Fatemah Farag senses a tad too much consensus Looking at local reaction to Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abul-Gheit's visit to the US and coverage of his meeting with counterpart Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, you might think the Americans were intentionally pushing local national debate away from reform. Across the board -- from the "national" Al-Akhbar to the Nasserist Al-Arabi -- there were expressions of anger and resentment at Rice's statements focussing on the arrest of MP Ayman Nour who is currently remanded in custody without bail. In his front page editorial, Al-Akhbar 's Editor- in-Chief Galal Doweidar said on 20 February: "The statements made by the secretary of state regarding the investigation of accusations against Ayman Nour, head of Al-Ghad Party, are unacceptable in principle since they are related to an internal issue connected to the transparency of independence of the Egyptian judicial system." Doweidar went on to add that it was about time Washington learned some "respectable international behaviour" while opining that Rice's intervention could only have a negative impact on the Nour case. As far as Gamal Fahmi in this week's Al-Arabi was concerned, Rice's recent behaviour is just one of a series of disturbing events, beginning with the release of Azzam Azzam [the Arab Israeli recently released after being found guilty by the Egyptian courts of spying for Israel, and whom Egypt had refused to deport to Israel] to the recent hosting of [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon in Sharm El- Sheikh -- all of which indicate that American pressure is crossing all acceptable limits. The ire that has been raised by US intervention into local affairs prompted Rose El-Youssef 's (19- 25 February) Editor-in-Chief Mohamed Abdel- Moneim to point out that in all policy issues that have represented points of contention between Egypt and the US over the years, time has proven the Egyptian position to be correct. "But no one remembers," laments Abdel-Moneim. "Instead they talk about 'reform' as if we are nothing but a huge wasteland," he added, taking issue with the reduction of the concerns of the Egyptian people by Rice to the case of Nour. In full Rose style, however, these sentiments are followed up by a largely sensationalist and libelous feature section headed "Egyptians... unfortunately" where a handful of public figures are accused of instigating the US against Egypt. These include Saadeddin Ibrahim and Gamila Ismail, Nour's wife and TV presenter. It seems that this show of unity to confront a dangerous enemy is pushing the local press into a collective consensus which deprives it of the ability to deal with valid internal contention, a necessary pre-requisite, one would think, of reform. Hence, all mention of reform this week -- once again from the daily column of Al-Ahram ' s Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Nafie all the way across the board to Al-Wafd and Al-Isbou' -- heralded the process of national dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition for having highlighted the need to unify in order to confront "outside interference". Some, however, think this rapprochement of sorts is good. Historian Abdel-Azim Ramadan in October magazine (19 February) said, "The opposition parties that oppose the political system and want to change it [referring to calls to amend the constitution and hold open presidential elections] must admit that if free elections are held the cake will fall into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood." And in spite of reports that the US is willing to play ball with moderate Islamists in Egypt, Ramadan argues that the United States "does not understand that while supporting opposition to the current regime, it is pushing Egypt into the pocket of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists at large; into the pocket of those the US claims to be engaged with in a historic battle". While the framework of choice for all debate related to reform seems to be that of US intervention, in Al-Ahram 16 February, Iqbal Baraka takes a fresh take on the issue, slamming all political parties for engaging in what she described as "patriarchal reform". Baraka points out that the amendment of laws alone does not ensure the realisation of political emancipation. "Will amending the political participation law bridge the huge gap between us [political players] and the over 70 million citizens of this nation?" And her burning question, "When is parliament going to remove the 'men only' sign," from over its dome calling on political parties to take a position: either they represent us all or they represent only the male half. In the meantime, Ahmed El-Hosari of Al-Ahali on 16 February bitterly looks back -- almost 25 years ago -- when President Hosni Mubarak first took office and called for a nationwide campaign against corruption. "Much water has passed under the bridge since the call to 'clean hands' was first announced. With this water, the political slogans of this government has changed from 'cleanliness' to 'stability'," said El-Hosari. "Within the framework of stability the water stopped flowing in the river and all our days started resembling each other. All the newspapers seem the same and even government officials now look alike. In all this time nothing has changed except the size of corruption which has grown from a fat cat to an elephant or dinosaur." El-Hosari referred to the latest report from the Administrative Prosecutor's Office which documented that incidents of corruption within the government apparatus take place every 90 seconds, and also the report by the Central Bank indicating that over LE200 billion have been smuggled out of the country. He wonders when the time will come when the government announces a new phase in our history. But talking about corruption and its partners in crime such as nepotism, one is drawn to chairman of Al-Akhbar' s board Ibrahim Saeda's column Anwar Wagdi on 19 February where he takes issue with new Minister of Youth Mamdouh El- Beltagui. He claims that the minister's son is a medical doctor turned businessman who oddly moved from the tourism business -- when his father was minister of tourism -- then switched to media production -- when El-Beltagui was appointed minister of information -- and calls on the father to restrain the son from now moving into the realm of sports which the Youth Ministry is in charge of. And finally, and after all those captions that filled the local press at the time of the Tsunami disaster showing devastation yet claiming the mercy of the Almighty, Sayed El-Qimni takes issue with the position of much of the Islamic clergy in relation to the natural disaster. In Rose El- Youssef, and in arguments reminiscent of those that filled the British press debating arguments made by the Church as the latter attempted to rationalise the disaster in religious terms, El-Qimni bravely takes on the religious pundits. He points out that those who claim that the disaster is a manifestation of God's wrath against the improper behaviour of tourists [protagonists of such arguments including Islamic scholars Youssef El- Qaradawi and Zaghlul El-Naggar] should realise that "God in this case suffers a lack of ability to differentiate because the area devastated was not all devoted to tourist delights and most of it was inhabited by people who are poorer than poor." And why is it, wonders El-Qimni, does this God that the likes of El-Naggar talk about, only target the poor. "If their logic is correct, then why doesn't He demolish Israel for us? Or does the threat of nuclear retaliation hold him back?" As far as El-Qimni is concerned, "saying that natural disasters are God's hand of revenge legislates for criminals and corrupters and opens the door to them to intensify their corruption."
