a more optimistic view from a Revolutionary

I just heard a more optimistic view of the Egyptian runoff on the BBC, HERE, (starting at the 36:48 mark) from Khaled Fahmy, the Chair of our Department of History, whose views on Egypt are always considerably interesting.

Fahmy, who is a Tahrir protestor to the core and hasn’t an Islamist bone in his body, nonetheless calls Mohamed Morsi an “infinitely better” choice than Ahmed Shafik, not only due to the latter’s service as Mubarak’s final Prime Minister, but also due to some of the alarming language (“fascist,” says Fahmy rightly) used by Shafik during his campaign.

Fahmy acknowledges that many people plan to boycott the runoff, but his positive take on the situation is that civil liberties are unlikely to wither away under a Brotherhood government, and that the Islamists in Egypt have been oppressed for decades and “this is their moment” and also the right moment to work out the role of Islam in Egyptian political life. He also makes the interesting case that it’s actually better for the Brotherhood to have both the parliament and the Presidency, thereby eliminating any possible excuse as Egypt judges whether or not they are able to get the job of governing done.

Whether he’s right or not, I don’t know. But it’s nice to hear some optimistic words about the situation.

In my circles of contacts, it remains the case that the pro-Shafik people are exclusively Coptic Christians. And again, I don’t blame the Copts one bit for not wanting an all-Islamist government, and for preferring the fascist they know to the possibly more dangerous one they don’t know.