1 00:00:01,199 --> 00:00:05,680 I'm George Galloway, member of 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:08,639 parliament and anti-war campaigner. And 3 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:11,200 this broadcast is made by Mala Media, 4 00:00:08,639 --> 00:00:13,679 but you could feedback to me on it via 5 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:17,520 Twitter at George Galloway or on 6 00:00:13,679 --> 00:00:19,840 Facebook at George Galloway MP. I want 7 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:23,279 to talk to you today about the situation 8 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:27,279 in Egypt where over a year ago a 9 00:00:23,279 --> 00:00:29,439 military juna led by General Cece seized 10 00:00:27,279 --> 00:00:31,760 power from the elected Muslim 11 00:00:29,439 --> 00:00:34,320 Brotherhood government led by President 12 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:38,000 Morsey and has been bathing the country 13 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,960 in blood. Ever since I had been banned 14 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,960 from Egypt under the previous 15 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:45,920 dictatorship of Hosim Mubarak in a 16 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:48,800 vindictive act provoked by my repeated 17 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:52,079 breaking of the siege on Gaza bringing 18 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:54,480 convoys from all over the world. After 19 00:00:52,079 --> 00:00:57,280 the Egyptian revolution, which overthrew 20 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:59,600 Mubarak, I returned to the country, in 21 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:02,399 fact, several times, including to 22 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:05,360 campaign in the first free presidential 23 00:01:02,399 --> 00:01:08,000 election, not for President Morsy, but 24 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:10,640 for one of his rivals. Naturally, of 25 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:13,200 course, in the final ballot, I supported 26 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:16,640 President Morsey against his opponent, a 27 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:19,040 remnant of the Mubarak regime. I believe 28 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:21,759 that President Morsey made mistakes 29 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:24,400 during his short one-year tenure as 30 00:01:21,759 --> 00:01:27,920 Egypt's leader, though these mistakes 31 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:30,159 have been exaggerated, often grossly. I 32 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,799 also believe that he remains the 33 00:01:30,159 --> 00:01:36,360 legitimate president of Egypt and that 34 00:01:32,799 --> 00:01:39,680 his usurpers have no legal or political 35 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:42,240 legitimacy. Mubarak is now out of prison 36 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:45,360 whilst President Morsey and tens of 37 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:48,399 thousands of others are behind bars. The 38 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:51,360 remnants of the old regime are back with 39 00:01:48,399 --> 00:01:54,079 a vengeance. The military juna, which is 40 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:57,560 what it remains, despite the general 41 00:01:54,079 --> 00:01:59,920 appearing nowadays in a lounge suit, has 42 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:03,040 systematically reversed the gains of the 43 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:05,360 revolution and ruthlessly repressed not 44 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:08,160 just the supporters of the legal 45 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:11,280 legitimate president, but even those who 46 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:14,640 misguidedly supported the military coup. 47 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:17,120 Now Islamists, leftists, liberals, Arab 48 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:19,440 nationalists, human rights campaigners 49 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,560 fill the prisons together and the 50 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:24,959 torture chambers, even the graveyards. 51 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:28,520 The luckier ones have merely been 52 00:02:24,959 --> 00:02:32,080 internally banished to the rank of 53 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:35,599 non-persons. The grim prison state that 54 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:38,239 is now General Cece's Egypt is worse, 55 00:02:35,599 --> 00:02:40,920 much worse than the dictatorship of 56 00:02:38,239 --> 00:02:44,080 Hosni Mubarak. And that's saying 57 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:47,040 something. With remarkable smoothness, 58 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:49,519 the so-called international community 59 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:52,319 has pretended that none of this ever 60 00:02:49,519 --> 00:02:55,000 really happened. Those who are forever 61 00:02:52,319 --> 00:02:57,840 telling us how much they believe in 62 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,720 democracy have nothing to say about the 63 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:04,000 overthrow of democracy in Egypt. And 64 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:07,120 after just one year, those who endlessly 65 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,080 lecture the world on human rights have 66 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,920 lost their tongues at the wholesale mass 67 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,319 imprisonment of human rights 68 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:17,440 campaigners, at the widespread use of 69 00:03:14,319 --> 00:03:20,319 torture, at the mass death sentences 70 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:23,760 being handed out after farcical trials, 71 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:26,319 sometimes lasting just a few hours. And 72 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:29,280 those who are ready to go to war when 73 00:03:26,319 --> 00:03:32,480 governments gunned down their own people 74 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:35,680 have forgotten if they even noticed the 75 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:38,879 massacre of Rabba in which thousands of 76 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:41,840 civilian protesters were shot down like 77 00:03:38,879 --> 00:03:44,720 fish in a barrel, trapped in a square 78 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:48,000 and slaughtered. Those who mournfully 79 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:51,519 commemorate Tienaman Square can't even 80 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:54,879 bother to pronounce Rabba and don't even 81 00:03:51,519 --> 00:03:57,879 pretend to care about it. All television 82 00:03:54,879 --> 00:04:00,560 stations, radio stations, opposition 83 00:03:57,879 --> 00:04:03,200 newspapers, dissident journalists, 84 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,439 non-government organizations who ask 85 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:08,480 