The grave food situation, Muslim-Christian clashes and the cultural allure of the Arabians were all reflected on, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed The heated debate surrounding global climate change, the threat of bioethanol crops replacing food crops and the resulting world food crisis continued to hit the headlines. As food prices soared, columnists devoted more space to the angry reactions of the hungry and malnourished. A doom scenario emerged on the pages of Egyptian papers. And, there were more vociferous complaints that the government was not making a more convincing show of action. Given this depressing picture, biofuels were under more concerted attack from the pundits. The global food crisis was the focus of many commentators terrified at the prospects of bioenergy forcing prices upwards. Writing in the daily official Al-Ahram, Sherif El-Abd painted a grim picture of the future where crops will be used to produce biofuels. "What will the poor do in the coming difficult years? They are required to sacrifice their food to make fuel available for the cars, planes and yachts of the rich." El-Abd did not mince his words, for he blames the extravagance of the rich and their conspicuous consumption for the world food crisis. His verdict is that wealthy countries are to blame for the disaster. The North-South divide and conflict of interest have always aroused the interest of the commentators. Now, the pundits predict a far more substantial falling out between the haves and have-nots over world resources. The world's hungry are angry as never before. Writing in the daily official Al-Akhbar, Ahmed Ragab argued, "the West's insistence on using crops as a source of energy is a reflection of how low human civilisation has gone." Writing in Al-Ahram, Salama Ahmed Salama, one of the country's most distinguished and influential columnists, was highly critical of the lack of consensus among participants at the recently convened Food and Agriculture Organisation summit in Rome. Salama argued, "It would be absurd if Egypt and other developing countries, which always import grains to fulfil their needs, continued to bank on the rich countries that produce food in Europe, America, and Australia. It would be more absurd to count on international organisations which seek solutions for the food crisis like the FAO and its conference held recently in Rome. It is imperative that Egypt prioritises the adoption of a self-dependant policy aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in producing its food. It should pipe more investments into [food products] than that being piped into industry and tourism. It should also accelerate the implementation of agricultural cooperation projects with Sudan." While bread and butter issues were uppermost in the minds of the pundits, religious violence and confessional strife also came to the fore. The Coptic community's newspaper Watani ran a feature by Emad Khalil about the recent clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Minya. The paper quoted many a monk in the Abu Fana monastery, which was the site of the clashes, as saying basically that they were fed up with customary conciliation sessions, and demanded the law be applied, in reference to the fact that local authorities always resort to holding customary sessions to bring about reconciliation between Copts and Muslims after any clash between them, without holding the culprits accountable. On quite a different note, other commentators focussed on the subtle and not too subtle changes in the traditional Egyptian personality over the past few decades. Most concluded that the conservative influence of the Wahabi and Salafi movements that emanated from the Arabian Peninsula were to blame. Writing in the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom, Said El-Lawendi lamented the disappearance of the main features of the Egyptian personality, and how austere lifestyles of the Arab Gulf prevailed even in clothes. "If you look around, you will find that our authentic Egyptian costume has retreated and Arab Gulf costumes, like the galabiya, are reigning supreme." he argued. "And if you take a glimpse of shop windows in downtown Cairo, the dress styles of Gulf women are occupying all the stores, while authentic Egyptian female dresses have disappeared and exist only in old movies." In other words, Egypt is succumbing to the allure of the Arabians. The cultural appeal of Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Gulf countries is taking the country by storm. It is tantamount to a cultural invasion of unmitigated results. Politics, too, preoccupied the pundits. Academics are concerned about the manner in which the political establishment in the country functions. The plausible alternative to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), some intellectuals believe, is the Muslim Brotherhood, and that particular question is rather academic, many concluded. Commenting on the current state of affairs in Egypt in the daily opposition Al-Dostour, political science professor Heba Raouf Ezzat argued, "the continuation of the current polarisation between the government and the Muslim Brotherhood is unbelievable. While the people stand unable to act, the existent political parties are centred around their own interests without a real presence in the street." Ezzat added, "it is really painful that we find the state of affairs in Egypt in this manner. It's unfair for Egypt that the only wish is that God gives President Mubarak longevity lest the country face an unknown destiny [in case he passes away]." Social concerns, especially when it is about the youth of the country who make up more than 70 per cent of the population, caught the commentators' attention. One particular aspect of the grievances of youth hit the headlines: the lack of political participation of youth in the decision-making process. Indeed, the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom ran a feature on the young generation in Egypt who was born in the beginning of the 1980s. The paper mirrored the political wishes of this generation, echoing what youths are trying to say. "The coming president should be civil, democratic, fair, and unwilling to remain in power", ran the headline of the feature. The feature also showed that this young generation, which constitutes a considerable percentage of Egypt's population, wants the coming president to "minimise the authorities of the presidential establishment, fight corruption, and regain Egypt's active role in the Arab world." Sports attracted the attention of many a serious commentator. On the European Nations Cup championship and the ciphering of its matches, Hassan El-Mistikawi called upon soccer fans in Egypt and the Arab world in general not to blame their state channels for not being able to buy the broadcasting rights of the championship, which is believed to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. "We have been living in a new, different world for 20 years. Pay TV soccer matches is the language of the current era," El-Mistikawi wrote in Al-Ahram. "Today," he warned, "Arab [state-owned] channels are not responsible for [being unable to buy the broadcasting rights]. So don't hold them accountable, but you should be angry with those who sell soccer [matches], for instance FIFA, the UEFA and all those football federations that garner profits beyond imagination."
