It was a year of politics, writes Mahmoud Khalil*, reflected in the new terminology used by the Egyptian press Language is a vessel for transporting events, as well as a mirror that reflects them, revealing and concealing according to the parameters of our reality. In 2005, the entire spectrum of the Egyptian press was awash with terminology that reflected the clamour resounding from numerous aspects of our lives. Regardless of the hyperbole or sincerity of this terminology as a means for expressing reality, it has settled in the minds of readers, and moved their speech in keeping with the development of events. The year 2005 was a unique, decisive year in the life of Egyptians in several respects. Its months overflowed with events the press was both obliged to follow and describe in a new language of unique character. The dictionary was rewritten; new terms appeared, while others fell from grace. One can claim that 2005 truly began in late February when President Hosni Mubarak announced his initiative to amend Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution, in order to replace the referendum system with that of free and direct balloting to select the president of the republic. With this event, a number of new terms entered the press lexicon, perhaps the most significant of which was "political mobilisation". This phrase was born in February and crowded journalistic writings in the following months. It was connected to a group of other terms, the most prominent of which was "reform". While this word appeared at first to express the political agenda of "political reform", it soon spread to encompass various other fields, such as "economic reform", "educational reform", and "administrative reform". It even surpassed these boundaries when pundits started to talk of "reform of Egyptian cinema" and even "football reform". Another term that exploded in the dailies was "corruption", which seemed for a moment to become the Siamese twin of "reform". In addition there was "change" -- a term that was used widely and notably in all partisan and private newspapers. It was sometimes used more timidly in the national press. In light of preparations for the presidential elections in September and legislative elections in November, it was inevitable that the Egyptian press preoccupy itself with establishing the framework within which to speak of these events. The most prominent terms used were "integrity and forgery", "participation and negativism", "judicial supervision and security intervention", "party of the majority and parties of the minority", and "legal parties and illegal powers". This group of opposite couplings dominated descriptions of the events, and reflected the state of contradiction prevailing in analytical assessments. This contradiction was expressed by two opposing groups of newspapers: those issued by national press institutions, expressing the voice of the government; and partisan papers (with the exception of the ruling National Democratic Party, of course) as well as the private press whose rhetoric leant towards the opposition pole. Talk of "participation" was linked to another vitally important term -- "women" -- particularly in light of the National Council for Women's interest in this matter. Talk of women's participation -- both in nomination and voting, particularly in the parliamentary elections -- was also tied to another group of terms we can call "empowerment and its relatives", which included "empowerment", "development", "change", "activation", "appreciation" and "entrenchment", among others that dominated press rhetoric during 2005. As soon as the presidential elections ended in September, some of the vocabulary used on Arab satellite channels began to appear in Egyptian newspapers. The most notable of these terms was "entitlements", which refers to the implementation of promises President Mubarak made during his electoral campaign. It was accompanied by other terms like "mechanisms" and "fiascos". These terms began to recede with the opening of registration for the 2005 parliamentary elections, while others appeared in their place, such as "neutrality", "transparency", "objectivity", and so on. With the commencement of the first stage of the parliamentary elections, other new terms surfaced such as "electoral bribes", "thuggery", "forgery of the people's will", "buying voters", "overstepping", and "violations". Yet the new phrase most dominant in the journalist's dictionary during these elections was "protest voting", which was used to interpret the readiness of many to give their vote to Muslim Brotherhood candidates on the basis that such votes were an expression of protest against the prevailing state of affairs, and not necessarily in support of the Brotherhood. In fact, a number of terms arose that were highly revealing of the position held by numerous Egyptian newspapers towards Brotherhood candidates' victories in various districts. Papers described their candidates as "candidates of the religious current", "independent candidates under religious banners", "candidates of the Brotherhood organisation" (without mentioning "Muslim") or "candidates of the banned organisation". Each of these terms reflected the ideological position of each newspaper towards the organisation, expressed in linguistic form. The explosion of a new language used by the Egyptian press to describe events that dominated the year 2005 was a reflection of the clamour -- and chaos, at times -- that prevailed in the Egyptian political arena. While Egyptian newspapers began the year by reiterating, as much as possible, the phrase "political mobilisation", this term gradually receded, replaced by "political combat", an expression of the bloody battles candidates of various currents waged against each other during a year in which Egyptians were required to decide on the very foundations of their political system: constitution, parliament and president. * The writer is professor of mass communication at Cairo University.
