Interviews with Namees Arnous

There are a lot of movements have a very different background, move the democracy in Egypt and lead the democracy in Egypt. We have Islamist Muslim Brotherhood – Islamist, I mean Salafist Muslim Brotherhood, lefts, liberal, independent movement like 6 of April movement. And all of them during the revolution they are very united, very united. They arrange everything, they arrange demonstrations, they arrange marches, they arrange the – how to get food and drinks for the people who fight with the – with the police and and people who sit in Tahrir Square. After the revolution – and they did it with – a choice. They get the dream with – a choice.

After the revolution some of the movements separate of the others like Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood – they have their own goals. Muslim Brotherhood – they want to lead Egypt to some specific area to be an Islamic-moderated state. Islamists need Egypt to be like Saudi Arabia – Islamist state. Others like lefts and liberals, they need Egypt – maybe lefts, they need Egypt to be socialist, and liberals need capitalist, and the independent group and the human rights activist need just government and the regime respect human rights and respect human rights and to respect the human and to respect Egyptians.

Actually who have a very power in the streets is the Islamists. It’s a fact. They have very good power in the streets. And who have a very clear vision and a very good vision to me is the liberal, but they haven’t the power in the – in the street. Now after the revolution we had a parliament elections and Muslim Brotherhood run the election and the Islamists run the election and some of liberal run the election. And they have very – they haven’t our own point of views – you haven’t our own goal. Everyone look at Egypt as – Muslim Brotherhood look at Egypt as their model. Islamist is the same, and liberal the same.

I think after the revolutions, the united we had before the revolution, it’s gone. It’s like, you know, 18 days into Tahrir Square like a dream for me. It’s – it will never had it again, you know. No united between Islamists, Muslim Brotherhood and other currents because now Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists into power. They lead the parliament. Other powers – leftists, liberals, human rights activists, freedom of expression groups – they are united. They are the only united. They are very little groups try to affect the society and lead the society to freedom, real freedom.

But the Muslim in this issue – you can see that the Muslim and the Islamist are very far from the other movements. They now in the power and they have a very good relation with the military. They want to protect it and protect their power. That’s the situation in democracy. Maybe the democracy gets some Islamists in the parliament, but I believe that democracy will get liberals and who believe in human rights and the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion in the parliament. So no unite between Islamists and other groups – other groups is very different background – leftist, liberals – who believe in capitalism, who believe in socialism. A lot of different, but they have one goal they need state believe in human rights and believe in freedom. So that’s the difference between movements.

Namees Arnous is a well-known television reporter and civil society activist in Egypt. During the Egyptian Revolution, Namees was asked to spread inaccurate stories by El Mehwar Television, her employer. When Namees used social media to publicize the channel’s stance against the Revolution, she was characterized as being a foreign agent and receiving money from foreign governments. She resigned from El Mehwar.

Namees then founded a new media production company which includes television, radio and social media outlets. She aims to promote human rights and democratic principles by training individuals in new media. She is currently working on a project to produce a new television program aimed at Egyptian women, focusing on issues of concern to them.

Namees has worked on a number of civil society campaigns. These include the Change Your Life Campaign, which aims to encourage women to be independent and the Be Free Campaign, which addresses young Muslim women extremists.

She worked on a civic journalism campaign to cover youth participation in elections in their respective regions. The campaign was broadcast on her NGO’s radio station and website.

Namees was among the inaugural group of the George W. Bush Institute’s Women’s Initiative Fellowship Program in 2012, a leadership program designed to empower and equip women to catalyze change.

Namees has her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication with a focus on Television and Radio.