Egypt’s government alternately repressed the Muslim Brotherhood and used it against the left

Evidence

The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most important Islamist groups in the modern world, had been around since 1928 and was therefore older than the Egyptian republic itself. The Egyptian government had, variously, subjected the group to intense repression or used it as a counterweight against the left. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 209

Categorization

• XREF: Same alternating repression/co-optation pattern toward religious movements that appears across colonial and postcolonial regimes in the reader’s collection (e.g., French West Africa, Indonesia). — connects to: Nasser’s Arab socialism actively suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood and clerical power — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 311; Arab regimes in the 1970s deliberately backed Islamists against secular nationalists and the left — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 372

Broader Connections

• Nasser’s Arab socialism actively suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood and clerical power #expands (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 311
• Arab regimes in the 1970s deliberately backed Islamists against secular nationalists and the left #corroborates (0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 372