awkward questions, who refuse to tow the 86 00:04:05,439 --> 00:04:11,280 line, have been closed down, banned, 87 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:14,319 banished, exiled, and countless numbers 88 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:18,000 of them killed, tortured, thrown into 89 00:04:14,319 --> 00:04:20,079 grim dungeons. CC now leads one of the 90 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,400 most ruthless dictatorships in the 91 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:24,800 world. But you would never know it if 92 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,680 your information came only from the 93 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:30,720 so-called mainstream media. The other 94 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:33,520 Arab dictatorships, particularly Saudi 95 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:36,080 Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, 96 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:38,800 themselves terrified at the prospect of 97 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:41,280 democracy in their own countries, are 98 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:44,000 pouring in billions of dollars to the 99 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:46,400 coffers of the Egyptian Juna. Most of 100 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,520 it, as usual, being snaffled by the 101 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:53,120 army. The army has been restored to its 102 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:57,680 former inglorious role of owning banks, 103 00:04:53,120 --> 00:05:00,160 hotels, shops, factories, farms. Cece, 104 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:02,960 hailed by some misguided people who 105 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:06,639 hopefully now know better as the new 106 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:09,280 Nasser has turned out to be just another 107 00:05:06,639 --> 00:05:11,840 tinpot military ruler faithfully 108 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:15,440 carrying out the orders of Israel and 109 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:18,240 the United States. The siege of Gaza has 110 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:21,639 been intensified by CC tunnels 111 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:24,560 destroyed. The gates of Rafa locked 112 00:05:21,639 --> 00:05:27,919 fast. Close coordination between the 113 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:31,199 Juna and the Zionist state has resumed 114 00:05:27,919 --> 00:05:34,639 with full force. The Muslim Brotherhood, 115 00:05:31,199 --> 00:05:38,000 which for decades endured brute tyranny 116 00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:40,000 without resort to violence, and which so 117 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,800 recently won the free elections in 118 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:46,560 Egypt, have now been pronounced a 119 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:49,000 terrorist organization and wiped off the 120 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:52,400 official political map of 121 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:55,240 Egypt. Egypt matters. It is the heart of 122 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:58,400 the Arab world, the most important Arab 123 00:05:55,240 --> 00:06:00,479 country. Democracy matters. If the 124 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,120 message to the Arab world is that 125 00:06:00,479 --> 00:06:05,199 democracy is too good for them, that 126 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:07,440 they can overthrow their tyrants, but 127 00:06:05,199 --> 00:06:10,319 they can replace them only with those 128 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:13,199 who will continue business as usual with 129 00:06:10,319 --> 00:06:16,639 Israel and the West, then we are killing 130 00:06:13,199 --> 00:06:19,840 all faith in democracy in the Arab and 131 00:06:16,639 --> 00:06:23,440 wider Muslim world. And what will be the 132 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:26,160 result of that? One obvious conclusion 133 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:30,080 that the Arabs may draw is that 134 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:32,800 democracy is a chimera, a sham, a fraud, 135 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:35,560 and that there is no point in it. What 136 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:38,880 could be more radicalizing, 137 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:41,120 fanaticizing, extromising than what has 138 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:43,520 happened to the elected Islamist 139 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,919 government in Egypt? 140 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:48,600 If this conclusion is the one that is 141 00:06:45,919 --> 00:06:50,720 drawn, then we will all reap a terrible 142 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,520 harvest because Muslims will 143 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:56,160 increasingly be drawn to the al-Qaeda 144 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:58,960 ISIS view of the world with all the 145 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:02,880 terrible consequences for them and for 146 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:05,520 everyone which will flow. I hope that is 147 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:08,160 not the conclusion which will be drawn. 148 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:10,479 That instead the struggle for freedom in 149 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:13,199 Egypt and elsewhere will take a 150 00:07:10,479 --> 00:07:15,919 different course and take cognizance of 151 00:07:13,199 --> 00:07:18,639 the mistakes that President Morsey made 152 00:07:15,919 --> 00:07:21,039 and the mistakes made by his opponents 153 00:07:18,639 --> 00:07:24,560 which have helped lead to the disaster 154 00:07:21,039 --> 00:07:27,400 in Egypt. In the short term, we must 155 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:29,759 encourage unity in Egypt against the 156 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,400 dictatorship and for a return to 157 00:07:29,759 --> 00:07:34,000 democracy. 158 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:37,199 Internationally, all progressive people 159 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:39,280 must put aside whatever differences they 160 00:07:37,199 --> 00:07:42,240 have with the Egyptian Muslim 161 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:45,840 Brotherhood and get behind the campaign 162 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:48,240 to isolate the juna of General Cece to 163 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:51,039 highlight its crimes to force their 164 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:53,840 governments to take a stand against 165 00:07:51,039 --> 00:07:56,639 Cece's dictatorship. Over the next few 166 00:07:53,840 --> 00:08:00,319 months, I will be doing everything I can 167 00:07:56,639 --> 00:08:03,680 to build that broad alliance. I hope you 168 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:07,440 will join me. Wasalamu alaykum and peace 169 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:07,440 be on all of you.