A number of hot topics of public concern including sectarian violence, the food crisis and the emergency law, vied for attention, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed Food -- or rather the lack of it -- and food costs, subsidies, inflation and the general state of the economy were the topics of overriding concern among the pundits. The government came under intense fire from independent and opposition papers for its perceived insensitivity to the plight of the common man and woman. Not only was the inaction of the government criticised, but also the manner in which officials appeared to be adopting the Marie Antoinette attitude: if they can't have bread, let them eat cake. The onus was put squarely on the state. Commentators urged the government to alleviate the suffering of the neediest and most vulnerable members of society. Writing in the daily business-oriented Al-Alam Al-Yom, Lamees El-Hadidi criticised the tone used by government officials nowadays claiming that the government takes money from the rich by imposing new taxes to give to the poor. "This tone is repeatedly used in a direct way that annoys the rich and does not benefit the poor. Instead, it makes each side hate the other, as it fails to fill the wide income gap between them." She added, "The social contract between citizens and the state is in need of a redefinition of all roles, rights and responsibilities: the role of the rich, the rights of the poor, and the responsibility of the state." Pertinent international issues, especially the world food crisis, grabbed the attention of official and opposition papers alike. Al-Alam Al-Yom stressed that President Hosni Mubarak deemed it important enough a conference to warrant a visit to the Italian capital Rome to participate in the conference of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The daily official Al-Ahram focussed on the FAO conference. "Mubarak and world leaders meet in Rome to debate ways of addressing the food crisis", ran the headline of the paper. The paper gave wide coverage to the views of Mubarak on this vitally important topic. "The president stresses again that the crisis is worldwide and warns against expanding in producing biofuels from crops", another headline read. Meanwhile, Makram Mohamed Ahmed argued in Al-Ahram that the food crisis will persist since "the factors that caused it are still there. And the only way to alleviate its impact is that developing and middle- income countries give considerable attention to agriculture instead of depending on importing food, especially at a time when the era of cheap food is gone." Religious affairs, too, were debated in the press. Quoted in the independent daily Al-Dostour, Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Hamdi Zaqzouq was unflinching in his criticism of long Friday sermons. According to the paper, Zaqzouq said, "the Friday prayer speech should not take more than 10 minutes." He also argued that, "a woman's refusal to shake hands with men is religiously and ethically rejected." The fall-out from the extension of the emergency law is still making headlines. Renowned political science professor Nader Fergani was quoted in Al-Dostour as saying, "The regime is in a historical dilemma. It wants to stay in power for a longer period and it is afraid of change. But the escalation in public protests is the beginning of its end." Writing in the same paper, Fahmy Howeidy was not surprised by the extension of the emergency law. "It was not a surprise that the government extended the emergency law for two more years, simply because this law, which has been in effect for 27 years, has become part and parcel of the regime's behavioural pattern it adopts towards society." He added, "the prime minister knows very well that the emergency law was only applied to the political opposition." Howeidy also observed that, "as they stood before military tribunals," in reference to the senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who were recently sentenced to various jail terms, the emergency law is applicable to groups conceived as enemies of the state. Howeidy added that by extending this infamous law, "the parliament has become the legislative chamber of the Ministry of Interior." He added, "the problem does not lie with laws that put constraints on public freedoms and oppresses the opposition, but in the regime's position on public freedoms and its insistence on dashing any hope of political reform." Sectarian and religious strife also hit the headlines. There are grave fears about the deteriorating relations between the Coptic Christian community of Egypt and their Muslim compatriots. Copts, in particular, believe they are increasingly coming under threat. The attacks on a monastery in the governorate of Minya earlier this week made the headlines. "The demonstrations organised by the Copts of Minya call for holding [Minister of Interior] Habib El-Adli accountable for the attack on Abu Fana Monastery", ran the headline of the leftist daily Al-Badeel. The Coptic Orthodox pope also came under barely veiled criticism. There was the insinuation that the pope, abroad on a tour of America, is obsessively preoccupied with his flock at home. "Pope Shenouda III follows the developments from the United States minute by minute", another headline read. For the third week running, pundits were preoccupied with the comments of US President George W Bush during his visit to Sharm El-Sheikh to attend the World Economic Forum on the Middle East (WEF- ME). Al-Dostour ran an article criticising the official newspapers' handling of Bush's speech at the WEF- ME in which he slammed the Egyptian regime's approach to the opposition, a subject that greatly interested the pundits. However, there has been a marked difference in the manner in which the opposition papers and official ones tackled the issue. In their reporting on the speech, the official papers ignored the criticism levelled by Bush. The official Al-Akhbar stressed that Bush hailed the freedom in Egypt, and Al-Ahram focussed on Bush's talk about the wonderful state of the Egyptian economy, while the official Al-Gomhuriya reported that Bush holds President Mubarak in high esteem. Al-Alam Al-Yom ran a feature about "street business" in which it described the growing number of street vendors in Cairo. "The leaders of street businesses are based in downtown Cairo and are mostly Upper Egyptians", ran the headline of the feature. "There is not a shadow of a doubt that the [high level] of unemployment is behind the steady growth in street business. Most street vendors are immigrants from provincial regions who flock to Cairo to find job opportunities." The feature points out that most commodities sold by street vendors are Chinese-made as well as low-quality Egyptian products. Also, the size of this business, which is thought to be in the billions of Egyptian pounds, is not included in the gross domestic product.
