Monday, June 17, 2013

Red Card: Zamalek is too big for you

Off you go
It started off as a bad joke back in 2011 when the Muslim Brotherhood suggested it would field a sporting club to bring its pious practices to national sporting competition. Apparently, they were not kidding, but instead of taking on Zamalek and Ahly, they have decided to simply take them over. The bearded ones have announced that they will contest in Zamalek's upcoming board elections, risking putting Egypt's greatest club at the mercy of political zealots. 

Morsi and company have tested the country's patience with a year's worth of utter incompetence, with everything from polarizing politics and yo-yo economic declarations to televising live their spy fiction diplomacy, making stone age cultural pronouncements and appointing terrorists as governors in the country's key tourist zones. They have managed to float by thanks to an equally, if not even more, incompetent opposition, which has conspired with the Brotherhood to destroy any semblance of a functioning state. 

Taking on Zamalek, however, is a challenge of a totally different dimension. The Muslim Brotherhood may not be too big to temporarily fill the cracks in Egypt's crumbling state, but Zamalek is more durable than failed governing institutions, vastly more popular than the ballet or opera, and feeds passions more strongly than pliable religion. Zamalek is too big for you Mr. Morsi.

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