Protests and disorder were the main features on the Egyptian street this week. Al-Youm Al-Sabei on Monday recorded ‘Disobedience in Port Said and protests in various governorates'. Al-Shorouk had ‘Port Said starts civil disobedience and the army follows the situation from the air', and Al-Ahram stated ‘Masri Ultras paralyse Port Said'. Newspapers also pointed to the danger of the letter sent to President Morsi by a number of top Iranian religious leaders calling on him to follow the Iranian model. Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday headlined ‘From Iran to Egypt: the Iranian model brings about development and happiness', and Al-Wafd pointed to the danger of the Iranian calls in its banner on Sunday: ‘Khamenei asks Morsi to adopt the Iranians model, suppress men of letters and join the new caliphate'. Dismissing the presidential spokesman Yasser Ali was also an issue that occupied the front pages of some newspapers this week. Rose Al-Youssef cried ‘Morsi asks head of his bureau to temporarily substitute Ali'. Wagdi Zeineddin drew a bleak albeit realistic picture for the present situation. “Every day, there is a new martyr and more injured in light of the political situation that the Muslim Brotherhood put Egypt in,” Zeineddin wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd party. He wondered why the MB which suffered from oppression and despotism under the previous regime is forcing the people to drink from the same cup. In his regular column, Zeineddin referred to clashes in front of Al-Qubba Palace, in Alexandria and Mahalla and wondered why the MB insists on committing all these violent acts. Zeineddin underlined that violence would not work with Egyptians who had reached political maturity. The policy of terrorising and intimidating people in order to Brotherhoodise the state will not work with honourable Egyptians who will not rest until their country reaches stability and security. “Coalition with Qatar, Hamas or Iran will not strengthen the governance of the MB. The only thing that would secure the president in his position is to become the president of all Egyptians,” Zeineddin summed up. Newton criticised the extremist Islamist groups who tried to abandon violence using violence in their rally in front of Cairo University last Friday. The rally was called “Abandoning Violence”, Newton wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. The irony is that those groups were established via violence; they espoused violence and threatened others with violence. It was only through these groups that we heard chants like “there will be seas of blood' after the 25 January Revolution.” Newton wondered how these groups claimed abandoning violence when it carried pictures of Osama bin Laden during Friday's rally. He questioned what were the messages that these groups wanted to deliver via these pictures. Newton held the MB responsible for all the threats made in the rally and whether members took part or not “because everybody knows that these groups are affiliated to the MB and follow its orders.” In an attempt to analyse the situation in Egypt, Ibrahim Yousri said the miracle of the January Revolution was that it was initiated without a leadership, but with a group of middle class young Egyptians who do not belong to a political party or group. But when it was handed to different groups each tried to shape it according to its ideologies. However, Yousri added, the performance of the political parties and the elite was deficient and short-sighted as they all locked themselves in past grudges and a deadly will to rule. Perhaps the main cause of the present political conflict, Yousri explained, is that one political party managed to rule and proved to have the best organisational powers that allowed it to win the elections and would help it to win elections in the near future. However that party still lacks political experience. Meanwhile the other parties lack organisational skills and a wide base on the streets, thus resorting to street moblilisation and a ferocious attack on the ruling party and aggravating its mistakes. “Given that we live in an atmosphere of polarisation based on violence and hatred and our failure to create an active competition not based on Molotov and thuggery,” Yousri wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk, “we have no option but to pray to God and resort to the national conscience of each citizen in any political party to ask them not to fall into political competition that would lead to destroying our dear country.” The dismissal of presidential spokesman Yasser Ali was regarded by Youssef Ayoub as a sign of presidential mayhem. The decision did not surprise the writer because Ali was criticised by various parties for his statements which used to deny anything related to the presidency. However, the decision to appoint him as head of the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) surprised Ayoub. According to the constitution, he explained, the decision should be taken by the prime minister. But given that the presidency and the cabinet did not draw lines demarcating their authorities, the decision was taken inside the presidency. Later, Ayoub added, it was passed to the cabinet, to allow the prime minister to announce it so that nobody would grudgingly claim that the presidency is usurping the constitutional rights of the cabinet. However, the whole incident was regarded by the writer as a sign of the mayhem inside the presidency and that it is using all the authorities in its hand to appoint certain persons in certain places to benefit from them at the suitable time. Ayoub saw in the appointment of Morsi's son in the state-owned Holding Company for Airport and Aviation, as another sign of that mayhem. It was claimed that Morsi's son got the position from an internal competition in the company, Ayoub explained. The target of this kind of competition is to permanently employ workers who were employed on a temporary basis. He concluded his article in the independent daily Al-Youm Al-Sabei by wondering whether Morsi's son used to work in the company on a temporary basis. Salah Montasser praised Morsi's bureau for immediately responding to the letter sent by 17 top Iranian advisers of the Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei asking Morsi to follow the Iranian model. Montasser pointed to the fact that the letter came two days after the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first visit to Egypt. He regarded this as an indication that Ahmadinejad heard things during his visit that encouraged the Iranians to send the letter. Egypt's response which came from a source within the presidency rejected the letter in form and content saying that Egypt does not follow anybody else's model, but the pure Egyptian model that is based on the popular will. “But will the Iranians understand the response or repeat their attempts to achieve dreams that came to the fore with the first sign of rapprochement between the two countries,” Montasser wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram. Protests and disorder were the main features on the Egyptian street this week. Al-Youm Al-Sabei on Monday recorded ‘Disobedience in Port Said and protests in various governorates'. Al-Shorouk had ‘Port Said starts civil disobedience and the army follows the situation from the air', and Al-Ahram stated ‘Masri Ultras paralyse Port Said'. Newspapers also pointed to the danger of the letter sent to President Morsi by a number of top Iranian religious leaders calling on him to follow the Iranian model. Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday headlined ‘From Iran to Egypt: the Iranian model brings about development and happiness', and Al-Wafd pointed to the danger of the Iranian calls in its banner on Sunday: ‘Khamenei asks Morsi to adopt the Iranians model, suppress men of letters and join the new caliphate'. Dismissing the presidential spokesman Yasser Ali was also an issue that occupied the front pages of some newspapers this week. Rose Al-Youssef cried ‘Morsi asks head of his bureau to temporarily substitute Ali'. Wagdi Zeineddin drew a bleak albeit realistic picture for the present situation. “Every day, there is a new martyr and more injured in light of the political situation that the Muslim Brotherhood put Egypt in,” Zeineddin wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd party. He wondered why the MB which suffered from oppression and despotism under the previous regime is forcing the people to drink from the same cup. In his regular column, Zeineddin referred to clashes in front of Al-Qubba Palace, in Alexandria and Mahalla and wondered why the MB insists on committing all these violent acts. Zeineddin underlined that violence would not work with Egyptians who had reached political maturity. The policy of terrorising and intimidating people in order to Brotherhoodise the state will not work with honourable Egyptians who will not rest until their country reaches stability and security. “Coalition with Qatar, Hamas or Iran will not strengthen the governance of the MB. The only thing that would secure the president in his position is to become the president of all Egyptians,” Zeineddin summed up. Newton criticised the extremist Islamist groups who tried to abandon violence using violence in their rally in front of Cairo University last Friday. The rally was called “Abandoning Violence”, Newton wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. The irony is that those groups were established via violence; they espoused violence and threatened others with violence. It was only through these groups that we heard chants like “there will be seas of blood' after the 25 January Revolution.” Newton wondered how these groups claimed abandoning violence when it carried pictures of Osama bin Laden during Friday's rally. He questioned what were the messages that these groups wanted to deliver via these pictures. Newton held the MB responsible for all the threats made in the rally and whether members took part or not “because everybody knows that these groups are affiliated to the MB and follow its orders.” In an attempt to analyse the situation in Egypt, Ibrahim Yousri said the miracle of the January Revolution was that it was initiated without a leadership, but with a group of middle class young Egyptians who do not belong to a political party or group. But when it was handed to different groups each tried to shape it according to its ideologies. However, Yousri added, the performance of the political parties and the elite was deficient and short-sighted as they all locked themselves in past grudges and a deadly will to rule. Perhaps the main cause of the present political conflict, Yousri explained, is that one political party managed to rule and proved to have the best organisational powers that allowed it to win the elections and would help it to win elections in the near future. However that party still lacks political experience. Meanwhile the other parties lack organisational skills and a wide base on the streets, thus resorting to street moblilisation and a ferocious attack on the ruling party and aggravating its mistakes. “Given that we live in an atmosphere of polarisation based on violence and hatred and our failure to create an active competition not based on Molotov and thuggery,” Yousri wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk, “we have no option but to pray to God and resort to the national conscience of each citizen in any political party to ask them not to fall into political competition that would lead to destroying our dear country.” The dismissal of presidential spokesman Yasser Ali was regarded by Youssef Ayoub as a sign of presidential mayhem. The decision did not surprise the writer because Ali was criticised by various parties for his statements which used to deny anything related to the presidency. However, the decision to appoint him as head of the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) surprised Ayoub. According to the constitution, he explained, the decision should be taken by the prime minister. But given that the presidency and the cabinet did not draw lines demarcating their authorities, the decision was taken inside the presidency. Later, Ayoub added, it was passed to the cabinet, to allow the prime minister to announce it so that nobody would grudgingly claim that the presidency is usurping the constitutional rights of the cabinet. However, the whole incident was regarded by the writer as a sign of the mayhem inside the presidency and that it is using all the authorities in its hand to appoint certain persons in certain places to benefit from them at the suitable time. Ayoub saw in the appointment of Morsi's son in the state-owned Holding Company for Airport and Aviation, as another sign of that mayhem. It was claimed that Morsi's son got the position from an internal competition in the company, Ayoub explained. The target of this kind of competition is to permanently employ workers who were employed on a temporary basis. He concluded his article in the independent daily Al-Youm Al-Sabei by wondering whether Morsi's son used to work in the company on a temporary basis. Salah Montasser praised Morsi's bureau for immediately responding to the letter sent by 17 top Iranian advisers of the Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei asking Morsi to follow the Iranian model. Montasser pointed to the fact that the letter came two days after the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first visit to Egypt. He regarded this as an indication that Ahmadinejad heard things during his visit that encouraged the Iranians to send the letter. Egypt's response which came from a source within the presidency rejected the letter in form and content saying that Egypt does not follow anybody else's model, but the pure Egyptian model that is based on the popular will. “But will the Iranians understand the response or repeat their attempts to achieve dreams that came to the fore with the first sign of rapprochement between the two countries,” Montasser wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram.
