The Brotherhood vs Beyonce

Fri, 10/23/2009 - 9:08pm

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has been struggling for some time over how to respond to escalating regime repression, arrests of its most moderate leaders and local organizers, constitutional changes expressly aimed at limiting its political participation, a frenzy over the alleged resignation of its Supreme Guide, and media campaigns aimed at tarnishing its image at home and abroad.  With all that, did it really need to take on... Beyonce?  

 The story, according to Lebanon's al-Akhbar, is that Jay-Z's Destiny recently announced a date in an Egyptian resort on November 6.  Brotherhood Parliamentarian Hamdi Hassan then challenged the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister to defend why she was given a permit to perform in Egypt.  

 Mobilizing outrage against performances by pop tarts is a time-honored Islamist political move, as I used to chronicle regularly back at the old Abu Aardvark site under the title of the "Nancy Ajram-Haifa Wehbi culture wars". It's hardly a surprise that a concert by a sexy American woman makes for an attractive target for whipping up some controversy.

But still... Beyonce?  No doubt they intended to distract attention from their recent internal problems.  But it's one thing to grumble about Shakira or Haifa Wehbi. It's quite another to take on Hova's global hegemony.  Let's see how smart they feel when Kanye West lands in Cairo...

Marc Lynch | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register


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share?

by msbahari on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 12:55pm

how can I share this on facebook?
sharing in the old side was much easier

Empire State of Mind

by johnsonian on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 3:41pm

This could be epic...

haha..

by asante on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 11:32pm

Rightly so.. why does she really have to perform in Egypt?
I see no substantial benefit to Egyptians. There must be
local artists who can do a great job entertaining.

She wants to perform in Egypt

by rayed878 on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 1:17am

She wants to perform in Egypt because she is a human who "wants to perform in Egypt".

lol pathetic

by Alam on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 5:30am

I've just got to say...the article is another pathetic piece of propaganda against popular egyptian opinion/views(or as Abu likes to call it the brotherhood,lol.)...try to remember in a democracy the majority rule...and if they don't want her there then tough...besides i cant help but think if this is a publicity stunt(controvesy)...

What?

by jlwater on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 9:35am

That's a pretty limited view of democracy. Even if the majority doesn't want anything to do with Beyonce they shouldn't impose their will on Egyptians who do.

No Love for Beyonce

by David Acai on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 11:16am

She just can't get any love on here world touring. Probably time to give up on enlightening other countries to pop music and stay home. I know Houston would love to have her perform!

Not Fun.

by janbekster on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 1:08pm

The Muslim Brotherhood, have always been killjoys. Mind you, assuming of course, Beyonce is fun !!!.

khairi janbek.paris/france

There is a reason for this.

by BurberryWoman on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 3:44pm

The Scholar A.B. Johnson has written an interesting short article about this on his blog NotTheology.com

He says:
"Part of what is fueling conflict within the Middle East is competing visions of what a Muslim society or culture should be, and conflicting interpretations of what Islam demands."

He adds that:
"Fundamentalist movements as a whole are rebelling against “secular” modernity. There are regressive campaigns within fundamentalism which overstate the traditional subservient roles of women. This is because one of the hallmarks of “secular” modernity has been women’s emancipation... In the eyes of fundamentalist groups, the modern female pop star embodies all that is wrong with the world."

This explains why the Brotherhood wants to keep Beyonce out of Egypt.

http://nottheology.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/the-muslim-brotherhood-denounce-beyonce/

On Various Occasions....

by janbekster on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 6:31pm

One heard the argument in Arab and Islmamic countries' parliaments, from one religious group or another, or, from the perspective of defending local culture and traditions, the condemnations of allowing the performance of female artists, under the pretext that their attire is most likely to offend local sensibilities. It happens all the time.

As for the question of emancipation of women, I think the Muslim Brotherthood specifically, believes that the emancipation of women is best guaranteed under Islam, and regards non-Mulsim women as being exploited. Therefore, the academic cited here, is of course writing from a western perspective and reasoning.

Also, is the assumption here, that Beyonce is actually a paragon of women's emancipation?.

khairi janbek.paris/france

Reply to Janbekster

by BurberryWoman on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 9:15am

"Also, is the assumption here, that Beyonce is actually a paragon of women's emancipation?"

I believe the argument is that female "pop stars" are an archetype of secular modernity, because of what they can get away with since the time of women's emancipation. And the scholar cites fundamentalism of all religions and simply includes Islam in his generalizing on this topic.

I personally am not largely educated in Islam, but your argument of perspectives got me thinking. The Brotherhood's take on women's emancipation, as you described it, appears to be from a MALE perspective. After all, its a perspective you associate with a BROTHERHOOD. You explained that the Brotherhood wants to limit women to "local sensibilities." I would call men controlling women exploitation. Therefore, you make the Muslim Brotherhood sound extremely exploitative.

A Clarification Ms. Burberry Woman.

by janbekster on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 11:19am

One is neither an Islamist nor a follower of the Brotherhood philosophy, and I am aware that your good self did not imply anything to that effect, therefore, I feel it is up to them to argue their case, which they often do. However, I was merely stating their attitude towards the emnancipation of women, which is incidentally an identical attitude to what actually the "Muslim Sisterhood" holds; a paralell organisation to the "Brotherhood". Consequently, the action in the Egyptian Parliament is only normal in my books at least, whether it will be successful or not is another matter.

In any case, none of the Arab countries are secular, since they all have a state religion except Syria, but there also, the constitution declares that the president should be a Muslim. Therefore, it is not really surprising to have arguments away from what secular traditions stand for. Moreover, the question of offended sensibilities, is not limited to Islamists ot "Brotherhood/Sisterhood" objections, but also more often than not, to many traditionalist and conventionalist/non-religious Arab female as well as male politicians.

khairi janbek.paris/france

There is one surefire

by Lure D. Lou on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 9:06pm

way of keeping US popstars out of your country....don't buy tickets. But if enough people want to go what's it to a anyone else...if you don't like it stay home.
Any country which has men deciding for its women is bound to fail even if they have a brainwashed sisterhood yessing them in their crack-pot pieties.
Beyonce Knowles is God's gift to humanity...only if you are man enough to recognize it.

re-there is one...

by janbekster on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 7:41am

It is usually a normal practice, for the Islamists/traditonalists to press the various Islamic and Arab governments to adopt their political agenda. In this context, they oppose in the various parliaments, and urge the populace to boycott events, such as the aforementioned one.

As for the people in general, they tend to follow their own tastes/tastelessness as they see fit ultimately. However, having said that, governments tend to, sometimes, comply with Islamist/traditionalist demands, when they feel that, they can buy their silence when it comes to passsing more unpopular laws which the Islamists/ traidionalists oppose vehemently, in what can be termed as; political bartering procedure.

I can't talk about the manliness or otherwise of others, but for myself, one is rather comfortable with one's own sexuality thank you.

khairi janbek.paris/france