Dina Ezzat is kept surprisingly busy Late July and early August is usually the slow season for the press. But not this year. The summer is literally hot with news generated at home and in the region. Lamenting the death of the Saudi monarch Fahd, the helicopter crash that killed First Vice-President John Garang, the fate of the postponed extraordinary Arab summit and the September presidential elections in Egypt -- all kept the press unusually busy for this time of year. The week started with expressions of shock and dismay over the police brutality in Cairo's most important square, Al-Tahrir, against demonstrators who on Friday protested against the candidature of President Hosni Mubarak in the upcoming elections. Commentators expressed anxiety over the way police dealt with the protesters, arguing that such harassment was not only an indictment on the performance of Egyptian police but damaging to the image of President Mubarak who less than 24 hours earlier had promised free and fair elections and the freedom of expression for all political views. "Pictures of the harassment of the security officers against members of the [opposition] Kifaya movement in Tahrir... do not at all serve the electoral interest of the candidate of the [ruling] National Democratic Party," Magdi Mehana wrote in the independent daily Al-Masri Al-Youm on Tuesday. On the same day, in Nahdet Misr, the pro- government independent daily, editor Mohamed El-Shebba voiced similar concerns, arguing that every time the police hit a demonstrator it harms the image of the nation and the government. "What is desperately needed is an emergency meeting between the government and the National Democratic Party to define a clear approach towards the opposition and its demonstrations in the next few weeks. It is certain demonstrators will find the support of satellite news channels including Al-Jazeera and CNN. Police officers must remember that every time they kick a demonstrator they will be doing so on air," wrote El-Shebba. Getting equal attention -- but less anger from commentators -- were the nominations for the presidency. Commentators were angered by those who ran and by those who didn't. Writers in the opposition and independent papers criticised the many "unknown faces" who took the liberty to run for president. Writers of semi-official dailies criticised leading opposition politicians for failing to take part in giving momentum to the nation's first ever multi-candidate elections. "We did not expect so many parties to field candidates for the elections but we believed that leaders of the leading opposition parties such as the Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserist had no excuse to exempt themselves from running," wrote senior parliamentary editor of Al-Ahram, Sherif El-Abd, on Sunday. "If we consider it a big mistake for citizens to abandon their right to vote in any election, then we should admit that it is a much bigger mistake for leaders of the major political parties to withhold their nominations," he added. Meanwhile, speculation continued over the potential of reform in view of the two contradictory signs sent by the regime that appears set to win a new term in office. Sceptics were upset by Friday's police brutality but optimists were encouraged that the promises of reform made by President Mubarak's nomination speech on Thursday would save the day. "I think the final say in relation to the process of reform is still to be made. Hopes are still there that President Hosni Mubarak, once re-elected, will proceed with a mission of constitutional and political reforms," wrote Al-Ahram 's leading columnist Salama Ahmed Salama on Sunday. And it is political reforms, argued Osama Anwar Okasha in Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the liberal Wafd Party, which will bring an end to the horrors of terrorism. "Terrorism and democracy are inseparable. If we really want to confront terrorism we must realise that our battle is not one of [just security] but of democratisation. Egypt needs to be a democracy like all other democracies around the world." Meanwhile, attention was accorded to other issues, including the sudden increase in the number of papers that have hit the newsstands. "Is there a readership for all these papers?" asked Mohamed El-Abnoudi in the daily Al-Akhbar on Sunday. And on Monday, Abdel-Moeti Ahmed of Al-Ahram argued in his weekly column, "It does not matter whether the Arab summit convenes but whether it adopts serious resolutions that can make a real difference." Commentators made the inches to mourn King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, the sudden and mysterious death of Garang and above all the unending failure of US policies in the Middle East, be it in relation to the Palestinian territories or Iraq.
