My Interview with the BBC's Up All Night

I am still mourning the loss of more than 1000 Egyptians who died after a ferry sunk in the Red Sea. I am still outraged by the accident in which I am certain no one will be held accountable for the losses like so many accidents where dozens of Egyptians are killed for negligence reasons.

I went on Friday evening to the BBC studios headquarters with a friend of mine with whom I had dinner plans after. The two of us were really excited about it.

The part of Egypt’s politics was about 25 minutes between the half hour and top of the hour news bulletins. I only had like 5 minutes which were really very short to say everything I want after I listened to three interviews on Egypt’s politics from the studio. The other three interviews were with Essam El Eraian, a leader from the Muslim Brotherhood, Kefaya representative and a BBC Egyptian reporter who reports in English from Cairo.

The Muslim brotherhood leader started his interview with a fake assumption that the Muslim Brotherhood has a sweeping majority in Egypt. Big joke, big time. Without the support of the regime and gains from the political equation that the regime maintaining which is, it is either the Muslim Brotherhood or the current regime, no one would have heard them. This guy considers 26% turnout of the last Egyptian parliamentarian elections a sweeping popularity. This percentage is according to the ministry of justice, so we can with relaxation divide it by two, so the Egyptian people participation will be maximum 15%. This is the sweeping popularity according to the Muslim Brotherhood, then best of luck. In 1949, one of Egypt’s rare free fair legislative elections where the Muslim Brotherhood participated, they did not win one single seat in parliament. Egyptians did not vote for them and the opposition won and it was represented in Al Wafd Party at that time. Today, they are using the position of the corrupt regime and the regime is using them as threat. In fact, they have no political weight.

Then came the representative of the Kefaya movement who claimed in the interview that Kefaya does not have a political agenda and do not speak politics. Liar, big time. Here are quotes from their mission statement on Kefaya website:
“Declaration to the Nation: The Cure of the Ongoing American Occupation and Zionist Devastation is Political Reform.”
“First, The odious assault on Arab native soil through:
The US occupation of Iraq; The Zionist devastation daily wreaked on the Palestinian people bordering on a holocaust; and The designs, including the Broader Middle East Initiative, to recast the chart and fate of the Arab region and people.
All civil and political efforts must be massed and coordinated to ward off this peril to the future survival of the Arab peoples and society.”

I advise them to request a membership in the Security Council and still remain not meddling with politics! This is one of the reasons why this movement lost credibility. I was talking once to a taxi driver who was watching with me one of Kefaya demonstrations and asked him why aren’t you shouting with them? His answer was simple and reflected at the same time the smartness and intelligence of the ordinary Egyptian citizens which I trust more than those who are hoisting slogans that they do not understand. He told me in Arabic “ya hanem, el nas dol ma3rafoush ya3ni eh regheef el 3eef” which means “Ms, those people do not know the value of a loaf of a bread”. I asked him why? He answered: “They are shouting down with the United States and we are incapable of fighting of Hosni Mubarak, do they think we can stand in front of the US. This is heresy.” I have heard so many rumors from neutral liberals that Kefaya has been infiltrated by Syria through some members that traveled to Syria and got its support.

The BBC reporter opinions were like any other Egyptian TV or radio reporter worker for channel one or el pernameg el 3am. She was heralding the take over of the Muslim Brotherhood if the current regime is gone. And she was promoting the idea of grooming the son of the president. She apparently did not hear about the Egyptian Club of Judges battle against the regime and the regime’s plot to create the Muslim brotherhood as their only alternative. They are fighting to win their independence and they need support instead of promising the Muslim Brotherhood and the son of the President by a BBC staff. The secret message that regime is sending to the entire world that is either me and my son or the Muslim Brotherhood.

Then came my turn, I said very quickly that the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys no credibility and if TV, Radio and press outlets were opened up to the majority of the silent liberals the country will move forward, and that the Egyptian society was subjected a plan of destruction since 1952 that silenced and oppressed all powers of society.

I have to admit that the BBC is pioneering in bringing the unheard voices from countries like mine LIVE on their shows. I had never thought of that before. I had never thought that my blog will take me to the BBC studios. People around the world are used to listening to the same broken records of the Egyptian media, time to listen to citizens. And I am a proud Egyptian citizen.

I would like to mention the best part about the interview which is my friends who listened to me and sent me their opinions by email and also my friends who left me comments on my blog. I want to thank them all. Thank you for your support, I really needed it.