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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 July 2000 Issue No. 491 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 July 2000 Issue No. 491
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A risky business
By Amira HoweidyFour journalists with the suspended bi-weekly paper Al-Shaab, the mouthpiece of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party, covered themselves with blankets and settled down on mattresses on the third floor of the Press Syndicate downtown headquarters on Monday. With their mobile phones snuggled alongside them, the journalists -- among them Managing Editor Talaat Rumeih -- made quite a picture. Posters hanging on the wall above their heads read: "We knocked on all doors and none were opened to us, so we decided to go on a hunger strike," and "Our newspaper was shut down, our salaries were stopped, but our strike will continue until we get what is our right."
Seven Al-Shaab journalists, including the four who have set up camp at the syndicate headquarters, have been on a hunger strike since last Thursday in protest of a Supreme Press Council decision not to pay their salaries. The strike has triggered the concern of the Federation of Arab Journalists, which issued a statement on Monday urging a speedy end to the crisis. The salaries were frozen after the publication of Al-Shaab newspaper was suspended in May, but it seems that the strike is now finally bearing fruit.
Raga'i El-Merghani, the syndicate's first vice-chairman, announced at a press conference Monday that syndicate Chairman Ibrahim Nafie had reached a deal with an "official party" for the payment of Al-Shaab journalists' salaries. The deal, however, did not cover workers and administrative staff; a point that has hardly gone over well with the striking journalists.
"This is sheer discrimination between journalists and administration. We don't see why the administrative staff, just because they're weak, don't get their salaries. They too have homes and families to support," Qutb Arabi, one of the striking journalists, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "As a result, we will continue our strike until we gain a promise that those people will also get paid," he added.
Even if the deal had resolved the salary problem, the situation of the newspaper itself remains problematic: its editor is imprisoned for libel, the Labour Party has become divided and the press scene as a whole is precarious. Or, as El-Merghani put it, "Journalism is [now] an unstable profession, subject to unpredictable changes." In addition to the closure of the independent Al-Destour three years ago, such upheavals include legal provisions that punish certain publication offences with imprisonment and, of course, the suspension of Al-Shaab.
Al-Shaab Editor Magdi Hussein, a member of the syndicate's council, is now serving a two-year sentence after being convicted of libel. He has been jailed in the past, also for libel. Al-Shaab's sensationalist style has been blamed for leading the Islamist-oriented newspaper into the current predicament, in which more than 70 families await salaries that may not be forthcoming.
"All we have is an offer that was conveyed to us by the syndicate's chairman; the board still has to approve it after scrutinising its details," said El-Merghani.
El-Merghani would not disclose the identity of the source who will pay the frozen salaries. "It's not the Press Syndicate, because we're suffering a budget deficit of LE1.9 million," he explained, "The money will come from an official source."
Al-Shaab journalists have claimed that the Supreme Press Council, which is affiliated with the Shura Council, should pay the salaries. But the council has refused, arguing that Al-Shaab is funded by the Labour Party and, consequently, Labour is responsible for the payment. The council also said that the Press Law and Code of Ethics do not include any clear provisions that obligate it to handle this situation.
In May the Shura Council's Political Parties Committee, which licenses political parties and oversees their performance, froze the Labour Party's activities, thereby suspending the publication of Al-Shaab. The committee's decision was based on a split in Labour ranks after two senior party members, Hamdi Ahmed and Ahmed Idris, were chosen by two different congresses to replace party Chairman Ibrahim Shukri. But it was Al-Shaab's campaign against an allegedly blasphemous novel that is generally considered to be the main reason behind the committee's decision. The newspaper's campaign triggered protests against the novel by hundreds of Al-Azhar University students.
"We are not supposed to provide salaries for Al-Shaab reporters because we're not an employment agency; however, we are trying to resolve their problem out of a sense of professional and moral duty," said El-Merghani. But the fact that the source of the money remains unidentified raised question marks at Monday's press conference. Rumeih argued that "since it's from an official source, then it's coming from the Ministry of Finance, which also happens to fund the Supreme Press Council. So there's no need for worry here. Actually, because it's the government, then it won't discriminate between reporters and workers."
The Press Syndicate's Council is expected to meet soon to discuss and approve the details of the announced deal. But Al-Shaab journalists say that the strike will continue until the administrative staff are also paid. According to Rumeih, 20 more journalists from various publications, including former Al-Shaab Editor Adel Hussein and Mohamed Abdel-Quddous, the Press Syndicate's former first vice-chairman, are prepared to join the hunger strike if no positive results are achieved.
Related stories:
Labour in turmoil - 18 - 24 May 2000
Intellectuals' dilemma - 11 - 17 May 2000
In prison again - 19 - 25 August 1999
Journalists vow to resist - 19 - 25 August 1999
