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Interviews
poetic figure to speak about, a man
A
that Egyptians and Arabs are proud
he is one of them. Farouk Goweda
it is. The poignant Egyptian poet,
who was born in Kafr El-Sheikh
Governorate, and lived in Beheira.
In 1968, he graduated from the Faculty of Arts,
Journalism Department. He climbed the stairs
toward his dream, starting his career as a reporter
in Al-Ahram to end now as the Ahram Head of
Cultural Department.
Goweda the man with a courageous honest heart
has nothing to hide. The Egyptian Poet’s pieces
are a true public
CV to who he
is. A man who is
known for having
a strict opinion. A
man of his own
thoughts, beliefs
and standards.
He always says
that he has
never written a
word that could
embarrass his
daughter. Valuing
his readers, he
believes they are very smart and can read between
the lines. Goweda lets them know all about him
through his writings. He is a courageous writer who
opposed the corrupted regime and is willing to stand
against any wrong flow. Farouk Goweda one of the
Egyptian poets speaks to us.
Your work has showed us how you firmly stood
in front of any wrong situation, so does Farouk
Goweda the great poet, see himself as a political
writer or analyst?
I strongly believe that the kingdom of poetry is
much wider than any other kingdom even from
the authority itself. Still, I just consider myself a
temporary guest in the political writing field. I am not
an opposition politician, I am an opposition writer. I
do not belong to any party and have never followed
a certain political stream. After all, I am a poet, my
poems and plays were enough to show my opinions
and lately I started to write articles for them being
more reachable to the people.
Whatever I write, is for the Egyptian people, I
express them and Egypt. I strongly believe that
this country has a great role in the Arab world; it is
the brain of the nation and the most effective hand.
Those are my beliefs and this is what I choose to
write about; the Egyptian Streets.
I have turned down lots of positions, for me the
pen is more
important than
any title. Nothing
is more powerful
than one’s brain
and nothing is
stronger than his
ideas. Talking on
people’s behalf
and defending
their rights was
what I aimed for.
Sometimes, I even
go against the
people’s flow if I
saw that they are heading into a wrong direction.
What is the difference between the current
regime and the previous one?
They look alike in several ways; their concentration
of power for example and their choices of the
cabinet and the surrounding people. They have
as well succeeded in putting down the Egyptian’s
determination and now the street is absent from the
ruling scene and do not share in decision making. All
these reasons made the new regime similar to the
old one that we worked hard to get rid of.
Have you expected and dreamt of an upcoming
revolution and has this dream come true?
There is no doubt that the revolution dream was
there. It existed until being saturated with disasters
and crisis. Silence got to a dead end and anger
burst. However, we never expected it to be that
tough. The thing is, it could have never happened if
the Egyptian people and the army have not cohered.
In the end, settling the situation would have never
been easy without the army. If it was not for them,
life would have been hardened. The moment the
revolution started was a historical one, one that
has demolished all boundaries. Egyptians would
never forget such
moment, even with
all the negatives
that happened
afterwards. The
revolution did not
end yet. It still did
not accomplish
all its needs. All
its aims will be
accomplished
when the public
drops the societal
divisions which are
taking Egypt down.
Unity, will and future vision are the most important
aspects or else we will end like Syria and Libya. The
streets have been split up and if we remain this way,
disasters could happen.
So, do you think that the revolution has achieved
any of its aims or the percentage is low?
First of all, the previous regime’s ousting is a huge
accomplishment. Today, all Egyptian categories know
politics, talk politics, practice politics. Nobody fears
The Security State and The Central Security Forces
any longer, this is an achievement too. And despite all
of its negatives, I still believe the revolution is such a
modernized action of civilization. The Egyptian people
finally proved their will and got the ousted regime down.
We would like you to tell us more about your
poem “The price of the bullet does not buy bread
for us”.
This poem is one of many that I wrote for the
revolution. A lot of my poems were very effective
through this stage and after it. In addition to that,
all of my pre-revolution poems were all about the
Egyptian state and carried many fears of this next
huge step.
I was against the system before anything and I
showed that in my poetry, I used it to object to what
was happening and my poems were used in many
Arab countries. I as well opposed the corruption in
my articles and my
television program.
My attitude has
not changed now,
I still oppose and I
resigned from many
positions when
I saw that it was
useless and nothing
changed from what
was happening in
the previous prerevolution
years.
How do you describe the current Egyptian state?
The post-revolution Egypt has everything. It is a
mixture of moderate, extreme and integrated acts.
Various parties have appeared and many political
movements and goals exist.
Do you still believe poetry can express this
messed up state?
Yes, it does. Anyone can express by any mean. I
respect every person who tries to speak out and
state his point of view and ideology. How they do it
does not matter, even screaming in the streets could
be a way.
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