Unsettling times

Everyone wants to emigrate in search of greener pastures abroad. Those who stay around are more preoccupied with the Press Syndicate and other mundane matters, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed

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The phenomena of Egyptian youth fleeing across the Mediterranean in search of brighter employment prospects in Europe hit the headlines once again this week. Now, it seems, Egyptians are seeking employment opportunities closer to home, in Israel of all places. The leftist weekly Al-Ahali ran a feature story about Egyptians who emigrated to Israel, and derided the Egyptians who have adopted Israel as their Promised Land. "We supported [former prime minister Ariel] Sharon and we are ready to go further," the paper quoted the so-called head of the Egyptians in Israel Association Shukri El-Shazli. "We are thinking of forming a political party [in Israel] and we have already chosen our candidates for the Knesset," he added. Not only are the Egyptians content to settle in Israel, they also complain about being ill-treated in their native Egypt. He complained of the bad treatment Egyptian immigrants receive when they visit Egypt. On a more flippant note, the paper observed that Israel's body-building champion was Egyptian. Obviously Egyptians who choose to make their home in Israel feel very much part of their newly-adopted country.

In much the same vein, the daily Al-Ahram ran a feature about the phenomenon of illegal immigration to European countries. "Victims of brokers and [bad] circumstances," ran the headline. The paper said that those who survived in the tragedy of more than 100 Egyptian young men who drowned in sight of the Italian shores stressed that they would try immigrating illegally to Italy again in a flash. "They have a desire to show off, raise their living standard, which prompt them to risk their lives," the paper quoted social researchers as saying. The paper attributed the growing phenomenon of illegal immigration to Europe to the low salaries offered Egyptians in the Arab Gulf countries. Economic woes obviously play a dominant role in the desire of the youth to seek greener pastures abroad. Expectations are low, and the youth have lost any interest in the future of this country. The Egyptian economy is growing at a reasonable rate, the paper noted. However, the growth is not sufficient to provide enough jobs for the restless young.

The fight against terrorism hit the headlines, too. Al-Masry Al-Yom began a series of articles about the second thoughts of the mentor of an Egyptian militant Islamist group, Sayed Emam. The group has softened its stance vis-à- vis the government. Imam now champions a peaceful move to "rationalise jihad in Egypt and around the world". The militant Islamist group apparently had a change of tack, and sounds repentant. "The adoption of this revision by jihadist group members who were in prison led to the release of many of them," the paper said. This could signal a new approach by the militant group to accommodate the government's views and policies. They obviously had a change of heart in prison.

The same cannot be said of the government's view of the Muslim Brotherhood. In a prolonged interview with Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs, the weekly pro-government Akher Saa quoted Shehab as saying that the ban on the Brotherhood would not be lifted. "The Muslim Brotherhood has no right to form a political party unless they change their thinking," Shehab was quoted as saying. He was also quoted as stressing that anti-terrorist legislation would remain fully enforced. "There should be no worries regarding the [proposed] anti-terror law," he noted. "Everything will be subject to judicial supervision."

On a very different note, Akher Saa also continued a series of articles about the dangers looming over the Sphinx, as groundwater has reached Egypt's foremost Pharaonic monument. The danger facing the Sphinx is symbolic of the general problems facing the treasures of ancient Egypt. "The destiny of the Sphinx is an issue of civilisation," a front-page headline ran with a background photo of the monument surrounded by rising groundwater levels. "Officials haven't assured us up till now regarding the dangers looming over the Sphinx, and the Antiquities Engineering Centre refused to give any information about it."

Wael El-Ibrashi writing in the weekly independent Sawt Al-Umma about the Press Syndicate elections was flagrantly cynical. "Regardless of the names of the winners in the Press Syndicate [council] elections, we don't want a syndicate council waging war on the government," El-Ibrashi noted tongue-in-cheek. "And we don't want a subjugated council that raises a white flag in the face of the regime which already hates freedom of the press," he concluded.

Suleiman Gouda wrote in the daily Al-Masry Al-Yom about the newly elected Press Syndicate head Makram Mohamed Ahmed that, "he has some pressing and thorny issues, the most important of which is reaching a balanced settlement of the sentences threatening five editors-in- chief, and then the imprisonment of journalists in general," he observed.

Religious affairs, this time Coptic as opposed to Muslim, grabbed the headlines. Sawt Al-Umma ran a story about the future of the Coptic Church, which ironically quoted the head of an Anglican sect, Samuel Mashriqi, as severely criticising Coptic Patriarch Shenouda III. It was rather odd that the head of one Christian denomination would be given space to reprimand another. "Pope Shenouda is inactive, and takes spontaneous actions. He did without the New Testament and acted against the teachings of the forefathers." He also slammed Anba Beshoi, tipped as the next head of the Coptic Church in the unfortunate event of Shenouda's passing. "If Beshoi became the Pope, Egypt will be in turmoil," the Anglican Archbishop said in an unprecedented tirade. "And his defence of Islam is merely hypocritical."

It remains to be seen if Bishoi, or Shenouda, for that matter would reprove the head of the Anglican Church in Egypt.

Essam Rifaat writing in the weekly business magazine Al-Ahram Al-Iqtisadi about the breakthrough in the Egyptian economy, warned that the wealthy economic elite were the only segment of the population that benefited from the significant growth in the economy. "In the midst of the significant seven per cent growth of the Egyptian economy in the past two years," Rifaat lamented, "the people still ask why ordinary citizens cannot feel the economic boom. There is an acknowledgement that the fruits of growth are not reaped by all citizens," he warned. "In other words, only a certain category of people have benefited from the economic boom." Rifaat was pessimistic about the trickle down effect and hinted that the disgruntlement of the underprivileged classes would lead to social unrest.