Key Note Speaker: President and Head of Public of
Communications (2 people) of the Nuer Party.
This has been and probably will be
the most interesting meeting we will have. The Nuer party is the official party
of the Salafi group. The Salafi group is very similar to the United States
Republican party (especially the family values movement) except the Nuer party
is based in Islam instead of Christianity. They are the largest Egyptian party
by membership.
This
was the first meeting that was done in two languages. Arabic and English was
used with Professor Hammed as a translator. Overall I was left with this
impression of the Salafi party.
1)
Their leadership is very smart and well spoken
2)
They are committed to cleaning up corruption that
was ubiquitous in the Mubarak regime
a.
This is extremely important because the front runner
(Mussa) was part of the Mubarak regime, and the levels of corruption in Egypt
are a major issue.
3)
Much like politicians they will say what the
listener wants to hear
a.
I say this because they were asked to comment on
the criticism that parties like the Nuer party and Freedom and Justice parties
have stepped into the power void created by the revolution but do not represent
the revolution at all.
b.
They gave a very eloquent answer about their involvement
even before the revolution, and while they were in opposition to Mubarak well
before the revolution. They did not join the revolution until the square had
been occupied (the pivotal point being the fight to occupy it).
4)
They Plan to implement Sharia Law
a.
I have to qualify this by saying that I have
asked many questions about Sharia Law, and although I am not an expert I can
safely say that the media completely misrepresents it and most people reading
this in the states have only heard a very spun version of Sharia law.
b.
I cannot deny the western world may find the eye
for an eye mentality brutal and primitive. However, Sharia law would find court
execution non-majority persons (mentally handicapped) brutal and immoral.
5)
They do strongly believe in democracy
a.
The main difference between the Salafi (Nuer)
and Muslim Brotherhood (freedom and Justice) is their inner workings. The Muslim
brotherhood much resembles the inner political stricter of US parties while the
Nuer party is democratic within as well and emphasizes merit within their
ranks.
6)
Their treatment of woman is questionable.
a.
In the meeting the Nuer party said that they
wish to create a government that enforces the concept that all men, woman, ethnicities,
genders, and religions are created equal.
b.
However,
I am very skeptical (so are many Egyptians), because the Nuer party was
forced to include one woman member, which is evidence in of itself, but when
they showed pictures of the party, instead of the picture of the woman there
was a picture of a flower.
