MidEast

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On Eve of Protests, Jon Stewart Travels to Egypt For Interview By Spinoff Satirist

by TheTower.org Staff |

Egypt is fast approaching what are expected to be massive demonstrations on June 30, marking the one year anniversary of the inauguration of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked President Mohamed Morsi. Anti-government groups this weekend published literal roadmaps to guide protesters:

“On 27 June, a rally is planned to take place in Cairo’s Sayeda Zeinab district. On 28 June, another rally is planned to start from Cairo’s Al-Azhar district, marching to Tahrir Square protesting the use of mosques in urging people not to rebel against the president,” Egypt’s Ahram Online new site reported. “As for 30 June, political representatives said several demonstrations are planned to snowball through the different parts of Egypt. The final starting destinations are to be announced end of week.

Pro-government demonstrators are expected to be out in force as well, and the Egyptian army has committed to intervening if violence breaks out. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood remain popular with large swaths of Egypt’s public, and they face few credible electoral opponents.

Nonetheless, the president and his faction have seen their popularity plummet. The only political figure who has the confidence of a majority of Egyptians is… a YouTube personality turned TV star turned anti-government cause celebre:

Specifically, the survey found an Egyptian populace that lacks confidence in almost all players in the country’s new political arena, and that increasingly is splintering into factions. “What our findings reveal is a deeply divided society fractured not along demographic lines, but on the basis of ideology and religion,” says Zogby Research in its summary… Individual leaders don’t fare any better than their parties. In fact, the only public figure tested who is seen as credible by a majority of Egyptians is Bassem Yousef, a TV satirist.

Yousef, known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart, was arrested in April on charges related to promoting atheism and mocking government officials. Stewart blasted Morsi in response, and last week traveled to Cairo to be personally interviewed by Yousef. Click to watch:

[Photo: shady87100 / Youtube]

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