CAIRO: The April 6 movement has taken a controversial turn with the launch of its own online radio station broadcasting from London, funded by Islamist Osama Roushdy.
The radio station started broadcasting earlier this month under the name “April 6 Radio, from a studio owned by Roushdy in London.
Being the station’s executive director, Roushdy faced opposition from some of the movement’s members who refuse to be part of the project and who are skeptical of his agenda.
Some believe that Roushdy is funding the station for a greater purpose – to serve his own hidden agenda that may conflict with that of the movement.
Fareed Fathi, member of the April 6 movement, told Daily News Egypt that he refuses to participate in the new radio station because it does not guarantee voicing the group’s ideas. He also accused Roushdy of seeking to exploit young people to achieve his own interests.
Fathi said that most of the participants in the radio station have “Islamist tendencies, which proves they have a hidden agenda that will be revealed later on.
Fathi opposes the project because of his belief that changing or criticizing the government should come from inside the country and not from abroad.
On the other hand, George Ishaq, founder and former coordinator of opposition movement Kefaya, lauded the project and described it as “a national free voice.
He told Daily News Egypt that the project started in a constructive manner and addressed national issues that everybody talks about. Ishaq also said that he gave an interview to the April 6 radio station.
He said that nationalism is not limited to people living in Egypt; there are Egyptians abroad who, according to him, care about their country’s concerns like everybody else. He pointed out that his movement welcomes cooperation with the radio station as long as it doesn’t have specific ideological or Islamic inclinations.
He added that members of the April 6 movement are free to participate in or shun the idea, depending on their personal stances.
Moshira Ahmed, member of the movement and responsible for the media committee at April 6 radio station, told Daily News Egypt that “Roushdy has been a member of the April 6 Facebook group since the beginning and he has always supported the strike.
The group’s name is derived from its first activity: calling for a nationwide strike on April 6 through a Facebook group urging “Egyptians to protest hikes in food prices.
Many of the group founders and members were detained following the strike and in later months.
Ahmed explained that Roushdy had contacted her from London following the mass arrests on April 6 and suggested the idea for the project. According to Ahmed, he had told her about his studio in London from which the radio station can broadcast and offered to fund the project as a whole to allow the youth’s voices to be heard by the rest of the world.
Ahmed also pointed out that she welcomed the idea on condition that the radio station does not adopt any political ideology. She said that she had warned Roushdy that the young members would leave should he introduce Islamist ideas to the radio station.
According to Ahmed, Roushdy assured her that he had no hidden agenda and that his role will be limited to funding and broadcast-related technicalities. She added that he promised not to intervene when it comes to preparing the material to be broadcast, and will leave the content entirely to the movement’s youth.
