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Dr. Hossam Badrawi writes in Al-Masry Al-Youm: On the Cafe “Dreamers of Tomorrow” .. Soft Power, Media and Freedom
The young man who knew his admiration for the arts said: What makes the arts have such an effect on the conscience?
I said: that literature and arts of all kinds touch the most beautiful of the human being, and arouse in the soul the desire for psychological and moral transcendence, and through it the culture of peoples can be confirmed and even disseminated, and with it beautiful values become a way of life, and are transmitted to generations indirectly accumulating experiences, and social classes become enlightened and mixed And share the same fun.
Another young man said: Where are the soft forces in Egypt that you are talking about, Doctor? Why don’t we feel it? My parents tell me that Egyptian films, singing and books were at a high level, and the creativity and enlightenment of artists and writers was influential in the Arab world. An artist is not famous unless he comes to Cairo, and money in the Arab world is called Masari, and Umm Kulthum used to come to her every month to enjoy her concerts and art, and Abdel Halim, Abdel Wahab, Al Akkad, Taha Hussein, Ahmed Shawky and others.
I said: Everything you say is true, and the question remains: Do soft powers and culture express the reality of what society is experiencing, declining when it descends and rising when it rises, or do they create civilization and push people and raise them to the best of them. Is art, literature and all aspects of culture separated from a changing reality affected by poverty, illiteracy, and the strict Salafist cultural invasion that owned money and controlled the economy of the countries that attract Egyptian labor?
We all know that the emigration of Egyptian workers in three decades to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, the growth of the Brotherhood movement in Egypt, and the Shiite tide in Iran, have led the cultural movement to close down and stifle freedom of expression.
The radiant young woman always said: We have not been rid of the Brotherhood, Doctor Khalas, and we still suffer from the suppression of freedom of expression, but rather the spread of fear from just talking on the phone. Our people tell us that no one is confused because everyone is being watched and the state does not allow criticism of the political and social situation.
I said: You are not strong like that, my daughter, we are a society that exaggerates negatives more than reality, spreads rumors, and dwarfs the positives.
A young man who knows his leftist tendencies said: I apologize to you, Doctor, but your words are diplomatic, as if you are also afraid of watching our conversation and being blamed.
I said: Bring everything you have without fear.
He said: Let us agree that “30/6” was a wonderful civilized stance for the Egyptian people.
I said: I agree, very much, but I go further than that and say that the religious and political tide did not happen to rule in a ruling and came out of it except in Egypt.
He said: Was this possible without a free media that had the courage to attack the Brotherhood and expose their falsehood, including the President of the Republic, the ruling party, the majority of Parliament and the entire government, and they controlled the street, and filled the Cairo Stadium on October 6th, in the presence of Sadat’s killer, whom they brought out of prison and besieged the Media Production City. Was it not the media who paved the way for the movement of the masses by the millions to end the rule of the Brotherhood?
I said: It is true.
He said: After that, do these people not deserve more freedom or suppression of it?
I said: Every time has its own requirements, my son.
If the media mobilizes people to randomly increase their anger over price hikes, unemployment, inflation or an increase in poverty, the time may not be appropriate, and there must be something we do not know and cannot be revealed, otherwise plans to confront it will be thwarted.
Another young man said: It is reasonable, Doctor, that the headlines of the national newspapers every day now belong to the president to the extent that they are contrary to their goal, and it is said that there is a silent ban on freedom of opinion, and the extension of the state of emergency in all countries is like that, and he was working on the decision to extend it a big fuss and searched for the reasons for that.
Another intervened, saying: We remember that you objected to extending the state of emergency in 2008 and demanded a limitation of the sentence, and we think, Doctor, with all our respect for your courage, that you cannot say what you were saying and object to extending the state of emergency now.
I waited for a while to comprehend the wave of anger and excitement that I had glimpsed in their words.
– You are wrong in this.. I still write and freely say all my opinions. It is important for you to understand that we can criticize what we want, but without destroying the homeland.. Rather, I invite you to question and debate freely. The freedom of each of you, my children, is part of the freedom of the homeland, and its limits are not to infringe on the freedoms of others.
– You have the right to exercise the power of the executive authority over other authorities, and sometimes to overpower them, and if we want to change that, its place is the election box. Believe me, positive participation is the entrance, not the demonstrations, chants, cracking and demolition.
The first speaker said:
– What about the state buying all the media stations, isn’t this a media monopoly?
– I said: In every country in the world, the state must have a media that spends on what the private sector will not spend on, builds a culture for the set of values required in society, and serves as a platform for facts and enables art and media that build the Egyptian personality that is proud of its past, influences its present and has hope in its future. Without a state-sponsored media that balances matters, identity may be lost and the nature of societies may change. Of course, without a monopoly until there is another voice.
– Did you check it?
– I think this was the goal, but I agree with you that the method was inefficient and did not achieve its purposes, and the society has the right to know the details transparently so that rumors that may not be true do not spread.
– In the end, my message to you today is that I see in you hope, vitality, and the ability to give.. Let us direct this energy to creating a beautiful society and not just demolishing what we are not satisfied with, and let us make change our motto.
– What is happening in the world around us in terms of scientific technological achievements is something that has not happened in human history before, and you are the fuel for this development in Egypt. Fear and no fear, political wisdom says: If we allow fear to be planted in our souls, we will only gain an authority that rules us without review.
