O Brotherhood, where art thou?

CAIRO—The noise could be heard from well down the block in the muddy streets of Shubra al-Kheima, a grim industrial suburb just north of Cairo. A chanting sign-waving crowd, about 50-strong, worked its way through the Mit Nama neighborhood, singing the praises of Dr. Mohammed El-Beltagui — the district’s incumbent parliamentarian and a member of ...

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images

CAIRO—The noise could be heard from well down the block in the muddy streets of Shubra al-Kheima, a grim industrial suburb just north of Cairo.

A chanting sign-waving crowd, about 50-strong, worked its way through the Mit Nama neighborhood, singing the praises of Dr. Mohammed El-Beltagui — the district’s incumbent parliamentarian and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest and best-known Islamist group.

“The symbol of the anchor,” they chanted, referring to the Beltagui’s electoral logo — a key element in a district where illiteracy runs high. “Reform and change! He doesn’t sleep and he doesn’t lie!”

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Ashraf Khalil is a Cairo-based journalist. This article is an edited excerpt of his book, Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation.

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