Mubarak supports freedom of expression with limits
Egypt, Politics, 5/1/2007

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said the biggest challenges facing Egypt in the upcoming stage is to increase investment and growth rates, to provide job opportunities and fair-sharing of development fruits among governorates.

He said a clash of cultures reflects crossing interests. Interviewed by El-Helal magazine, Mubarak made it clear that freedom of expression was a constant human right. Such freedom entails commitment as well, he expressed.

Mubarak deemed as "selfish" how some people tend to practice own freedom, and to overlook others' freedom.

"My freedom ends at some point," Mubarak said, noting that it was not an abstract matter.

This applies to cultural openness, it goes without saying. Creativity, Mubarak said, is a guaranteed right, as long as it does not trespass religious and cultural heritage.

It was this "genuine" right of freedom of expression, or so others outside our region see it, that had sparked Muslims' anger.

"We are in need of a true dialogue about common humanitarian values that are based on mutual respect and, at the same time, observe common interests," Mubarak concluded.

Asked about cultural decentralization, Mubarak agreed that it was high time for cultural activities to move outside Cairo and Alexandria to other governorates.

"Our biggest challenge in the coming stage is to continue to lure investments to Upper Egypt, achieve development and provide opportunities," the president had said in his speech in the city of Assiut last month.

"This does not fall far from our cultural activities," Mubarak said.

True, Cairo and Alexandria are the two largest cities and have the lion's share of theaters and museums, but outreaching efforts are ongoing, he admitted.

"We are working to extend our cultural activities to Upper Egypt and the Delta," Mubarak noted.

In Egypt, freedom of the press is obvious and it says a lot about social life, the prescient said in statements to El-Helal magazine.

Some misuse such freedom of expression, portraying everything that happens in Egypt in black, he said. But there are other serious writers that truly stick to objectivity and honor the code of ethics, Mubarak added.

Talking about the Egyptian cultural and intellectual life, Mubarak was proud four Egyptians had won the Nobel Prize; late President Anwar Al-Sadat, late Novelist Naguib Mahfouz, Scientist Ahmed Zeweil and Mohamed El-Baradei, General Director of International Atomic Energy Agency.

Mubarak, who celebrates his birthday on May 4 recalled his childhood and adolescent years in Kafr Meselha in the governorate of Menufiya.

"We used to call it kafr Paris, the President recalled in jest, noting that illiteracy had reached zero per cent at that time and "we were proud of that."

In his early years, Mubarak joined "Al-Kotab" a kind elementary school, before he became a primary student at "Abdel-Aziz Fahmi" school and later received his secondary education at "El-Massei El-Mashkoura" school.

His first encounter with city life was in 1947, when he joined the Military school. In 1949, he was admitted at the aviation school.

President Mubarak has a great time listening to the legendary Um Kolthoum every now and then, he told Daqqaq, adding that he liked to watch Arab orchestra concerts on TV.

He is currently reading US former president Jimmy Carters Book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

Previous Stories:
  On imprisonment of journalist who criticized torture   (4/23/2007)
  Mubarak urged vote for the constitutional amendments   (3/26/2007)
  Anas El-Fiqi: Egyptian media is for all Egyptians   (3/20/2007)

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