It has become an article of faith at the BBC that the “Arab Spring” was an unambiguously good thing, an assertion of democratic intent by the downtrodden masses as they spontaneously rise up against those who suppressed them. I remember being on a BBC programme at the time and saying that some people might dispute this analysis and indicated that it was Islam rising, to the obvious horror of the BBC presenter (Susannah Reid). Well, as you know, not a day passes without the Muslim Brotherhood getting a tighter grip on Egypt and one almost laughs at how the BBC now treats this story…
The Cairo campaign headquarters of Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq has been attacked. Egyptian TV broadcast footage of a fire at the building, in the Dokki district. The attack came hours after it was announced that Mr Shafiq – The last PM of ex-President Hosni Mubarak – would compete in a run-off next month. He will face Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi in the election. No-one knows who carried out the attack.
Right. It’s the jaw dropping inability of the BBC to comprehend what is happening in Egypt that is so impressive. As it moves towards becoming Iran by the Nile, the BBC comrades are struggling to keep their Arab Spring meme running and when the Muslim Brotherhood win the Presidency I wonder will the BBC even mention the stated intent of Mursi;
“Egypt’s Constitution should be based on the Koran and Sharia law, presidential candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement Mohamed Morsi said. “The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal,” Morsi said in his election speech before Cairo University students on Saturday night.
Clear enough, BBC? Why the lack of real analysis of what is happening here? Is it because they is Islam?
“No-one knows who carried out the attack.”
Yeah, right. Not a clue.
Actually, you should have given the whole sentence:
“No-one knows who carried out the attack. Mr Shafiq is the candidate of law and order, so perversely, the more trouble there is, the more he could benefit, he adds. ”
See. He did it himself. Wink, wink.
And isn’t one of the requirements of being a journalist to investigate such matters. If no one knows who did it, then why not try to find out? Even if the story is then that everyone the bbc speak to is keeping schtum. I can’t remember the last time that the bbc actually did any original investigative journalism.
Oh John!
Hope you saw the fearless BBC pup sent to both Poland and to the Ukraine for Panorama.
He was able to reveal that their footy fans are racict sub-Nazi types…no, I could never have guessed that one.
Can`t remember when Platini gave the Euro tournament to these countries….but it was clear then, that this was an issue-but neither the BBC nor UEFA considered it one then,, did they?
The Great God Football demands sacrifices of the fools who pay up to worship.
Now THAT is investigative journalism…six years too late, and a free pass out of the country, once you`ve shed a few moist eyes with the Guardian twerps.
Both INBBC’s:-
a.) CAIRO Bureau
b.) Arabic TV (inc London & Cairo offices)
-propagandise daily for Muslim Brotherhood (MB).
INBBC censors out criticism of MB because INBBC sees MB as a political desirable agency for Islamising the Middle East (and the West).
“Egypt: Muslim mobs set fire to headquarters of presidential candidate opposing Muslim Brotherhood”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/05/egypt-muslim-mobs-set-fire-to-headquarters-of-presidential-candidate-opposing-muslim-brotherhood.html
Liberals and neo cons cannot help themselves. Everybody really wants to be just like us. So they project their desires on to the MB. They will deny the reality right up to the end.
They just cannot get it into their thick skulls that the MB is opposed to everything a liberal stands for. I have no interest in what happens in Egypt. It is , and always was, going to end up like Iran. Time to leave the whole lot of them to their own devices and build fortress Europe.
I admit that I was one of those who were somewhat optimistic about Egypt and Tunisia, in spite of what nearly everyone here was saying about the inevitable Islamist takeover. I still fully support the people’s right to vote for whomever they want, regardless of the outcome, but it’s a shame it had to be this way.
Having said that, it was obvious that the BBC’s reporting from beginning to end has been slanted away from the point of view that most of these Mohammedans would vote for extremism. Over and over again the Beeboids managed to find liberal, Western-educated young people who promised that all would turn out to be a free democratic society, and mostly refused to acknowledge the curious lack or segregation of women in Tahrir Square, refused to acknowledge the growing open support of the MB, sanitized the MB as “moderate and conservative”, and tried to blame all the problems on the army.
Even now there is a distinct lack of analysts appearing on the BBC explaining how every single Arab Spring country has voted for extremists and the only Mohammedans wanting to get rid of Islamist rule are the ones who’ve been suffering under it for 30 years: the Iranians. The BBC has been forced by reality to report what’s been happening, but the commentary and analysis has been less than unblinking.
There has been a severe lack of analysis throughout these uprisings. The BBC has followed the romance of these revolutions like a lap-dog, obsequiously embedding themselves with the rebels and claiming that some of them have moderate views. For example, take Libya, a country riven with sectarian and tribal differences, that was only held together by Gadaffi through policies of tribal repression and coercion, intermarriage, modernization, urbanization, and a shared sense of national identity. Now NATO has completely destroyed that cohesion, and the Jihadist Salafis are consolidating power. Much of the nations infrastructure has been destroyed, and rival factions are fighting it out.
As far as the BBC is concerned, however, “evil dictator” Gadaffi was removed, the people are free, and soon everybody will be smiling and dancing around the may-pole. Unfortunately this version of the Arab Spring has been attributed to other nations to. When was the last time the BBC reported on the rise of Islamism in Tunisia, previously one of the most progressive and modern nations in the Middle East, which is now seeing armed groups of Salafis storm universities demanding that women wear the Hijab. Never.
That quote SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPORTED BY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA. I knew that the MB had that as their goal, and have been keeping track of all of the escapades in Egypt (such as legalizing necrophilia and banning kissing and hugging from public TV), but such an overt, explicit statement really needs reporting. I simply do not understand why the BBC cannot report on this honestly. What do they gain for ignoring it? Are they trying to placate religious sentiment in this country? I simply do not understand it.
See my previous post. It is just the result of the fantasy politics of the Western liberal world. The world you wish to exist as against the world as it really is. This is the crucial difference between a liberal ( modern usage) and a conservative. Oh and the fact that a conservative is prepared to make judgements as to the merits of one culture and set of beliefs as opposed to another. For the moment we are out of fashion but our day is coming.
Ever been suspicious about the BBC’s reporting in Syria:
WOW – good find – wonder where you found that – surely not on the BBC website??
Stumbled upon it by accident on youtube.
She shoulda shown him any of Jeremy Al Bowen’s reports. Esp the Assad interview where he practically kisses Assad’s arse. The BBC will support anyone who’s against Israel. The only reason they’re starting to brief against Assad now is because there’s a good chance any new regime will be even more anti-Semitic.
The whole ‘Arab spring’ thing is Taliban cleverly using western media and armaments to seize power from a dictator. I can assure you that the average person in ANY of the uprising countries is already worse off then they were a year ago, and in 10 years time they will be far worse off.
PS who says capitalism is the correct way to run a country? Just look where it has got us!!