fundamentalists’. This is a catch-all pejorative term often used to describe all political movements involving Muslims — again without argument or evidence. In dealing with the complexities of politics and religion in Egypt and the Middle East today it is about as useful as labelling Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the DUP as Christian fundamentalists.

In fact, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in practice bears no resemblance to, for example, the Taliban or the regime in Iran, and is more moderate. The period of Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt left a great deal to be desired but did not involve atrocities like those of recent weeks.

The effect of all these false assumptions is to contribute to the already widespread prejudice against, and demonisation of, all Muslim people.

John Molyneux,

Steering Committee

Irish Anti-War Movement,

Drimnagh,

Dublin 12