Me: Please introduce yourself
Interviewee: My name is Mostafa Adel, I'm your friend and neighbour, a sophomore in Cairo
University, Petroleum and Petro-Chemicals Engineering
Me: First of all, were you pro or against the Egyptian revolution and why?
Interviewee:I was indeed pro the Egyptian revolution! Because it was a youth revolution in its roots , it
was aiming against the injustice system in egypt to wipe out all the corrupted people and government
who favored all the business men and the wealthy community instead of the poor weak egyptian
citizen
Me: Did you go to the Tahrir square on the 25th or did you join the demonstrations in any other streets?
Interviewee: Well, on the 25th. I woke up in the morning thinking that all the talks about a revolution
and a peacful demonstration were just going to fade away and no one was going to actually riot against
the system. But when I saw the people marching towards El Tahrir square on the television I decided to
join them.
Me: Can you tell me some of the reasons and demands that made people protest in the first place?
Interviewee: There were a lot of demands. But the main ones were the resignation of illegitimate
president hosny mubarak , the abolition of the emergency law , Resolve the people's assembly and the
advise council
Me: On the 25th, how did the police forces dealt with you and the protesters ?
Interviewee: At first the police didnt interact much with the protestors thinking they would go home by
the evening. But when they found that they were planning to sit and protest in tahrir square and they
were serious about their demands. The police began to block their way and they used all kind of
violence against them including rubber bullets , Tear gas , wooden sticks and sometimes real bullets.
But that was just a little price we had to pay to get our freedom.
Me: Then why did you manage to go out again and protest on the 28th ?
Interviewee: Well...As we learned from the french revolution Those who make revolutions half way
only dig their won grave
Me: Where were you exactly on Friday the 28th ?
Interviewee: On Friday, Demonstrations marched in every town in every city in egypt. After I finished
the friday prayer we began to walk towards el tahrir sqaure , but we faced all kinds of trouble till we
got there as the police forces were extremely violent and they were trying to stop us by any means even
if they had to kill us.
Me: What's your opinion of the decision of using the armed military forces on the 28th night?
Interviewee: I think it was a smart move and it was necessary in that situation because the police forces
lost their credibility and the people needed the army who they could trust and depend on them to secure
their rightful demands
Me: What do you think about the decision of shutting down facebook, twitter and eventually the
internet?
Interviewee: I think it was a terrible decision. The officials decided they will isolate us from the outer
and even the inner world. They thought that by cutting means of communication they would kill the
people's revolution but that didn't work out for them as people continued the protests even more
angrily.
Me: Can you describe The Tahrir square in the period from the 29th of January till 11th February?
Interviewee: The Tahrir square was the symbol of freedom and liberty. It was a country inside a
country. People helped each other they Treated the injured ones and provided medical services and food
for each other. Everyone was treated with the utmost respect there. And of course the Egyptians sense
of humor was prevailed in the slogans they carried which showed that even at the hard times , the
Egyptian knew how to entertain themselves.
Me: How do you see the withdrawal of the polic forces on the 28th and what followed of crimes and
accidents?
Interviewee: The withdrawal of the police forces is considered one of the greatest betrayals in egypt's
history. It cannot be descirbed as nothing but betrayal. The vanishing of the police forces at a sudden
from Egypt which gave the chance to the criminals and thugs to terrorize people cannot be seen as
nothing but a disgraceful betrayel from the police to the people and the country.
Me: How many times did you go to The Tahrir square and can you mention the social levels of the
people who there?
Interviewee: I went there almost everyday till the day of the stepping down of Mubarak but I didnt
sleep there as I had to go to secure my house in the night due to the absence of the police. People in the
square were from variable social levels. Actors, teachers, lawyers, students were seen in the protest.
The protest included people from everywhere in Egypt and coming from different social classes.
Me: Ex Vice President Omar Suliman accused some of the protesters in Tahrir square of following
foreign agendas and others being traitors, did you get into any of them when you were there?
Interviewee: No actually I didnt get that chance but I was sure that if there were any traitors or spies
trying to enter the sqaure or did enter and tried to affect the protest negatively, the people there would
stop them. The only agenda in the square that was followed was freedom and peace.
Me: How do you see Mubarak's second speech?
