Democracy In The Making And The Old Pretense

I am not subscribed to CNN International so I do not receive the Christiane Amanpour show. But someone sent me a video clip of the segment she did with Bassem Youssef of Egypt, the comedian who was called to be questioned on material he used in one of his presentations.

In fact, I get this sort of clips all the time, and I appreciate them because I cannot subscribe to everything in the world or monitor all that happens. I do, however, subscribe to the North American CNN, and of course have access to their internet website. This is where I found Dean Obeidallah's article: “Tell jokes, go to jail” published on April 5, 2013 in which he discusses the Bassem Youssef case; the comedian who did not go to jail or even get arrested. He was simply called to be questioned, which is normal procedure when someone, such as a private person, launches a lawsuit against another person.

And so, looking at the Obeidallah piece, we see that it begins with this sentence: “Comedy scares people in power.” The author then takes 45 words to tell the story of Bassem Youssef, and follows with this: “Now, before you quickly categorize this incident under the catch all, 'They hate us for our freedoms' crap, let's not forget our own history.” He goes on to tell the history of the American Lenny Bruce who “was arrested not once but eight times, in the early 1960s for telling jokes.” Obeidallah then makes several good points as clearly as they can be made; which is a good reason why people should read the entire article.

To get back to the Amanpour interview with Bassem Youssef, it must be said that subsequent to it, a Court in Egypt dismissed the lawsuit against Youssef offhand. Another suit was filed to have the show banned, and have the license of the TV station that airs it revoked. But the Court dismissed this suit as well. Now this relevant question: Should Amanpour have been more careful conducting the interview given that the case had not been looked into as yet or gone to trial and adjudicated one way or the other?

Well, it is clear that the interview had nothing to do with Bassem Youssef, and everything to do with the country of Egypt and with Morsi, its President. In fact, nothing can be more convincing of this proposition than the introduction to the interview, and the ending of the show. Just look at this introduction:

“Hello, everyone, I'm Christiane Amanpour...

Bassem Youssef, the Egyptian satirist ... His prosecution and persecution by the Morsi government appears to be a warning sign … The Egyptian economy is tanking ... unemployment is stubbornly high … Egyptians face ... empty grocery shelves as supplies dwindle. A wave of violence threatens Egypt's women and meanwhile with all the unrest, tourists ... are staying away in droves...”

As to the ending of the show, look at this:

“And finally, not only do the new Egyptian authorities lack a sense of humor, they're also running out of gas – literally. Long lines at the gasoline pumps ... adding fuel to the fire of what's already a combustible situation … as well, garbage remains uncollected, electricity is so erratic now that blackouts are becoming the norm … With tempers and temperatures rising, Egypt is headed for a long, hot summer. And that is no laughing matter.”

So then, what was sandwiched between the introduction that is a load of lies, and the ending that is a repeat of the load of lies? The answer is: Nothing. Precious nothing. A few words were exchanged between Amanpour and Bassem Youssef that yielded nothing. A few more were exchanged between her and both Hossam Bahgat who founded the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, and Christopher Dickey who is the Middle East editor of Newsweek – and this too yielded nothing.

But there was also a segment during which the interview that Wolf Blitzer conducted earlier in the year with President Morsi was shown. This one yielded the following:

MORSI: I welcome any criticism. I welcome every opinion. I welcome every view and I push everyone to work.

BLITZER: But just to tie up this issue, Bassem Youssef, Amr Moussa, Mohamed ElBaradei, they don't have to worry about going to jail?

MORSI: They are Egyptians; they are part of my family from Egypt. There is no way that any harm can befall them because of their opinions or their personal opposition. There is no possible way to talk about or discuss jail or imprisonment as an option because of political involvement according to the law.

And that's exactly what happened by the time the Bassem Youssef issue had run its course. How long did that take? No more than a few weeks during which time everyone knew what was happening and what could happen as a possible best outcome or a possible worst outcome. Happily, this whole episode has been the manifestation of a true democracy that is in the making; one whose future can only be bright despite the bumps it may still encounter as it forges ahead.

Now contrast that with being arrested eight times. Contrast it with being on someone's “enemies list” without being so advised, and being harassed without knowing by whom or why. Contrast it with being on someone's blacklist for half a century with no end in sight. No, this is no democracy. Or if it is, it must be one that is dying; one that is decomposing and turning to dust. In the meantime, it remains an old pretense that stinks like hell, stinks like death itself.

Having raised all that hullabaloo at the start, you would expect that CNN would now mention the Court's dismissal of the lawsuits against Youssef and the TV station that carries the show. And you would expect to see an apology from Amanpour and from CNN to Morsi and to the people of Egypt. But nothing of the sort has come, and nothing is expected to come because the idea was never to practice world class journalism; it was to practice American style hate propaganda.

Still, Obeidallah ended his pieces this way: The world awaits Morsi's response.

Likewise, I feel compelled to say: The world awaits the Amanpour and CNN apologies to Morsi and to Egypt.