Blogger repression builds surprising alliances

Posts by Marc Lynch and Ethan Zuckerman address an interesting fact about free speech for bloggers in the Middle East: It isn't only the advocates of a relatively free, secular society who get arrested for blogging. They cite the case of Adb al-Monem Mahmoud, who is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has apparently been arrested because of his activity, though there have been some conflicting reports.

Zuckerman writes:

Marc has argued that support for a blogger whose views happen to align with western critiques of Islam and failure to lobby for the free speech rights of other Egyptian activists sends a complex and contradictory message from the northern blogosphere to bloggers in the Middle East. Are we advocating for free speech, or for speech we're inclined to agree with?

He misses an important point. There's no hypocrisy in agreeing that all bloggers have rights, but being selective about which ones deserve attention. I've given online censorship in the Muslim world only passing attention in this blog; if I'm going to mention just one jailed Egyptian blogger, I'd rather it be Kareem Amer than Mahmoud.

But what makes things more interesting is that censorship is bringing bloggers whom you'd expect to be irreconcilable enemies together. An article on the Muslim Brotherhood's website says:

Muslim Brotherhood activist and blogger Ibrahim El Houdaiby expressed support and solidarity with blogger Sandmonkey, who decided to stop blogging after being intimidated by Egyptian authorities.
 
El Houdaiby blamed the Egyptian authorities for undermining civil liberties in Egypt. "Sandmonkey's decision to stop blogging sends very serious signals about the political climate in Egypt, and the effect of the notorious constitutional amendments on the margins of freedom in the country," he told Ikhwanweb.

Sandmonkey, an anonymous liberal blogger in Egypt, gave it up because "there has been too much heat around me lately. I no longer believe that my anonymity is kept, especially with State Secuirty agents lurking around my street and asking questions about me since that day."

Let's not be fooled. The Muslim Brotherhood believes in Sharia law for all. If they came to power in Egypt, they wouldn't permit freedom of speech. They're supporting liberal bloggers only to strengthen their own position. But freedom sometimes gets its start from unlikely alliances among opposing elements that aren't strong enough to impose their will on others.

Skepticism in plenty is necessary, but it will be interesting to see where this leads.

Linked to from: NPR News Blog