Interviewee: The second speech was written in a very smart way as Mubarak used it to get people to
sympathize with him and re-trust him. He used the tone of the patriotic man who fought in october's
war, the man who always cares about the poor, the peasant who always works for the sake of
democracy. That speech divided the egyptian people into the pro and anti-mubarak and I guess
everything was going in the way that mubarak wanted until the clash of the two sides occurred on the
following day of the speech.
Me: Do you think Mubarak was forced to step down or was it his own decision?
Interviewee: Mubarak was subjected to internal and external pressures to resign. Before his third
speech we saw on many channels that Mubarak is stepping down that day but he surprised everyone
not doing so. I was there at tahrir and I remember how people were cursing him and his family and how
they were furious. Anyway, it didn't take more than another few hours until he was forced to resign.
Me: In you opinion, was there a difference in the coverage of the revolution by the national median and
the international media?
Interviewee: There was a huge difference! The national media as we all know tried to hide from the
poor people who depend only on the national television to know the news of the world around them
that there were demonstrations riots protests all over the country. They used fake images which showed
that there was nothing wrong with the country and they even hired people to call them and tell them
they are terrorized and in their homes and streets from prisoners and convicts just to show that the
reason behind all this is the protestors and they were the ones who are destorying egypt not reclaiming
their rightful demands.
Me: Do you think the image of the Egyptian people changed after the revolution?
Interviewee: You mean the image of us to the outside? It totally changed. Everyone is talking about
how the peaceful Egyptian revolution changed the world and how we are very civilized in asking for
our rights. The image was totally changed from Arabs riding camels in the deserts to a civilized society
cleaning their streets after their protest and securing their country when the police left them unsecured.
Me: Did you watch Omar Suliman interview on ABC news channel? What do you think of that
interview?
Interviewee: surely I did. Oh well, I found that interview very offensive to the Egyptian people.
Suliman insulted us by saying that we are not ready for democracy. If we're not ready for democracy
then why did the president declare suliman as vice president? Was it for fun? No, it was because the
peoples voice reached the president but he wasn't listening as usual.
Me: Do you think the pro-Mubarak protest was made up by businessmen from the National Democratic
Party in order to support Mubarak?
Interviewee: You would never know something like that, but why not?? maybe some were protesting
out of respect to the president and others were payed to do so, but you can't be sure if all the protest
were fake and payed or not.
Me: But if both protests were peacefull then why did they clash in The Tahrir square?
Interviewee: That gives us an indication about a side being violent and not peacefull, and it was clear
that the pro Mubarak protest went to the tahrir square even though they had all the country to protest in
rather than going to Tahrir square which had only anti mubarak people. But, you cant generalize that all
the pro mubarak people were payed and violent.
Me: Why do you think America was very concerned with the situation in Egypt?
Interviewee: Well, Obama once said that the bond between America and Israel is unbreakable. So the
situation is obvious here, America's primary concern is the safety of Israel but Egypt is a leading
country in the middle east so the political changes grabbed the attention of all the world not only
America.
Me: The Prime Minister of Italy said that he sees nothing new in Egypt as the Egyptians have made
history as usual, so do you think this revolution will soon become “history” and everyone will return to
be passive?
Interviewee: I dont think Egyptians were passive one day. They were only controlled by fear. Fear from
the regime and the police, fear from punishment even though not doing any wrong, but the fear is now
gone and people realized how strong they can be.
Me: In the past couple of days, Many businessmen got arrested and their money got suspended.. among
them were members from the National Democratic Party so can you tell me why didn't we see Gamal
Mubarak's name on that list while he was The Deputy Secretary in the NDP?
Interviewee: Yes, its strange how his name wasn't mentioned in any of the lists that contained other
businessmen yet it is known that he was involved in many “under the table” business but I guess in the
upcoming days the truth will prevail even more and every one who stole money from this country will
get what he deserves.
Me: Let's go to the yes or no questions.. El Baradei tried to take-over the people's revolution?
Interviewee: No
Me: The Muslim brotherhood had a clear impact on this revolution?
Interviewee: Of course not
Me: Those who stole money from Egypt will be prosecuted and the money will return to the country?
Interviewee: Yes, but I think it needs time
Me: We were ruled by a dictator who claimed to be a democratic president?
Interviewee: Obviously yes
Me: How do you see the upcoming days and the new political era?
Interviewee: I'am completely optimistic about the upcoming days because we were in the darkest era
so any changes will bring us to the light and the most important thing that now everyone knows the
power of the people and the next president will surely respect that.