CAIRO - The last time the Press Syndicate held its board elections about three years ago, Mahmoud Maqlad only watched passively. The syndicate is now going to hold polls on October 14 and this time Maqlad, a 32-year-old reporter with the private financial daily Al-Alam Al-Youm, has vowed never to watch passively again. “The former dictator made us all frustrated by staying in power so long,” he told The Egyptian Gazette. “He made the Egyptians stop dreaming. But things have changed now and for good.” The popular uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak almost eight months ago seems to have emboldened some Egyptians into participation and filled others with hope about the future. Having suffered political marginalisation for decades, they are finally rediscovering themselves and finding it indispensable to participate in the decision-making process. This is nowhere more evident than in the Press Syndicate, where a recent invitation for candidates to submit their applications for the board elections saw a large number of the most junior journalists throwing their hats in the ring. “How else do you expect the revolution to effect change?” asked Wafaa Noureddin, a journalist at the new independent daily Al-Tahrir. “The revolution has opened the way for many people to hope for leadership. Positions of power can no longer be no-go areas for the majority of the people.” Perhaps this is also Maqlad's belief. As he tours the nation's press institutions to convince his colleagues to vote for him in the elections, which will be supervised by the judiciary, he is full of revolutionary talk. Answering questions from other journalists about his platform, he always insists that now is the time for real change. “Change has never been more meaningful,” he says. “Like Mubarak, other old leaders did nothing to improve our conditions. The journalists must understand that this is time for new blood.” Just over 100 candidates will be vying to win the hearts of 5,200 Press Syndicate members next Friday. Most of these candidates are young people like Maqlad and have never run in elections before. But this does not seem to be a major issue because the revolution has already levelled the playing field for everybody, some people say. “True, some of these candidates are totally new to the Syndicate's elections, but their chances are the same as everybody else's,” said Hassan Abdelzaher, a reporter with the State-run daily Rose Al-Youssef. “Everybody wants to see new faces and I think this is the chance for the young candidates.” But people like Maqlad still face the challenge of turning the grand rhetoric they use about change, dignity and the power of the media into practicable and convincing programmes that can lure their colleagues. So far, it seems that contenders who speak about money and make financial pledges are more likely to win the hearts of the majority of the journalists. One of the candidates promises to raise voters' salaries, another candidate promises them apartments, while a third promises them big bank loans at low interest rates. As for Maqlad, he believes that if he can bring back the journalistic profession's lost respect and allure, all the journalists will prosper. “The journalists must understand this,” he said. “They must understand that we need to try new things. We need to allow new people to have their chance at leading. The old faces have been here for years, but they've done nothing for us.”
