Four years after the creation of MisrDigit@l, your blog has become known well beyond Egypt’s borders. Do you believe that the work you have done in favour of freedom of expression in Egypt will set an example for other countries? Can Egyptian bloggers become a model?
Some believe that this will happen. I have often been invited to other countries to share my experiences. In our region, the Middle East or the entire Arab region, I believe however is similar in countries governed by a military dictatorship or a monarch. The media is controlled and civil society does not exist; in most of these countries political parties do not exist. So it becomes possible to work on the internet or find alternative solutions – because some countries do not have solid infrastructures like Egypt, for example, and different solutions have to be found so as to do what we are doing here, which is activating civil society, implementing political activism and the press. One does not necessarily need to use the internet. In Algeria for example, the internet is not so good, but it is possible to use FM radio stations, independent networks and I think that is useful. Some countries are able to copy us, as happened in Morocco where there are bloggers filming police officers taking bribes. And bloggers in Bahrain filming the police inflicting violence on the Shiites. There are many experiences similar to the Egyptian one.
What do you think is the difference between journalism and blogging, if there really is one?
I believe that here in this country in particular, the border is slightly ambiguous, because journalism is not working adequately. There are official newspapers, independent ones and those of the opposition. But they are all controlled by the State. To open a newspaper one must obtain permission from a committee controlled by the National Democratic Party, which is in power. And one cannot obtain permission to open a TV station. It is possible to open a radio station. But absolutely everything broadcast must be approved by the secret services. So what we have created in a means of communication that could not be censored, is free from all advertising, donors, political ideologies and all other influences. The blog is free. And MisrDigit@l achieved all this, there is no advertising, those who write are independent Egyptian political activists who cannot be intimidated by the State security services, and they publish whatever they wish to.
Why did you decide to run the risk personally opening a blog? How has MisrDigit@l changed over the years?
In 2004 I started to write my diary on line because at the time there was a huge amount of political activity in Egypt, with Kefaya and the Movement for Change, the opposition parties, the socialists, the liberals and other activists’ organisations. The Egyptians were battling for change, they thought the regime had been in power for too long, 25 years, and so they took to the streets shouting and chanting against Mubarak and his family. The media did not report on what was happening and I thought it was necessary to follow these events more closely to report on them, so I personally started to take photographs and videos and publish them on my blog. This resulted in people, also from abroad, starting to visit my website, to find out what was really happening in my country. That was in the beginning, but then I started to follow other events, such as terrorist attacks, strikes, sectarian violence, and also trials. People started to send me their own material, filmed in the streets with mobile phones, so I started to collect material on torture inflicted by the police, sexual assaults and electoral fraud as well as violence and incidents.
What does freedom of expression represent for you?
It means at least the freedom to complain about injustices suffered, being able to say what one really thinks, choosing who is to govern the country or people’s lives, choosing the religion one belongs to, one’s credo, and being able to vote in elections.
You have had significant problems in the past, and you still have problems with the authorities in this country. Why do you stay? DO you think you play an important role with regards to freedom of expression and human right in Egypt?
I remain because I still can. Perhaps, when I no longer can, I will flee, or perhaps not. Some people say that we bloggers are the real new opposition, the new civil society, the new press. But I do not think so. We will have a free country. We really will have freedoms such as a free press, active and working NGOs and real political parties, not approved and manipulated by the government and that do not dare cross certain red lines. Our duty is to push people to do their jobs. I believe that bloggers are capable of inciting the reawakening of civil society after a long sleep. Civil society is now acting when issues such as the rights of women, children, workers and farmers are discussed.
Are there any political parties that support you. Or any that you and those who write for MisrDigit@l identify with?
No, none. I have been disappointed by political parties ever since I was a child. I believed in the ideologies of some of those parties, but was disappointed by the way they governed Egypt. Some of my ideas are liberal, some left-wing, some Islamist, some nationalist-Egyptian and the combination is me. Me and my political viewpoint, and I do not need to obey the rules of the Left, of the Liberals or the Islamists.
Do you believe your country will experience a positive evolution in the future? Do you think society is discovering a new political awareness? Are the bloggers currently in prison not paying an excessively high price?
This is the price we must pay. If we really wish to change our country we must accept the rules of this game. And as in all games, you win some and you lose some. We are not Gandhi or Nelson Mandela or other great people; they remained in prison for decades. As far as awareness is concerned, I do believe that in some cases we have managed to make people more aware of their rights, especially those who were tortured by corrupt police officers in prisons. We have made people more aware of sexual attacks and electoral fraud… But our work is not done, because Egyptians need the experience greater awareness, especially regards to choosing who will govern this country when it becomes a real democracy. This because, at times, when democracy is experienced suddenly the wrong people come to power. I believe that is what happened in Gaza or Algeria or even in Europe, in Germany during the Thirties with the Nazis. So first of all, people must get to know who they are choosing, so these people cannot play with their religious or nationalist feelings, or terrorise or intimidate them. If free elections were held now, that lot (the Muslim Brotherhood, the Radical Islamist Movement, editor’s note) would win.
Translation by Francesca Simmons