These are the ”more educated” of Egyptian society, what it tells you is that education does not erase Islamic fanaticism.
Face facts, the lion share of people in the streets are more motivated by the price of bread than about individual liberty for themselves, let alone for another with completely different values. There’s a whole smorgasbord of anti-liberal miscreants -along with a minority of actual Western leaning types- that make up the numbers in the streets protesting Morsi and championing the military takeover.
According to Amr al-Shoura of the independent Doctors Without Rights group, the Federation of Professional Syndicates — consisting of some 18 associations — “and especially the Doctors and Pharmacists Syndicates have been and still are actively mobilizing their forces against the June 30 movement, and in support of Morsi.”
Since the events of June 30, divisive fault lines have emerged within the country’s trade unions and professional syndicates, with leading members of these associations taking sides with the new ruling elites or former President Mohamed Morsi’s ousted regime.
Unions and syndicates have been brought to the forefront of this ongoing conflict, as their leadership, loyalties and politics all come under question.
On July 2, a call for a general strike against the Morsi regime issued by the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) failed to materialize. EFITU’s presidency has since expressed support for the new ruling elites, endorsed by the military council.
On the other hand, prior to and since Morsi’s ouster on July 3, a number of syndicates have moved to show their support for the Islamist president.
Before Morsi’s ascent to power, the Muslim Brotherhood had a negligible presence within Egypt’s blue-collar labor unions, but was tremendously influential within the white-collar professional syndicates. The Brotherhood has historically maintained a strong presence in the Doctors, Dentists, Pharmacists, Veterinarians, Lawyers, Engineers and Teachers Syndicates, winning elections in many of these associations and controlling their boards.
Now, having lost control of the executive and legislative branches of the state, the Brotherhood is resorting to its historic base of power, and, perhaps, their last remaining political refuge — the professional syndicates.
