Jordan’s MB Unprecedented Rhetoric

Jordan’s MB Unprecedented Rhetoric

The editorial entitled “Why we boycotted demagogic elections?” published on the official site of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group in Jordan, under signature of ” the political editor ” is considered an unprecedented level in the political discourse of the Muslim Brotherhood. It signals the extent of concern and worry felt by the group as a leadership and members towards the harassments, blockade and targeting policies that have become, according to the MB, an official policy against it.


The MB withdrawal from the municipal elections, regardless of the attitude towards “their political interpretation”, is considered a fully witty political step. It has given the group more public rating and added to its power, specially that they did not boycott the elections from the beginning, but they waited till the elections were held, then they declared their boycott due to the huge violations, according to them. They gave their stance a media credibility and made their boycott the most prominent feature in the municipal elections. However, the published article ” why we boycotted ..?” shows that this isn”t only restricted to the issue of the elections. It anatomizes the crisis with the regime and makes it reach unprecedented levels of tension and even a possible explosion!
 
While there is a subtitle in the published article reading “elections which will be followed by others”, there a subtitle which may be considered a novel title for the crisis with the government ” an article which will be followed by others ” . The article moves beyond the MB”s traditional  rhetoric of opposition. It jump publicly and directly to use harshly-worded rhetoric about institutions that come always behind “the red line”!
 


The article was published on the group”s website, not the party”s! unlike the usual division of showing the group leadership as “moderate” and the party leadership “on the other line”. This shows that the state of tension and rage started to infect all levels across the movement”s spectrum. It is actually unhealthy. We do not know whether this is a political requirement or it is unforced error!.
 
The article speaks about a weak government that can do nothing. Using a sharply-worded language, it says:” It is a very transparent election wedding, to the extent that it exposed the constituency, and the incapable government that can do nothing. This issue is the specialization of this authority. It is a battle, not on the enemy frontiers, but on the front of action. Both of them are fronts that deserve from them shedding blood for the sake of victory, even if the government loses its claims of credibility. It doesn”t matter because they can replace it with another government. Those expecting the miserable specifications are so many”.
 
The article confirms its aim of crossing the usual rhetoric and raising the ceiling of sharp criticism, saying:” Soldiers will return to their barracks, and people will be back home and on the nearest holiday, they will talk about the great victory. Some will say that no one can oppose what ” the country ” wants, i.g. the constituency, and that every one must cancel his mind and heart to please “the masters”. However, the undeniable truth is that these masters are standing alone. No people, no land and no law back them. All they possess are: the stick and the carrot, two weapons that create submissive, little, weak and fragile countries for those with a thicker stick, and many carrots”. The article says also:” What the constituency is currently doing ( consciously or unconsciously) is systematic operation for sidelining the Jordanian people, and concentrating all powers in the hands of a group of dignitaries (who respected as persons) but commit mistakes in their policies. Whatever the strength, control and abilities of this group( take as an example Iraq during Saddam”s era) can not be considered a substitute for the Jordanian country whose basis and axis are the people”.
 
The article is concluded with very serious and sensitive sentence:” Don”t turn the country into a fragile spider web, that will be rocked by the summer breezes. What will happen with autumn winds if they blow on you. You should be certain that peoples are patient and can bear but for a limited period. Beware from accelerating impatience, because there are still breaths left”.
 
What is beyond this fiery article?. Is there any serious and intended political message? .. of course: Yes. The writer wants to say: The pressure on the group has reached an unbearable stage and that the internal psychological mobilization and feeling of blockade reached a boiling degree.
 
This does not mean that the group will lose its temper, scrap its peaceful method. It is well known that the group does not think in such a way, but it is a message that says: The heavy psychological pressures on its leaders and members must be eased.
 
Will this message lead to reopening doors of dialogue door and crossing gaps of understanding so as to ease the flagrant state of domestic tensions or will the official reaction be angry and violent with this novel message, to jump to the unknown with a movement that represents- in the current Islamic market – the peaceful moderate face in comparison with, for example, the Salafist Jihad movement.