A post that Essam al-Erian, the acting president of the Freedom and Justice Party, made on Twitter in which he accused leftist parties of receiving funds from abroad, submitting to foreign powers and ignoring the role of religion in society has sparked an angry response on Facebook and Twitter.
Toqadom al-Khateeb, a member of the National Association for Change, called for Erian to be brought to trial for accusing the left of "defaming religion," adding that Erian's statements constitute a clear accusation of atheism and calling for the trial of that “ignorant liar.”
Leftist activist Wael Khalil said, "The problem is not with the opinion expressed by Erian. The problem is that his statement coincides with Brotherhood campaigns against Hamdeen Sabbahi and Mohamed ElBaradei — and now the left as well. There is a trend within the Brotherhood to attack other factions, which is not good."
Wael Gamal, a journalist, wondered what benefit the Brotherhood would reap from Erian's statements, particularly since his statements criticize a faction that belongs to the revolution.
Haitham Mohammadein, a socialist leader, called on citizens to take to the streets on Wednesday to reject the IMF's envoy's visit to Egypt and Erian's statements.
"You should be the last one to talk about foreign influence and funding," he said, addressing Erian.
Erian had tweeted, " Foreign influence and funding, security fears, disintegration, disregard of the role of religion, even regarding religion with contempt, elitism and haughtiness are among the main reasons for the failure of the left."
Erian added that the experiences of other nations may not be reproduced in other environments, particularly when they are pitted against cultures as strong as the Islamic one, and called on Arab leftists to examine the reasons why the leftist and communist movements in the Arab world have failed.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
