The Muslim Brotherhood System: Illustration via the Privot Case
May 20, 2016
by Willy Wolsztain
More a religious political sect than a spiritual movement, founded in 1928 by the Egyptian Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood carries a totalitarian vision of the religion. In Europe they are attempting to Islamize society in a gradual manner, with their ultimate end the installation of a worldwide caliphate. In order to grasp their true nature, it is enough to observe up close the Muslim Fair of Brussels (FMB), one of their flagship annual events, along with the Moslem Expo (Antwerp) and the Muslim Expo (Charleroi).
Promotion of the female Muslim dress code, segregation of men and women during conferences, omnipresent prayers, Koranic rants. At the FMB there reigns an atmosphere of obscurantism, bigotry and conservatism. There the Aksahum Foundation supports the charitable works of Hamas. One can hear the diatribes of hate against Shi’ite Islam (Hassan Iquiousson at the FMB 2015). Anti-Semitic preachers are invited (FMB 2104, Muslim Expo, Charleroi 2016) Works by Youssef al-Qaradawi, the notorious leading thinker and spiritual guide of the Brotherhood, are distributed.
The founding father Hassan al-Banna always present
The ideology that permeates the Muslim Fair is inspired directly by the founding father, Hassan al-Banna. See his 1947 manifesto with its 50 programmed points. One will note in passing how many ideas also influence the Islamic political pressure in Europe (claims on the Islamic veil, segregation between the sexes, family law, censorship of media and art, etc.) A prophetic microcosm, the Fair prefigures the ideal macrocosm according to the Brotherhood, the exact opposite of a liberal Islam open to the values of individual liberty, democracy, humanism and progress.
We examine the Brotherhood career of the Islamologist Michael Privot. We have already dealt with his case elsewhere. In an exemplary manner, it illustrates the “Leninist perspective of taking control”, put into practice by the Brotherhood, to use the happy formula of the Egyptian historian, Tewfik Aclimandos.
A completely unusual approach for a member of the Brotherhood, Michael Privot carried out a Brotherhood “coming out” in 2008. In perfect contrast to the spectacle of the Muslim Fair, Privot presents the European Muslim Brotherhood, self-styled as “fed up with the virtues of democracy, human rights, the nation of laws and responsible citizenship”. Interviewed eight years later after having said he slammed the Brotherhood door, he gave us the same angelic serenade. He shows “the tip of the ear”, however. “One has to take the example of Millî Görüş.” Millî Görüş, the Turkish Islamist movement, conservative, totalitarian, close in spirit to the Muslim Brotherhood. Since 2012, Michael Privot claims to have broken with the Brotherhood. In truth, that is false. Right up to today he remains closely tied to the active Brotherhood structures in Belgium. And here is the proof.
According to a 2008 American report, “The Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium”, Michael Privot co-chaired the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Students Associations (FEMYSO), one of the top organizations linked to the Brotherhood. In 2004, he entered the administrative council of the Educational Islamic Cultural Complex of Verviers — Assahaba Mosque (CECIV) as treasurer, a few months after the establishment of this non-profit. In 2007 he became vice secretary. He only left the board of the CECIV at the beginning of 2015. Not without leaving behind him a person of confidence, namely Julie “Noor” Pascoet, who joined the board at the end of 2014 as secretary. She joined Hajib El Hajjaji see below, who then sat on the board of CECIV since 2010, as well as Frank “Amin” Hensch, president and imam of CECIV. Pascoet is also a close collaborator of Privot at the head of ENAR (European Network Against Racism), which he leads in a professional role. She worked for Islamic Relief Worldwide, a very important international charitable NGO linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Here, for example, the European Parliament, which up until now has presented the world every month with sweeping resolutions on cardinal issues such as ‘the situation of LGBTQ people in Uganda’, and threatened to frown on anyone who does not fully comply (even in faraway Oceania) or meet the expectations of the LIBE Committee [European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs] in Brussels. We look now at the agendas that focus on “fundamental” issues curtailed because of COVID-19, and what we see is that all human rights issues have been deleted without a second thought.