الخميس، 31 يناير 2013
The Day I Met Gamal El-Banna
El-Banna dedicated his life to two causes. The first was the rejuvenation of Islamic jurisprudence, which he believed had been overtaken by a deeply rigid and innovation-aversive mindset that he saw as having clouded the essentially progressive nature of the religion. The second cause, which had been deeply overshadowed by the first, was his leftism.
Nearly a year ago, my friend and brilliant journalist Jess Hill informed me she was looking for an interpreter to do an interview with El-Banna, asking me to find her someone. I immediately volunteered to do it in exchange for cheesecake, being genuinely excited about the idea of meeting the man.
I was given a landline to call him to set the appointment. I called, and nothing happened. After a couple of days of trying, finally someone picked up. A senior, calm and immensely reassured voice answered, and it was him. Within 30 seconds the interview was set, and a couple of days later we went to see the man.
We were lost for quite a bit in the mazes of old Cairo until we finally found the building where he lived. Once you enter his office, the first thing that will make you gasp is the sheer amount of books he owned. There were thousands of books, categorised, sorted out alphabetically and thematically, and many more were on the floor waiting to be sorted.
Your eyes would not have mistaken how old El-Banna was. But they would also not mistake how lucid he was. He was writing an article for Al-Masry Al-Youm when we met him, on traditional pen and paper to be sure. He was generous with his time, answered all of our questions, and he invited me to visit him on a friendly basis. I did try that one time, but I was informed by his assistant that he was not of good health at the time. Regrettably, I never saw him again.
El-Banna was the half-brother of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan El-Banna. In fact, Gamal El-Banna's last name wasn't even El-Banna, but he took up the name as his pen name. He held a genuine and profound respect for Hassan El-Banna whom he called "Al-Ustath Hassan" and not Sheikh Hassan, holding on the idea that only an Azhar graduate could carry the mantle of "Sheikh," and Hassan El-Banna wasn't. He talked for ages about the tenacity of Hassan El-Banna's dedication to building the Brotherhood, and how the man was an organisational genius in his opinion. Simultaneously, he was also in deep disapproval of what the Brotherhood - which he never joined - was turning into in the last days of his half-brother's life. As for the Brotherhood today, well, he loathed it. He believed in the separation of religion and politics, and he believed in progressivism, two things he saw the current Brotherhood as the absolute opposite of.
It is unclear who will carry forward the school of thought that El-Banna represented. But until one or more such names do come forward, El-Banna's huge body of work alone is something that would take years to read.
On the way out, I took the picture above. He also told me a very interesting historic fact about the desk in the lower part of the photo. But that is, well, for another day.
RIP.
Your eyes would not have mistaken how old El-Banna was. But they would also not mistake how lucid he was. He was writing an article for Al-Masry Al-Youm when we met him, on traditional pen and paper to be sure. He was generous with his time, answered all of our questions, and he invited me to visit him on a friendly basis. I did try that one time, but I was informed by his assistant that he was not of good health at the time. Regrettably, I never saw him again.
El-Banna was the half-brother of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan El-Banna. In fact, Gamal El-Banna's last name wasn't even El-Banna, but he took up the name as his pen name. He held a genuine and profound respect for Hassan El-Banna whom he called "Al-Ustath Hassan" and not Sheikh Hassan, holding on the idea that only an Azhar graduate could carry the mantle of "Sheikh," and Hassan El-Banna wasn't. He talked for ages about the tenacity of Hassan El-Banna's dedication to building the Brotherhood, and how the man was an organisational genius in his opinion. Simultaneously, he was also in deep disapproval of what the Brotherhood - which he never joined - was turning into in the last days of his half-brother's life. As for the Brotherhood today, well, he loathed it. He believed in the separation of religion and politics, and he believed in progressivism, two things he saw the current Brotherhood as the absolute opposite of.
It is unclear who will carry forward the school of thought that El-Banna represented. But until one or more such names do come forward, El-Banna's huge body of work alone is something that would take years to read.
On the way out, I took the picture above. He also told me a very interesting historic fact about the desk in the lower part of the photo. But that is, well, for another day.
RIP.
السبت، 26 يناير 2013
An Unforgettable Photo From A Protest In Cairo
January 26th, 2013. In the heat of protests and exchanges near the Ministerial Cabinet building. I'll remember this photo for, well, quite a bit.
الثلاثاء، 22 يناير 2013
Updated: Egypt State TV Under Tight Control?
