A year ago, I wrote about the phenomenon of the Brotherhood bloggers and predicted then that bloggers would represent a real problem to the group unless it dealt with them seriously, but no one listened. Today, I feel compelled to go back and talk about this phenomenon after I witnessed several developments. We are not facing a group of amateurs among the young generation in the Muslim Brotherhood trying to draw attention to themselves for personal gains within the group. Rather, this is a harbinger of a slowly-progressing silent revolution, whose voice is gradually rising that may cause future cracks in the group. I can quickly refer to three new features of this phenomenon. First, it has exceeded the personal romantic level. In the past some young bloggers tried to criticize the group over organizational problems that they might have had with the leadership or in order to make certain gains, like rise within the group's ranks. Now the phenomenon has reached the level of substantive criticism of the group's political and religious discourse. The most prominent example of this is the strong stance taken by young bloggers against the group's decision not to participate in April 6 strike, while later urging its members to take part in the May 4 strike. Second, this phenomenon does not depend on specific personalities; new members steadily join the phenomenon to the point where we can talk about the existence of two generations of bloggers on the current scene. The first generation began in 2006 and is led by Magdi Saad and his famous blog 'yalla mish muhim' (Ok, it doesn't matter) and Abdel-Moneim Mahmoud and his blog 'ana ikhwan' (I am Brotherhood), in addition to other bloggers, such as Mohamed Hamza, Mohamed Adel, Islam Lutfi and Abdel-Rahman Rashwan. The second generation has taken a step forward and become more professional in criticizing the group. The most prominent blogger of this generation is Mostafa Al-Naggar, a dentist in his late 20s. He launched a famous blog 'amwag fi bahr al-taghyeer' (Waves in a sea of change), which has become an important window for Brotherhood young members who want to criticize the group calmly and objectively. I will write later about it because of its significance. Among the bloggers of this generation are Abdel-Rahman Ayyash and his blog 'al-ghareeb' (The stranger), Ibrahim Seif and his blog 'iskhar' (Scoff), in addition to other names such as Abdel-Rahman Mansour, Abdo Ibn Khaldoun, Amr Magdi and others. Third, criticism is associated with action. Some bloggers take certain positions to express their anger and criticism of the group. A blogger may refrain from attending organizational meetings, freeze his membership, or refuse to participate in events organized by the group. However the important question remains: What is the weight and influence of the bloggers within the group? This will be elaborated on next week. Khalil Al-ananiis an Egyptian expert on political Islam and democratization in the Middle East and is a senior fellow at Al-Ahram Foundation. E-mail: [email protected]
