الوعي المصري

From the BBC World Service

Dear Wael

Thanks for taking my call. As I was explaining the BBC would like to offer you the opportunity to broadcast a special end of year message on the most popular breakfast show in the world.

The World Today has chosen a select group of leading international figures - including politicians, academics, musicians, writers and scientists - to share their thoughts as the year draws to a close in the form of a greeting card

This could be to one person, or a group of people, or indeed the whole world. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for example, has recorded a message to the detained Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi

The World Today is the breakfast news programme in English of the BBC World Service, which has a global radio audience of 163 million people

We would greatly appreciate it if you are able to let us know by 30th November if you are interested in recording an end of year message. We will then make all the necessary arrangements. As an influential thinker in the modern Arab world our listeners would be very interested to hear your views

Thank you for your kind consideration of this request

My message at the beginning of a new year is not to a person, but rather to a thing. My message is to this marvelous thing called the Internet. The Jinni that goes everywhere to everyone traveling through wires and cables and even through thin air. This jinni was the one to open the jar called mainstream media that we were kept in for decades.  The jinni opened the jar and let us out once and for good, the jinni gave us unlimited freedom of expression - something we had never had

And the bloggers are the most thankful of all for this bliss, especially those of the third world.  But this jinni frightens some governments, because it made things get out of hand for them --  the time when they thought they had control over everything has come to an end, their control and censorship of the press and the air waves is over. And no matter how hard they try to put it back in the jar, it surprisingly manages to escape.  Dear jinni, we are counting on you, to give our people the real picture, without distortion, without censorship and without hidden agendas, we are counting on you to expose corruption, negligence and violations of human rights.  And grant us one more wish for the New Year, free Ayman Nour, free Talaat Sadat and free all the prisoners of conscience in Egypt and all over the world

Wael