Nous nous noyons un peu dans la somme de commentaires quotidiens inspirés par les événements égyptiens, les «Dictators», «Muslim Brotherhood», et autres «riots» (émeutes) prononcés avec l'insistance des inquiets. Aux Etats-Unis, la paranoïa des plus conservateurs prend de la place, fait toujours beaucoup de bruit, et camoufle ce qui apparaît plutôt comme une méconnaissance de l'Egypte n'empêchant pas un intérêt soudain pour l'actualité.
Glenn Beck, le journaliste star de la chaîne conservatrice Fox News, s'excite devant une carte de l'Egypte, expliquant à l'aide de grands gestes et de punaises -représentant des sourires, des puits de pétrole ou des flammes en carton- comment l'Egypte est au coeur d'une conspiration internationale orchestrée par les marxistes qui aboutira à l'installation d'un Califat anti Amérique.
A voir pour le croire, en cliquant ici.
Ce grand moment d'hystérie télévisée résume assez bien l'angoisse que suscite l'Egypte chez les conservateurs américains, chacun y allant de sa théorie du complot islamo-gaucho-terroristo-révolutionnaire et des risques d'effet domino dans la région, comparant l'Egypte à l'Iran, et s'emmêlant les crayons entre les gentils, les méchants, les démocrates, etc. Ici, Anne Bayefsky compare Mohammed El Baradei à Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Dans un tout autre registre, je retiens le choix éditorial du magazine féministe de renom Ms. traitant l'Egypte en donnant la parole à Nawal El Saadawi. Ce pilier de féminisme égyptien, enseignant régulièrement aux Etats-Unis, offre son témoignage depuis la place Tahrir, rappelant que les femmes manifestent en masse en Egypte. En creux, on lit aussi qu'« elles ne sont pas toutes voilées ». A lire ici.
Cette militante de toujours, emprisonnée par Sadate en 1981, raconte comment à 80 ans, elle vit cette révolution. Extrait : Young people set up the tents for rest a few hours at night, so the mothers of infants and their children would no longer be on the ground in the cold and the rain. Hundreds of young girls walk free, chanting-and not one has been sexually harassed or molested. The chants are for freedom, dignity and equality-and many are led by women-with men following. Coptic Christians are side by side with Muslims. Even some of the youth of the Muslim Brotherhood told me, « We disagree with some your writings but love you because you did not change opportunistically, you have been consistent. » (...)
Et il y aussi toutes ces voix apaisées ou apaisantes, parfois un peu trop discrètes. Je note les propos de l'historien Juan Cole, directeur du Centre d'études sur l'Asie du Sud de l'université du Michigan. Interrogé par le think tank Institute for Policy studies sur « l'islamophobie, l'islamofascisme et l' ‘angoisse de l'Amérique' dans le monde musulman », cette discussion entre le chercheur et John Feffer est utile pour cerner la perspective américaine sur l'Egypte et le monde musulman, notamment la rhétorique républicaine. A lire ici. En voici un extrait, en anglais.
John Feffer : You've written that Muslims suffer from "America anxiety," the perception that America is determined to undermine Muslim religious identity and take resources from Muslim lands. Has this anxiety diminished at all in the Obama era?
Juan Cole : As Obama withdraws from Iraq, one of the major sources of America anxiety is declining, namely the perception during the Bush era of the United States as a grasping, aggressive militaristic force in the region. The successful withdrawal from Iraq will reassure the publics in that region that the United States doesn't have the intention to occupy a major Arab country forever.
On the other hand, the collapse of the peace process that Obama attempted to initiate between Palestinians and Israelis will not redound to the U.S. credit in the Arab world. That form of America anxiety, which centers on a perceived U.S. unwillingness to pressure Israel to cease its settlement of the West Bank, will continue. And we might see new forms of America anxiety around these mass protest movements in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and less so Algeria -- to the extent that the United States is a status quo power, that the United States liked things the way they were, that the crowds may see the United States as unhelpful to their political objectives. That would be another black eye for Washington in the region.
John Feffer : Have we seen the end of the term "Islamofascism"? Or does this concept still hold sway in influential circles?
Juan Cole : I don't think the term was ever very popular in most of the State Department. Of course, the people stationed in the Muslim world for the State Department would have been in contact with local people who objected to this way of speaking. But there were elements or are elements in the Pentagon and maybe some in the law enforcement agencies who do want to configure Islam as a successor to the great Central European challenges -- communism and fascism -- that faced us in 20th century.
(...) However, if you look at the midterm elections, the rhetoric of many of the candidates toward Muslim Americans was quite extreme. I expect the accusation of Islamofascism to resurface in the next presidential campaign. People will try it out as a campaign tactic.
I think the Republican leadership, Rudy Giuliani and others, is committed to demonizing Muslims as a campaign tactic. It worked for them with regard to communism in the old days, and they want to see if they can get a rise out of the American public by demonizing Muslims. It's just fear-mongering politics as usual.