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Dina Ezzat checks the increasing proliferation of non-partisan political movements and independent newspapers

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The painful memories of the defeat of 5 June 1967 were all but ignored this year by the Egyptian press. Even Al- Akhbar did not publish its almost yearly traditional drawing by prominent Egyptian cartoonist Mustafa Hussein of an Egyptian telling an Israeli that 5/6/1967 was replaced with 6/10/1973. Excluding the odd article here and there, the 38th anniversary of the traumatic military defeat failed to get the usual attention. And for good reason.

The press this week was overwhelmed with political developments on the home front. The on-going furore over the amendment of Article 76 of the constitution, the contested amendments of the presidential election laws, and the intensifying sense of political polarisation in Egypt were more pressing than the 1967 War.

Despite the number of issues, there stood a key feature the reader could not have possibly missed: the growing weight and expanding scope of non- partisan political movements and coalitions that call for political reform either via the continuation or the replacement of the current regime, and the increasing number and rising influence of independent newspapers.

Al-Fagr, a new independent weekly, hit the newsstands on Saturday. Edited by Adel Hamouda, former editor of Sawt Al-Umma, a Sunday independent weekly, Al-Fagr promised its readers to be "the voice of freedom".

Unlike the green of Al-Wafd, a partisan daily, the red of the partisan Al- Ahali, Al-Arabi the independent Al- Osbou, Sawt Al-Umma and Ad- Dostour, and the orange of Al-Ghad, another partisan, Al-Fagr chose blue as its masthead colour.

In its first issue, Al-Fag r ran an introduction by its editor who promised that the paper will "reveal all the truth on all its pages to help the reader reach the shores of knowledge". This, Hamouda indicated, will be done in a way that is not particularly loud. "After all, those who scream do not necessarily voice a worthwhile opinion."

On the front page of its first issue, Al-Fagr offered a wide range of stories that had a political/editorial line of slapping the government with one hand and patting it on the shoulder with the other -- just as Sawt Al- Umma -- at least under Hamouda -- and Al-Osbou attempt to do. "Have the president's men became a burden?" was the most attractive front- page piece of Al-Fagr on Saturday. Like similar stories, and for that matter opinion articles by other independent papers, Al-Fagr argued that some old-time advisors of President Hosni Mubarak have become more of a burden than an asset to the head of the state.

The issue was also debated by the increasingly popular -- and this week one-year-old -- independent daily, Al-Masry Al-Youm. Celebrating a year of what the paper called "a year of freedom, a year of change", Al- Masry Al-Youm ran a brief message of support by no other than Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, one of the most renowned Arab journalists/writers.

"This is a thank you note from an old journalist for this risk that you embarked on by publishing this daily paper amid an atmosphere of political commotion and exciting journalism," Heikal wrote in his front page piece on Wednesday. "Every opinion that is now being voiced, and every [argument and] counter-argument constitute a worthy contribution to a needed dialogue about the future of this nation and should help our society establish the values of freedom of choice and the choice of freedom."

Indeed, throughout the week, Al- Masry Al-Youm, Al-Fagr and all other independent papers plus most of the opposition and a few timid national publications dedicated many of their news and opinion inches to the growing arguments and that are being made away from the umbrella of the government and its ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and also away from the political opposition parties.

On Sunday morning, Nahdet Misr, an independent daily with a government affinity, along with Al-Masry Al- Youm, declared the establishment of a new non-partisan coalition of intellectuals and professionals who are making a peaceful and sober call for democratisation. "The National Coalition for Democratic Transformation" was the banner story for both papers which quoted its founders, Aziz Sedqi, a former prime minister, and Yehya El-Gamal, a leading lawyer and judiciary figure, as describing their new movement as "a forum that brings together all national forces that pursue the reform and change of the way Egypt is ruled."

The following day, Al-Masry Al- Youm announced on its front page the establishment of other non-partisan movements that call for reform. "Two new movements have now surfaced: journalists for reform and poets and writers for reform," the daily reported, adding that the latter was founded by the popular poet Ahmed Fouad Negm who is best known for his political works.

These two movements, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported, will now join other existing independent movements that call for reform, including Workers for Reform and Kifaya.

On Tuesday, Nahdet Misr reported that 21 independent organisations are initiating a movement for elections monitoring.

This wave of new independent political but non-partisan movements has become a phenomenon discussed by the features page of Al-Ahram which slightly pushed its editorial red lines this week with some daring articles by Salama Ahmed Salama and Fahmi Howeidi on how government and senior state figures are managing citizens' rights. Soliciting the views of several commentators, Al-Ahram said the movements could effectively be a clear vote of no-confidence in many political parties. While the lifespan of many of these movements may be short, Al-Ahram quoted political analysts who indicated a growing will on the side of the political elite to assume some political responsibilities either by supporting or rejecting the regime.

The ineffectiveness of political parties was the theme of an opinion piece published by Al-Ahram on Wednesday. Called "The parties and the public", Atef El-Ghamri argued that it was the failure of most political parties to defend the rights and champion the hopes of the people that has created the huge gap between the parties and the public. "Political parties cannot disassociate themselves from the street and then expect public attention to their conferences and statements... This goes for the opposition parties and equally for the NDP."

On the same day, Al-Ahram ran an opinion column by Sayed Ali, a senior features editor, who argued that the "pace of the street has become much faster than that of the establishments and the parties."

And in an opinion piece in Al-Ahali, the Wednesday weekly paper of the leftist Tagammu Party, Sherif Hatata argued, "What is playing now in Egypt" is more about commotion than action.

Meanwhile, the independent papers continued their debate over the required amendments -- and at times the lack thereof -- of the constitution written in 1971, with Nahdet Misr pursuing with its article-by-article analysis the constitution's text.

For their part, political parties, ruling and opposition alike, judging by their papers, seemed to give more attention to their internal disputes, especially in the case of Al-Ghad. And the NDP mouthpiece Mayo along with many of the national papers and magazines continued to run the typical, not so subtle propaganda of NDP figures and -- as the nation draws closer to the electoral season -- achievements.

But where is this commotion leading the nation to? asked Abdel- Moneim Said in his weekly article in Nahdet Misr on Sunday. Acknowledging the importance of the on-going political debate Said, who is the head of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, warned the nation not to get engrossed in the debate to the extent that it ignores the real objective of the exercise: democracy. "The true purpose of democracy is to attempt to resolve the ailments of society... This is the only way to politically engage a public that has so far been monitoring all these colourful political commotion and fireworks that seem to light the dark for awhile but may soon fizzle out."