More and more reports as of late that Egypt state TV has been under tighter control by the MB. Well, we know that the information minister (a position the revolution was meant to abolish) is an MB member. I can make the following observations as I watch those channels:
1- I can't see big-name opposition members calling or showing up in any of the programs. Many claim that certain names are banned from being allowed inside the building. Here is one sample of some names. The newspaper isn't the most credible, but they cite a named credible source: http://new.elfagr.org/Detail.aspx?secid=1&nwsId=248282&vid=2#.UP69qqFesWU
2- All opposition figures that actually do make it to the programming are either second or third tier kind of names. Their influence on the programming is often usually weak due to lack of name power or personal capabilities.
3- I have not seen a single programme that had opposition-only guests. But I have seen shows that have MB/Islamist only guests, as well as MB/Islamists and opposition together. Again: never opposition only.
4- A lot of effort is going into pumping up Morsi's image.
Add to that the fact that the paper version of the Arabic Al-Ahram has become - once more - a useless piece of propaganda with almost no useful or objective journalistic content.
Back to TV. Some have been voicing their concerns. Recently, a very notable example, Hala Fahmy a State TV Presenter held a burial shroud on air against what she claimed was the bias of State TV against the opposition and its intentional omission of their news.
Another interesting moment was when another State TV presenter (and former presidential candidate, and current opposition member) Bothaina Kamel broke the script for a couple of seconds during the news broadcast to say "and we're still with the Ikhwani news broadcast," adding the word "ikhwani" to the regular segue line.
Some might argue that the claims against the bias of state media are exaggerated, some argue they are under-estimated. One thing for sure. This is not a sufficiently objective, unbiased and professional news operation to me.
Update:
Egyptian Journalist and TV Presenter Shahira Amin, who was widely lauded for quitting State TV during the revolution due to its bias in the coverage of the events (then returning to the institution after the revolution), has just kindly posted her take on the subject in the comment section below. Shahira is of course a well recognised name in TV journalism, and she most recently interviewed President Morsi during the constitutional declaration crisis. I am sharing her comment here:
In case there are indeed no "blacklists" unlike the many reports, can we then see El-Baradei or Sabbahi on State TV? Let's see then.
Update: Shahira also added:
Egyptian Journalist and TV Presenter Shahira Amin, who was widely lauded for quitting State TV during the revolution due to its bias in the coverage of the events (then returning to the institution after the revolution), has just kindly posted her take on the subject in the comment section below. Shahira is of course a well recognised name in TV journalism, and she most recently interviewed President Morsi during the constitutional declaration crisis. I am sharing her comment here:
"Dear Bassem, you know that I quit the" propaganda machine" early on in the Revolution in protest at State TV's coverage of the uprising. I returned a few months after the revolution but am only producing a weekly show "In The Hot Seat" on Nile TV. I am no longer Deputy Head of the channel as I was before. I can tell you that the bias comes from the anchors, presenters and editors themselves.Some are scared and practice self censorship to keep their jobs .I can assure you that restrictions today are far fewer than the ones during the Mubarak era. The only instruction that's been given is that if we host an opposition figure, we should host a MB figure to have a more balanced picture (which is fair enough). Since my return, I have broken the story on the virginity tests on my show, I have also been able to host Alber Saber and cover his case (he got a 3year jail sentence for blasphemy.) I have also hosted Maher el Gohary, the Muslim convert to Christianity. When I covered Maher's story for CNN in 2010, I was blacklisted by the Mubarak government and was no longer allowed to cover presidential activities. While I do not agree to having a Minister of Information (as that can only mean govt propaganda) I really believe that it is the anchors and presenters that should change .I salute Bothaina and Hala for their courage . They are role models for others to follow."Thank you Shahira for your take.
In case there are indeed no "blacklists" unlike the many reports, can we then see El-Baradei or Sabbahi on State TV? Let's see then.
Update: Shahira also added:
"I have not heard of a"blacklist" but it's possible that it does exist. However, it is El Baradei himself who refuses to appear on State TV. I interviewed him for a CNN story at a Sharm el Sheikh conference some years ago. A few months later I tried to get a soundbite from him at the Alexandria Library for a Nile TV story but he pushed the mic away, saying "I do not speak to State TV"! I was shocked and dismayed and sent him a written message to tell him so. He folded the paper and put it in his pocket. I do not blame him though . Mubarak regime loyalists in the media did all they can to tarnish his image in those days."
الاشتراك في:
الرسائل (Atom)
